President Donald Trump on Wednesday at the White House vowed to protect statues of Jesus Christ and statues of the Founding Fathers in the United States from leftist mobs seeking their destruction.
“They’re looking at Jesus Christ. They’re looking at George Washington. They’re looking Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson. Not going to happen,” Trump said. “Not going to happen as long as I’m here.”
Activist Shaun King demanded Monday that some statues of Jesus and his mother Mary be torn down because they were “a form of white supremacy.”
Trump spoke about statues and monuments during a joint press conference at the White House with Polish President Andrzej Duda.
Duda also weighed in on the controversy, noting that the statue of Polish-US hero Tadeusz Kościuszko in Lafayette Square was vandalized by leftist mobs.
“That was outrageous for a big number of Polish people,” Trump said.
The president previewed an executive order that would streamline and consolidate existing laws to protect monuments at the end of the week. Trump cited the Veterans’ Memorial Preservation Act that already allows for up to ten years in prison for attacking a monument to America’s veterans.
“Ten years is a long time to have fun one night,” he said.
Trump again said that the violent mobs appeared clueless about why they wanted the statues destroyed.
“I think many of the people that are knocking down these statues don’t even have any idea what the statue is, what it means, who it is,” Trump said.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.