Old President Trump
Donald Trump Trump will offer comments on heavyweight fight on 9/11 Trump anticipates rallies in Iowa (Georgia) USDA will provide 0M relief to COVID-19 for agricultural and food workers MORE Wednesday sparked the decision to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Virginia, saying it would result in a “complete desecration.”
Trump has argued that these statues should not be removed in the past, and has seen the activists’ effort as a means to “take away” U.S. history and culture by calling for the removal of Confederate statues.
A different statue of Lee served as the site for the deadly protest that was the scene of the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va.
“I just saw a massive crane tear down the magnificent and very famous statue of ‘Robert E. Lee On His Horse’ in Richmond, Virginia. It has long been recognized as a beautiful piece of bronze sculpture, “Trump said in a statement.
“To add insult to injury, those who support this ‘prey’ now plan to cut it into three pieces and throw this work of art before its complete desecration,” he added.
Trump then claimed that if Lee had been alive, he would have led a successful military operation in Afghanistan.
“Our culture is being destroyed and our history and heritage, both good and bad, are being extinguished by the radical left, and we can’t let that happen!” Trump said in his statement. “If we only had Robert E. Lee in command of our troops in Afghanistan, this disaster would have ended in a complete and total victory many years ago. What a shame we suffer because we don’t have the genius of a Robert E. Lee! ”
National protests erupted after the death of George Floyd, a black man, at the hands of a white police officer. It led to calls for racial justice and included calls to remove Confederate statues across the country, including within the United States Capitol.
Some have argued that Confederate remains are symbols of hatred. Virginia Governor Ralph Northam (D) called the bronze piece “Virginia’s largest monument to the Confederate insurrection.” Opponents of removing Confederate pieces have generally argued that doing so removes or erases U.S. history.
A legal battle ensued after Northam announced that the statue of Lee would be removed to Richmond. Last week, a Virginia Supreme Court ruling ruled that the statue could fall and removal plans could continue.
Northam was among a crowd of people watching the statue go down on Wednesday and workers cutting it to pieces. The statue of Lee is scheduled to be kept in a state-owned facility.
Earlier this summer the statue of Lee was also removed in Charlottesville.