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chairman donald trump On Wednesday he said he would have no problem in erecting a huge statue in his honour. Robert E. LeeCivil War general who led the South in rebellion against the United States to try to preserve the slavery of black people, within view of the Lincoln Memorial.
trump Made the remarks before a group of wealthy executives and donors At a fundraising dinner in the State Dining Room, Joe is contributing to the planned White House Ballroom, he also spoke about his plans for a grand Arc de Triomphe-style memorial.
He also suggested that Ballroom Fund contributors would largely agree with him regarding a statue to honor a symbol of the Confederacy.
The president’s comments came during a long, rambling speech to dinner attendees as he discussed his idea to build a triumphal arch over a traffic circle in Virginia at the south end of the Arlington Memorial Bridge.
As he pointed towards the bridge and the traffic circle, he noticed that there were several columns on it and suggested that the space between the columns had been left empty due to the Civil War – which had ended a full half century before the bridge opened. He also said that there were plans to erect a statue of Lee on the circle as early as 1902.
“It would have been fine for me – it would have been fine for a lot of people in this room,” he said.
There was no audible reaction to his claim from dinner attendees, who included oil billionaire Harold Hamm, Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman, tech impresario Cameron and Trump’s Small Business Administration boss Tyler Winklevoss. Kelly Loeffler and the family of the Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
representatives of Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, metaalphabetical Google, Amazon and Palantir Technologies were also reportedly in attendance.
Despite this, Trump’s comments were historically inaccurate, as plans for the bridge – which opened in 1932 – never included a statue of Lee.
But the location of the bridge connects the Lincoln Memorial to Arlington House, Lee’s former home, a site intended to make the structure a physical and symbolic connection between North and South that commemorates the dead on both sides of the American Civil War.
His suggestion that he would be willing to install a statue honoring the pro-slavery leader is in line with other actions his administration has taken to restore tributes to Lee that were removed or re-contextualized after the 2020 killing of George Floyd, which led to widespread racial justice protests.
Earlier this year, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered a portrait of Lee wearing Confederate uniform restored to a place of honor at Lee’s alma mater, the U.S. Military Academy.
The 20-foot painting was placed in storage in 2020 on the orders of a congressional commission established by a law directing a review of tributes paid to former Confederates by the U.S. military.
The commission had directed West Point to remove all items that “commemorate or memorialize the Confederacy”, but an Army spokesman said new York Times In August the Academy prepared to restore “historic names, artifacts, and properties to their original form and location.”
The spokesperson said, “Under this administration, we respect our history and learn from it – we do not erase it.”
Trump has repeatedly praised Lee over the years and suggested that the late general, who lost the Civil War, “is considered by many generals to be the greatest strategist of all time.”
Independent The White House and representatives of dinner attendees have been contacted for comment.
“Lockheed Martin is grateful for the opportunity to help bring the President’s vision to reality and embed it in the People’s House, a powerful symbol of the American ideals we work every day to protect,” said Jalen Drummond, vice president of corporate affairs for the aerospace and defense contractor.