Trump claims merciless campaign to erase US history

WASHINGTON – On the eve of Independence Day, President Donald Trump used a speech before Mount Rushmore on Friday to condemn protesters across the country for attacking monuments while announcing he would sign an executive order to establish a “National Garden of American Heroes.”

© SAUL LOEB, AFP via Getty Images US President Donald Trump arrives for the Independence Day events at Mount Rushmore National Memorial in Keystone, South Dakota, July 3, 2020.

“Our Nation is witnessing a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values and indoctrinate our children,” Trump told a crowd of more than 7,000 people before the national monument in South Dakota. “Angry mobs are trying to tear down statues of our founders, deface our most sacred memorials and unleash a wave of violent crime in our cities.” Trump’s remarks came as federal statues across the country have been targeted for removal by protesters following the death of George Floyd, a Black Minneapolis man who was killed when a white police officer pinned him to the ground with a knee to his neck for nearly nine minutes. Statues of historical figures, including presidents Andrew Jackson, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt as well as Robert E. Lee and Christopher Columbus have been targeted in cities across the country. The president said he would establish a “National Garden of American Heroes,” which he described as a “vast outdoor park that will feature the statues of the greatest Americans who ever lived.” The order, released by the White House on Friday night, said the park will feature statues including several American presidents as well as historical figures including Susan B. Anthony, Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Frederick Douglass, Amelia Earhart, Benjamin Franklin, Billy Graham, Martin Luther King, Harriet Tubman and others. A task force under the Department of the Interior will determine the site of the park, according to the order. It is expected to be open to the public in time for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 2026. Late last month Trump signed an executive order for violators to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Veterans Memorial Preservation Act, which states that anyone who vandalizes or destroys a monument, memorial or statue can be sentenced to prison for up to 10 years. The order also puts state and local law enforcement agencies on notice that they could lose federal support if they fail to protect such monuments. The president delivered his speech before some 7,500 people in the shadow of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, whose heads are etched into Mount Rushmore. Both Washington and Jefferson were slave-owners.

“This monument will never be desecrated, these heroes will never be defaced, their legacy will never be destroyed, their achievements will never be forgotten, and Mount Rushmore will stand forever as an eternal tribute to our forefathers and to our freedom,” Trump said. 

The event, billed as an official White House event, appeared to echo the president’s campaign rhetoric, underscoring the social and racial divisions across the country.  “They think the American people are weak and soft and submissive,” he said. “But no, the American people are strong and proud, and they will not allow our country and all of its values, history and culture to be taken from them.” Before Trump’s arrival, police used pepper spray and arrested protesters for blocking a highway leading up to the monument. Protesters argue that the land in which the monument lies on – Black Hills – was seized from the Lakota Sioux by the U.S. government in the 1800s and Trump’s administration opposes the interests of Native Americans and other minority groups. “Today has been a proud day to be Lakota,” said Nick Tilsen of the NDN Collective. “We shut down Mount Rushmore. We put this place in lockdown for three hours and we did it in a good way. We got this power from our ancestors.” The fireworks that followed Trump’s speech are the first at Mount Rushmore in more than a decade after a ban was imposed over environmental concerns. Environmentalists are concerned the fireworks could set off wildfires in dry brush in nearby forests. However, local officials have said the risk is low.  Others have raised concerns over the potential spread of the coronavirus. Republican South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem said this week that social distancing wouldn’t be enforced among the thousands expected to turn out.  Before the president took the stage, Kimberly Guilfoyle, the girlfriend of Donald Trump Jr. and a top campaign surrogate, tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday before the event, according to Sergio Gor, chief of staff to Trump Victory Finance committee. Gor said that Guilfoyle was “doing well and will be retested to ensure the diagnosis is correct since she’s asymptomatic.” He added that she would cancel upcoming events and Donald Trump Jr tested negative but would also self-isolate as a precaution.  Earlier this week, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned earlier this week that new coronavirus infections could increase to 100,000 a day if the nation doesn’t get its surge of cases under control.

Trump’s Mount Rushmore speech kicks of a weekend of events honoring America’s founding. The president is scheduled to view the annual fireworks show from the White House and deliver an address on Saturday. 

Nick Note: desperate people riot in the streets on any damn fool  thing. As far as erasing history the masses do not even know US history. It has not been taught in the school stem for decades! Soon we will refer to the average American  as the starving majority. We got a much bigger problem then Lives don’t matter, Choke holds and Racism. It called a plague and its mightier then all of us. Its the very early stages and people already  are scared and frustrated. They are confused they have lost their jobs (soon their homes and many of them will lose their lives)  and they do not have the skill set to work at home. Trump is race baiting them. A bronze statue can not be desecrated. Let me ask you a question if this SHIT was so sacred why are the”sacred monuments” usually covered in pigeon shit. Lets get real here FUCK Jackson, Lincoln, King, Washington, Eisenhower, Churchill and the hole kit and caboodle. ALL ALL ALL leaders are very flawed individuals. Called human. Why are we judging these people with the privilege of hindsight. Thoughts evolve. I am constantly reinventing myself and i hope in in some small way I am helping you grow and become smarter with information.