President Donald Trump said he’s “sad to see” Confederate statues and monuments being taken down around the United States.
Confederate memorials are being removed around the U.S. after a white supremacist protest to protect a statue of Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville, Virginia, turned into a weekend of racist violence in which one woman was killed.
According to USA Today, there are more than 700 Confederate monuments installed in public areas across 31 states. Washington, D.C.; Lexington, Kentucky; Memphis, Tennessee; Birmingham, Alabama; and other places are taking steps to remove their monuments.
Baltimore quietly removed its remaining Confederate monuments Tuesday night in the wake of the Charlottesville incident. On Monday night, protesters tore down a Confederate monument in Durham, North Carolina.
Trump previously expressed worry about the removal of these statues during an unhinged press conference on Tuesday.
Democracy In The Balance
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“You really do have to ask yourself, where does it stop?” Trump asked.
His tweets on the issue came after White House chief strategist Steve Bannon told The New York Times he thought Trump could win a battle with “the left” over the statues, arguing Trump’s rhetoric “connects with the American people about their history, culture and traditions.”
“The race-identity politics of the left wants to say it’s all racist,” Bannon said. “Just give me more. Tear down more statues. Say the revolution is coming. I can’t get enough of it.”