President Donald Trump has signed an executive order on the Smithsonian Institution that targets funding to programs that contain what he calls “divisive narratives” and “improper ideology.”

The order is vague but suggests Trump is seeking to purge elements of what conservatives view as a revisionist history of the US that places systemic racism at the heart of its narrative.

President Donald Trump is extending his efforts to influence American cultural and artistic institutions to the Smithsonian Institution – a sprawling organization that encompasses the National Zoo and a collection of museums that anchor tourism in the nation’s capital.