President Trump says he will “not even consider” renaming bases honoring Confederates who have fought to protect slavery despite the recent protesting over the death of George Floyd.
What We Know:
- President Trump took to Twitter and said, ““The United States of America trained and deployed our HEROES on these Hallowed Grounds, and won two World Wars. Therefore, my Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations.” Trump released these tweets just as George Floyd’s brother, Philonise Floyd wrapped up his speech to Congress on police reform. He entered this meeting in hopes to get them to “listen to the pain” from Americans.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1270787974880526337
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https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1270787978626052096
- White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany says the White House printed out a statement and passed it around at a press conference of compiled tweets that President Trump put out Wednesday morning. She says “this is directly from the President” and that they “spent some time” putting it together.
- The Pentagon and the secretary of the Army says they are “open to a bipartisan discussion on the topic”. The Army has 10 military posts that are named after Confederate leaders. Talk of renaming the bases gets brought up every few years but nothing was ever done about it. Due to the outbreak of protests following the death of Floyd, it’s had some questions arise about the country’s history of slavery.
- Lawmakers have started to remove Confederate monuments. In Virginia, crews have began to dismantle Robert E. Lee’s monument in Richmond. The Army and Navy have banned Confederate flags on any of their installations as well as mugs, posters and bumper stickers. President Trump does not agree with the Navy’s decision to ban Confederate flags. His press secretary says she has not talked to him regarding this specific issue but that he does “fervently stand against the renaming of our forts, these great American fortresses where literally some of these men and women who lost their lives as they went out to Europe, in Afghanistan, in Iraq, and all across this world to win world wars on behalf of freedom.”
McEnany steered away from talk about renaming Army bases and brought up the fact that you can no longer watch Gone With The Wind on HBO Max because it’s offensive. HBO Max released that they would be taking the movie off and bringing it back with a discussion of its historical context. President Trump says he would have rather that movie win the Oscar for best picture over Parasite.
