Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump says it's "pure political correctness" to replace former President Andrew Jackson with abolitionist Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill, as the U.S. Treasury Department plans to do in coming years.
The Manhattan real estate mogul defended Jackson, one of the nation's earliest populists who is known for carrying out a bloody “Indian removal” policy as president.
“Andrew Jackson had a great history. I think it’s very rough when you take someone off the bill," Trump said in an interview on NBC's "Today." “I think Harriet Tubman is fantastic, I would love to leave Andrew Jackson."
The GOP front-runner echoed the remarks of Ben Carson, who endorsed Trump after dropping out of the presidential race earlier this year, by suggesting Tubman appear on "another denomination" such as the $2 bill.
“Andrew Jackson was the last president who actually balanced the federal budget, where we had no national debt,” Carson said in an interview Wednesday. “In honor of that, we kick him off of the money.”
“I love Harriet Tubman, I love what she did,” Carson continued. “But we can find another way to honor her. Maybe a $2 bill.”
The $2 bill, however, features Thomas Jefferson and is in much lower circulation than the widely used $20 bill.
While Tubman is not likely to assume her place on the $20 for some time, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said Wednesday that Jackson would appear on the back of the bill -- perhaps in an image of his statue in Lafayette square near the White House.
Back in September, all GOP presidential candidates were asked during a debate which woman they would like to see on the $10 bill -- whose fate was being debated at the time.
Trump said he did not mind replacing Alexander Hamilton, but offered similar objections over political correctness. He said he’d put his daughter, Ivanka, on the bill or civil rights hero Rosa Parks.
Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S.
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