What Were the Real Reasons that Trump Fired the Librarian of Congress?
The real reasons she was fired are genuinely terrifying.
The Trump administration fired one of the most respected, celebrated, and qualified librarians in America.
The real reasons she was fired are genuinely terrifying.
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Carla Hayden's appointment was celebrated after she replaced James Billington.
Billington had been the Librarian of Congress for decades and was so disliked that the people who worked for him cheered when he finally agreed to retire.
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White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt responded to a question about her firing by saying:
We felt she did not fit the needs of the American people. There were quite concerning things that she had done at the Library of Congress in the pursuit of DEI and putting inappropriate books in the library for children. And we don’t believe that she was serving the interests of the American taxpayer well. So, she has been removed from her position, and the President is well within his rights to do that.
The claim about “putting inappropriate books in the library for children” is an absolute bald-faced lie.
While thousands of new books are added daily, children cannot access books in the library.
The Library of Congress is a research library, and books are used only on the premises by members of the public. Anyone age 16 and older may use the collections.
The only reason they make the claim about DEI is that Carla Hayden was the first woman and the first person of color to hold that position.
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Even worse, on Monday, Trump moved to install Todd Blanche as interim director of the Library of Congress. Blanche has absolutely zero experience in libraries and is currently serving as a U.S. deputy attorney general. He is best known for representing Trump during his New York hush-money trial, in which the president was convicted on all counts.
So why is this happening?
Most likely, Donald Trump’s administration is attempting a hostile takeover of the Library of Congress to gain access to a trove of data that could be used to manipulate Congress.
An expert on the Library of Congress told Rolling Stone in this article that Trump’s takeover attempt is “dangerous,” given that the Library’s sub-agencies provide confidential legal advice to members of Congress and help police lawmakers' misconduct.
Most importantly, the LOC provides advice to Congress that is to remain anonymous and maintains a database that has every single question asked by members of Congress for the last 50 years as well as the answers.
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In fact, Rep. Joe Morelle (NY-25) is leading a request to the Library of Congress Inspector General to investigate improper communications and illegal and unauthorized data transfers from the LOC to the Trump Administration itself.
The Trump Administration could also be attempting to gain control over the Library of Congress in order to help Elon Musk stop a report from the U.S. Copyrights Office that would keep his tech companies from mining copywritten material to train A.I. systems.
Whether this hostile takeover was to attack a qualified woman of color, gain access to LOC data to control Congress, or give a gift to his tech billionaire supporters, Trump's dismissal of Carla Hayden is wrong, and Congress needs to hear from you today!