CNN host tears into Trump over ‘slavery’ rant

CNN gave its chief legal analyst and anchor, Laura Coates, a platform to tear into President Donald Trump amid his stand against “woke” history.

The left is having another meltdown as the president addresses what he sees as a problem in some of the nation’s museums. On Tuesday, the host of CNN’s “Laura Coates Live” put on a dramatic monologue to call out Trump for his comments on museums, notably the Smithsonian Museum, which he said in a Truth Social post is “OUT OF CONTROL.”

“One of the eight Smithsonian museums that Trump has referenced and is reviewing is, surprise, surprise, the National Museum of African American History and Culture. And yes, it goes into the unvarnished truth of slavery in America, the brutal reality that millions endured and the impact that still felt today,” Coates said in her opening monologue.

“But the museum, if you actually go to it rather than just talk about it and see it on paper from a Truth Social post, it doesn’t only focus on suffering. It is about resilience and achievement and celebration, umbrella, history,” Coates said.

“Take this sports exhibition that highlights the achievements of greats like Muhammad Ali and Jim Brown, Olympic uniforms from Gabby Douglas and Carl Lewis, or double victory honoring African Americans who served in the United States Military, the Airmen, to Purple Hearts, and more. There are musical crossroads celebrating Black influence on everything from jazz, an American-made form of music, all the way through hip-hop. And yes, it includes Louis Armstrong’s trumpet,” she continued.

“Well, that’s woke. Then maybe woke just means telling the whole story because every exhibition that I just mentioned showcases exactly what Trump says that he wants: Success, brightness, a look toward the future,” Coates said, before playing a clip of Trump’s visit to the museum during his first term in office.

“The museum is a meaningful reminder to fight bigotry, intolerance, and hatred in all of its ugly — very ugly forms. Couldn’t have said it better myself, Mr. President,” Coates said, repeating Trump’s words from the clip.

The president addressed the current state of America’s museums in his post on Truth Social on Tuesday.

“The Museums throughout Washington, but all over the Country are, essentially, the last remaining segment of ‘WOKE.’ The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been — Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future,” he wrote.

“Woke is broke”

Trump is sending his people to make DC museums more uplifting & positive about our national heritage

As he should

America is the greatest country to ever exist in the history of the world

Only our enemies and communists disagree b/c they both want us destroyed pic.twitter.com/olUXcJ65ZE

— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) August 19, 2025

“We are not going to allow this to happen, and I have instructed my attorneys to go through the Museums, and start the exact same process that has been done with Colleges and Universities, where tremendous progress has been made. This Country cannot be WOKE, because WOKE IS BROKE,” Trump continued.

“We have the ‘HOTTEST’ Country in the World, and we want people to talk about it, including in our Museums,” he concluded.

And while critics can’t see past their TDS, CNN’s Scott Jennings has no problem dropping reality checks on their narratives.

“He believes there is an effort by some to continue to try to define us from our worst moment instead of trying to focus and define us based on our best moments, which started when we eradicated slavery and began to move forward as the light of the world,” Jennings said.

MIC DROP: Scott Jennings perfectly dismantles the Democrat attacks against President Trump for opposing the hyperfocus on how “EVIL” America is at our museums like the Smithsonian.

“My belief is that he wants to look at these museums not because he wants to do away with the… pic.twitter.com/h6ns2YyWB2

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) August 20, 2025

“As we present our history, are we spending most of our time focused on something terrible? Are we gonna spend more time as we enter our 250th anniversary focused on what this country has done to improve the lives of every single person who lives here?” he added.

Senior Staff Writer
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.

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