Trump Defends Confederate Monuments: “This Was a Gesture of Healing”

Donald Trump has defended monuments to the Confederacy by claiming they are a form of healing. The President has long argued that removing the controversial monuments would be destroying history.

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President Trump spoke to conservative outlet Sinclair Broadcasting Group on Thursday about Confederate monuments that have been torn down during the George Floyd protests.

“I don’t like it. I’m not one that likes it,” Trump said.

“I think we have a history, we have a very, in fact I was just going to make a statement on that today unrelated to yours, we have a very very important heritage and history, and whether things are good or bad, you learn from it.

“And you know the expression is, you make the same mistake again if you forget your history. And I think it’s a very important thing, it’s a very important part of our history.”

“Seeing that, seeing what’s done, and you know in some cases I agree, they were Confederate soldiers, generals, but they were done after the war in order to heal,” Trump claimed.

“This was a gesture of healing,” he said.

Most historians maintain that Confederate statues were erected as part of the rehabilitation of the Confederacy and the push to teach the Lost Cause myth. Many were put up as deliberate reminders of white supremacy.

Trump also defended keeping Confederate names for U.S. military bases.

“Well we’re talking about two things, we’re talking about bases, we’re talking about monuments, the bases are a different thing,” the President said.

“Like Fort Bragg, For many many years just many many decades, century, we had a name of Bragg. Nobody even knows the general, doesn’t know much about him. But we won World War I, we won World War II, we’ve done a lot of winning from these bases.”

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Darragh Roche

Darragh Roche is a journalist covering U.S. politics and media