It’s a grim day in court when a judge references George Orwell’s “1984.”
U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe invoked a passage from the dystopian novel in her ruling Monday to reinstall panels that President Donald Trump had removed from Independence National Historical Park, in Philadelphia, due to their reference to slavery.
“As if the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s 1984 now existed, with its motto ‘Ignorance is Strength,’ this Court is now asked to determine whether the federal government has the power it claims—to dissemble and disassemble historical truths when it has some domain over historical facts. It does not,” Rufe, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush wrote Monday.
In January, the Trump administration found that the accurate historical information was disparaging to former President George Washington and needed to be removed. The information in question? Washington kept nine enslaved people in his Philadelphia home. And the panels told the story in place of where his mansion originally stood.
This is all part of a larger effort from the Trump administration to whitewash U.S. history. Last March, he signed an executive order to kick-start the removal of historical references to slavery and civil rights abuses.
Trump set his sights on the Smithsonian Institution in particular. According to him, the famed museum was “OUT OF CONTROL” with references to slavery.
Along with it came the reinstallation of statues torn down amid the 2020 civil rights protests. More recently, a Christopher Columbus statue that was disassembled is rumored to be making its way to the White House, too.
And while the short-term impact of Trump’s removal of slavery references is shock and anger, the long-term effect to follow might have gone deeper than that if Rufe hadn’t intervened. Without those panels being reinstalled, visitors to the site might not have known about the nine people Washington enslaved.
Alix Breeden February 18, 2026 at 12:00AM From Daily Kos
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