U.S. President Donald Trump called the removal of Confederate symbols “foolish” adding that the “history and culture” of the United States is “being ripped apart” by the “removal of our beautiful statues and monuments.”
In a series of tweets, Trump defended Confederate symbols saying “you can’t change history.”
“Sad to see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments. You….,” Trump tweeted, “..can’t change history, but you can learn from it. Robert E Lee, Stonewall Jackson – who’s next, Washington, Jefferson? So foolish! Also…
“…the beauty that is being taken out of our cities, towns and parks will be greatly missed and never able to be comparably replaced!” the president tweeted.
It’s the second time this week Trump has questioned the removal of statues and pondered the removal a George Washington monument.
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On Tuesday, Trump insisted that some blame be placed on the ‘alt-left’ for the violence that erupted in Charlottesville last weekend after neo-Nazis, white supremacists and white nationalists marched in protest of the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from Emancipation Park, the latest in a growing and controversial movement to take down Confederate statues and monuments in various U.S. cities.
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“So this week it’s Robert E. Lee. I noticed that Stonewall Jackson is coming down,” Trump said. “I wonder, is it George Washington next week? And is it Thomas Jefferson the week after? You know, you really do have to ask yourself, where does it stop?”
The president went on to question whether monuments of America’s founding fathers should be removed because Washington and Thomas Jefferson were slave owners.
Earlier on Thursday, Trump lashed out at Lindsey Graham after the Republican Senator denounced Trump’s response to the racist violence in Charlottesville that left one person dead.
Trump blasted the Senator and denied he had drawn a “moral equivalency” between white supremacists and counter-protesters.
“Publicity seeking Lindsey Graham falsely stated that I said there is moral equivalency between the KKK, neo-Nazis & white supremacists…..” the president tweeted. “…and people like Ms. Heyer. Such a disgusting lie. He just can’t forget his election trouncing. The people of South Carolina will remember!”
Heather Heyer was mowed down by a car during the Charlottesville violence last Saturday.
On Wednesday, Graham lashed out at Trump saying his response to the racist rally in Charlottesville was “dividing Americans.”
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“Mr. President, I encourage you to try to bring us together as a nation after this horrific event in Charlottesville. Your words are dividing Americans, not healing them,” Graham said in a statement. “Through his statements yesterday, President Trump took a step backward by again suggesting there is moral equivalency between the white supremacist neo-Nazis and KKK members who attended the Charlottesville rally and people like Ms. Heyer. I, along with many others, do not endorse this moral equivalency.”