Now the President Is an Art Critic

Opinion|Now the President Is an Art Critic

Last week, President Trump announced that he had fired the head of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington.

“Upon the request and recommendation of many people, I am herby terminating the employment of Kim Sajet as Director of the National Portrait Gallery,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “She is a highly partisan person, and a strong supporter of D.E.I., which is totally inappropriate for her position. Her replacement will be named shortly.”

There is no reason to doubt the sincerity of Trump’s disdain for Sajet, given his aggressive effort to rid the federal government of “D.E.I.,” which has turned out to mean the mere presence of nonwhites and women the president doesn’t like in positions of authority.

The issue complicating his effort to remove Saget, however, is that the National Portrait Gallery is part of the Smithsonian Institution, which is independent of the federal government. And the portrait gallery was established by congressional statute — neither the gallery nor the Smithsonian are located in the executive branch.

The museum’s bylaws don’t describe exactly how dismissals are supposed to work, but as a matter of procedure (and it seems, law), the only person with the direct power to remove Sajet would be Lonnie G. Bunch III, who serves as secretary of the Smithsonian. And Bunch, in turn, is accountable to the Smithsonian’s Board of Regents, which consists of the chief justice of the United States, the vice president, three members of the Senate, three members of the House of Representatives and nine private citizens.

Trump, in other words, has as much power to remove Sajet from her post as I do — that is to say, none at all. Of course, there is more to power than what’s on paper. Trump may not have the formal capacity to shape the leadership of any of the Smithsonian’s museums, but if other political actors treat him as if he does then, well, what’s the difference?