President Donald Trump signs executive order to protect American monuments, memorials and statues
President Donald Trump announced Friday that he signed an executive order to protect American monuments, memorials and statues and threatened those who try to pull them down with “long prison time.”
“I just had the privilege of signing a very strong Executive Order protecting American Monuments, Memorials, and Statues - and combatting recent Criminal Violence,” Trump tweeted. “Long prison terms for these lawless acts against our Great Country!”
I just had the privilege of signing a very strong Executive Order protecting American Monuments, Memorials, and Statues - and combatting recent Criminal Violence. Long prison terms for these lawless acts against our Great Country!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 26, 2020
The new order enforces laws prohibiting the desecration of public monuments, the vandalism of government property, and recent acts of violence, withholds federal support tied to public spaces from state and local governments that have failed to protect public monuments, and withdraws federal grants for jurisdictions and law enforcement agencies that fail to stop their desecration.
It also provides assistance for protecting the federal statues.
Meanwhile on Friday evening, Attorney General Bill Barr directed the creation of a task force to counter anti-government extremists, specifically naming those who support the far-right “boogaloo” movement and those who identify as Antifa.
The task force will be headed by Craig Carpenito, the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, and Erin Nealy Cox, U.S. Attorney for the district of Northern Texas, and will be composed of U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, the FBI and other relevant departments, according to a press release. The group will share information with local and state law enforcement and will provide training on identifying anti-government extremists, according to an internal Justice Department memo.
The president has been teasing his order related to memorials all week, as historic monuments and statues have become the targets of anger and vandalism during Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of George Floyd's police custody death in Minneapolis at the end of May.
The initial statues under fire were Confederate soldiers and generals largely in the South due to the treatment of African-Americans, and even some high-level military officials called for the renaming of Army bases named after Confederate generals. The anger has since spread to monuments of former presidents and others deemed to be “colonizers,” such as Christopher Columbus, and even some who fought against slavery.
On Friday night, protesters plan to try to tear down the Emancipation Statue of Abraham Lincoln in Lincoln Park. The statue shows the 16th president holding the Emancipation Proclamation next to a kneeling, shackled slave. Protesters say it does not depict the role slaves had in securing their own freedom.
Washington, D.C.’s congressional delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton, said Tuesday she would introduce a House bill to remove the “problematic” statue.
Last weekend protesters tied ropes and tried to topple a statue of former president Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Square Park, but were stopped by law enforcement.
In San Francisco, protesters defaced and toppled a statue of Ulysses S. Grant, who led the Union Army during the Civil War. Protesters that same night also tore down statues of St. Junipero Serra and Francis Scott Key, who wrote the lyrics to "The Star-Spangled Banner."
The city of Denver is dismantling the statue of Kit Carson over threats that it would be toppled by protesters:
BREAKING: Kit Carson statue being dismantled in downtown Denver after threats it would be toppled as well following two others in denver. @KDVR @kwgn @AfroFrontCo
— Heidi Heitkamp (@HeitkampHeidi) June 27, 2020
More: https://t.co/TsG3AxxKSc pic.twitter.com/68MCyBRQat
Instead of protecting the statue, the city of Denver is doing the bidding of the protesters and taking it down.
So what exactly is so controversial about Kit Carson? He was a Union soldier and an ambassador to Native Americans out West. Maybe my history is lacking, but I’m not sure what is so controversial about Carson.
The city of Denver also dismantled the base of the statue of Christopher Columbus after it was toppled last night, and it appears it isn’t coming back:
DEVELOPING: TOPPLED DENVER STATUE NOT COMING BACK? Base of statue associated w Christopher Columbus toppled overnight being destroyed. @KDVR
@channel2kwgn
@AfroFrontCo
More: https://t.co/TsG3Axga0E pic.twitter.com/QA1vti9t63— Heidi Heitkamp (@HeitkampHeidi) June 27, 2020
How ridiculous.
I think it’s like Ted Cruz stated last night on the news that rioters toppled a statue of George Washington on the campus of George Washington University:
“The vandals tearing down monuments aren’t concerned with the Civil War. They simply hate America.”
George Washington. The vandals tearing down monuments aren’t concerned with the Civil War. They simply hate America. https://t.co/UZhxyycPPF— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) June 26, 2020
I think that’s about the only connection that can really be made given the diverse nature of the statues they are attacking. Columbus, Lincoln, Carson, Washington, Jefferson, and the list goes on and on.
They hate America.
Below is an ad by the GOP this week that sums it up:
This isn't about justice, it's about destroying America.— Heidi Heitkamp (@HeitkampHeidi) June 27, 2020
More: https://t.co/TsG3AxxKSc pic.twitter.com/uBcX0dsEio
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