Jillian Michaels Defends Donald Trump and White People During Heated Debate About Slavery

Jillian Michaels stood by her comments about White people during a heated debate on live TV about slavery, race, and the Smithsonian Institution’s exhibits.

The debate happened on CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip on Thursday, Aug. 14. Michaels, best known as the trainer on The Biggest Loser, joined a panel to discuss President Donald Trump’s order for a review of the Smithsonian Institution’s exhibits.

On Tuesday, Aug. 12, the Trump administration sent a letter to Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III. The letter explained that the review’s purpose was to make sure the exhibits “celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions.”

Michaels argued that Trump is “not whitewashing slavery.” She added, “You cannot tie imperialism and racism and slavery to just one race, which is pretty much what every single [museum] exhibit does.”

She also pointed out that “less than 2% of White Americans owned slaves” and reminded the panel that “slavery is thousands of years old.”

Phillip pushed back, saying, “I’m surprised that you’re trying to litigate who was the beneficiary of slavery. In the context of American history, what are you saying is incorrect by saying that it was White people oppressing Black people?”

Michaels responded that too many exhibits claim “this is all because White people are bad and that’s just not the truth.” She said she had examples, such as museum displays describing Cuban migration as the fault of White people, instead of focusing on leaders like Castro.

She also criticized a Smithsonian exhibit called Change Your Game, which focuses on gender testing in sports. “Is it fair to have biological men competing against biological women in sports? No. But why is this in the Smithsonian?” she asked.

Phillip eventually cut her off, saying there wasn’t enough time to go through all of Michaels’ points. Michaels replied that “everything is racialized.”

Phillip responded, “This was a conversation about the arts. And you brought up race.” But Michaels insisted her concern was that “when you make every single exhibit about White imperialism when it isn’t relevant at all, that is a problem.”

She added, “So when you’re talking about Cubans leaving Cuba and you make it about White people bad, that’s not accurate.”

After the show aired, Michaels repeated her point on X (formerly Twitter). She posted a photo of one exhibit and wrote, “Trump is not trying to ‘erase slavery’ by suggesting some of the instillations there are inaccurate and bias.”