On Wednesday, President Donald Trump said he would protect statues of Jesus Christ as well as statues of the Founding Fathers from “woke” mobs trying to destroy them.
“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.”, he added.
On Monday, Activist Shaun King said that statues of Jesus and the Mother Mary should be taken down because they were “a form of white supremacy.”
Trump spoke about statues and monuments at the White House during a press conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda. Speaking about the controversy, Duda said that the statue of Polish-US hero Tadeusz Kościuszko in Lafayette Square was vandalized by left-wing mobs.
“That was outrageous for a big number of Polish people,” Trump said.
The president previewed an executive order that would allow 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,” the President said. ‘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’, he added.
”The violent rioters were clueless about why they wanted the statues demolished.
“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.