Donald Trump’s Campaign Team Considers Statues As Rally Props
As Americans tear down monuments to Confederate generals, the president and his campaign team are considering erecting new statues, which they’d then carry around and use as props at campaign rallies. Trump resumed holding political rallies last month, and protecting monuments to the Confederacy has become a part of his platform.
Trump has warned that anyone who removes or damages statues or monuments could face ten years in prison. He even signed an executive order, and announced that this had brought statue desecration to a complete halt, although two days later he also said that vandals had thrown paint on a statue of George Washington.
I have authorized the Federal Government to arrest anyone who vandalizes or destroys any monument, statue or other such Federal property in the U.S. with up to 10 years in prison, per the Veteran’s Memorial Preservation Act, or such other laws that may be pertinent…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 23, 2020
Since imposing a very powerful 10 year prison sentence on those that Vandalize Monuments, Statues etc., with many people being arrested all over our Country, the Vandalism has completely stopped. Thank you!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2020
We are tracking down the two Anarchists who threw paint on the magnificent George Washington Statue in Manhattan. We have them on tape. They will be prosecuted and face 10 years in Prison based on the Monuments and Statues Act. Turn yourselves in now!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 30, 2020
During his Independence Day event at Mount Rushmore, Trump announced that he would be signing an executive order to create an outdoor park. Called the Garden of Heroes, it would be full of “statues of the greatest Americans to ever live.”
According to ABC News, the statues may not all be in the park. Trump’s campaign team is considering bringing statues to display at rallies, though no one is saying yet exactly who might be depicted in the monuments, and it’s currently only a possibility, not a definite plan.
I will Veto the Defense Authorization Bill if the Elizabeth “Pocahontas” Warren (of all people!) Amendment, which will lead to the renaming (plus other bad things!) of Fort Bragg, Fort Robert E. Lee, and many other Military Bases from which we won Two World Wars, is in the Bill!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 1, 2020
Trump also recently denounced the possibility of renaming military bases that are currently honoring Confederate generals, even saying that if a defense funding bill supported such a move, he’d veto it, holding up funding rather than allowing the renaming. He vaguely suggested that allowing the bases to be renamed would cause some unspecified and unverified “bad things” to happen.