Democratic lawmakers are urging President Donald Trump to embrace being “on the right side of history” by not vetoing the bill calling for the removal of all remnants honoring Confederate leaders of the Civil War.
On Thursday, Democratic leaders — Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Sen, Tim Kaine (D-Va.), and Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the top Democrat for the Armed Services Committee — penned a letter addressed to Trump.
They are urging the president to take the Senate Armed Services Committee-adopted (SASC) proposal into deep consideration as the initiative would support the removal of all “names, symbols, displays, monuments, and paraphernalia” honoring the Confederacy.
“As President and Commander-in-Chief, we urge you to stand on the right side of history and support the SASC-adopted proposal to remove all names, symbols, displays, monuments, and paraphernalia that honor or commemorate the Confederacy from bases and other property of the U.S. military.”
Reed and the SASC agreed to incorporate an amendment from Warren for the Fiscal Year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which would require the Pentagon to commence with renaming assets and entities paying homage to the Confederacy.
The letter closed with signatures from several Democratic lawmakers. In addition to Warren, Schumer, Kaine, and Reed, Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Mazie Hirono (Hawaii), Martin Heinrich (N.M.), Gary Peters (Mich.), Tammy Duckworth (Ill.) and Doug Jones (Ala.), are in support of the request.
Despite many lawmakers, businesses, organizations standing in solidarity with protesters having difficult conversations that many people argue are long overdue, the president continues to back the preservation of Confederate history.
On Wednesday, Trump tweeted, “These Monumental and very Powerful Bases have become part of a Great American Heritage, and a history of winning, victory, and freedom.” Trump also threatened not to sign a defense bill that included a measure to rename the bases, as Business Insider reports.
It has been suggested that we should rename as many as 10 of our Legendary Military Bases, such as Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Fort Hood in Texas, Fort Benning in Georgia, etc. These Monumental and very Powerful Bases have become part of a Great American Heritage, and a…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 10, 2020
During a press briefing on Thursday, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany also doubled down on the president’s stance.
She said, “Where the president stands is he believes these bases are most notably identified by the heroes within it, by the acts they did, and winning two world wars, and defeating anarch… defeating fascism across the globe. That’s what these bases stand for, not the names on them.”
It is important to note that the Confederate leaders did not serve during the World Wars that were won. In fact, they were defeated in their battle to continue slavery during the American Civil War. Honoring Confederate leaders is now seen as an effort to memorialize a “Lost Cause.”
