After military opens door, Trump rejects removing names of Confederate leaders from U.S. bases

By Jeff Mason and Idrees Ali

 

FILE PHOTO: Sgt. First Class Erick Rodriguez stands guard at the entrance to Fort Hood Army base in Texas April 2, 2014. REUTERS/Erich Schlegel/File Photo

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump ruled out renaming U.S. military bases that are named for Confederate leaders on Wednesday even as NASCAR banned the Confederate flag from its races and Democrats sought the removal from Capitol Hill of statues of people representing the pro-slavery South in the 1860s Civil War.

 

With Americans more conscious about race issues in the wake of the death of African American George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody, Trump drew a line in favor of keeping the names of 10 military bases from Virginia to Texas that are named for Confederate military leaders.

 

Trump's announcement via tweet basically slapped down those Pentagon officials open to discussing the issue, which has emerged as a way of achieving racial reconciliation.

 

In the past few days, officials have said that the Pentagon, including Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy, was open to having a bipartisan conversation about renaming the Army bases named for Confederate leaders.

 

In a series of tweets, Trump argued the bases have become part of a "Great American Heritage."

 

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Wednesday defended President Donald Trump's decision to not rename U.S. military bases with a Confederate past, which was viewed a possible gesture of racial reconciliation in the wake of George Floyd's death last month.

 

"The United States of America trained and deployed our HEROES on these Hallowed Grounds, and won two World Wars. Therefore, my Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations...," Trump wrote in a tweet.

 

The issue of the enslavement of African Americans tore the United States apart when Southern states broke away to form the Confederate States of America to protect slavery. Northern states defeated the South in the Civil War to restore the Union.

 

But slavery's legacy continues to haunt race relations in America. In recent history, controversies over symbols of the Confederacy, such as statues of its leaders and its battle flag, have erupted. Those arguing for their removal say they symbolize racism and oppression, while those opposing such action call them signifiers of Southern heritage and pride.

 

NASCAR, whose races frequently feature fans waving the Confederate battle flag, said on Wednesday it would ban the "stars and bars" flag from its events.

 

On Capitol Hill, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged Congress to immediately take steps to remove from the U.S. Capitol 11 statues representing Confederate leaders and soldiers. Among the statues is one of Confederate military commander Robert E. Lee.

 

"Their statues pay homage to hate, not heritage. They must be removed," Pelosi, a Democrat, said in a letter to leaders of a congressional committee in charge of managing the statues on display at the Capitol.

 

U.S. military bases named for Confederate military leaders are all located in former Confederate states. Many of those states helped elect Trump in 2016, and he is counting on them again for the Nov. 3 election.

 

In an article published Tuesday in The Atlantic, retired General and former CIA chief David Petraeus called for renaming the bases, pointing out that the men they are named for "committed treason, however much they may have agonized over it" by fighting for the Confederacy.

 

At a news briefing Wednesday, White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany noted that the HBO Max streaming service had withdrawn the Civil War movie "Gone with the Wind" and asked "Where do you draw the line?"

 

"Should George Washington and Thomas Jefferson be erased from history?" she said of the first and third American presidents, both of whom owned slaves.

 

She said renaming the bases was "an absolute non-starter for the president."

 

(Reporting By Jeff Mason, Idrees Ali and Steve Holland; writing by Steve Holland; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Diane Craft)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-06-11

 

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Typical act of a white supremacist .

Why would anyone have a problem with traitors being honored by the military?

Some sense coming out of Trump - amazing

6 minutes ago, keith101 said:

Typical act of a white supremacist .

No just good sense - for once

Why stop with civil war traitors being honored? Why isn't there a Fort Benedict Arnold?

They were domestic terrorists

Personally I do think the names should be changed and all the statues should be put in a class a muesum we shouldn’t be paying respects and honoring folks who were trying to perpetuate slavery and tryed to destroy the United States I fully understand it’s a very sensitive issue but the facts remain they essentially committed treason and made war against the mother country for all the wrong reasons 

1 hour ago, webfact said:

The United States of America trained and deployed our HEROES on these Hallowed Grounds, and won two World Wars. Therefore, my Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations...," Trump wrote in a tweet.

Incoherent reasoning. We salute the heroism of the soldiers regardless of name of the military base. The name can change; the heroism will still remain. Act of heroism is bestowed upon a military unit not the camp. 

Let us just erase all people of history anytime some minority group feels like history must go!

40 minutes ago, Puchaiyank said:

Let us just erase all people of history anytime some minority group feels like history must go!

Perhaps let the military decide.

 

Celebrating the names of defeated traitors seems a bit of an odd history for the ‘victors’ to write.

2 hours ago, webfact said:

The United States of America trained and deployed our HEROES on these Hallowed Grounds, and won two World Wars. Therefore, my Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations...," Trump wrote in a tweet.

 

Does trump realise the bases will still be there if they are renamed?

One of the most impressive American monuments is the Lincoln Memorial, has anyone bothered to educate themselves as to his attitude to slaves regarding their rights and restrictions.  When I first read it I was very surprised but on reflection it was an attitude of the times.

I am sure that any attempt to remove his statue would be fiercely condemned even if they have a POC as mayor.

Pathetic revisionism by pc ne're-do-wells. Stop trying to Vanilla-rise everything.  What's next?  alter the history books?

 

only Whites can be racist?  oh wait...

32 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

Pathetic revisionism by pc ne're-do-wells. Stop trying to Vanilla-rise everything.  What's next?  alter the history books?

 

only Whites can be racist?  oh wait...

No need to alter the history books, the Confederacy was roundly defeated.

 

 

 

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Democrats sought the removal from Capitol Hill of statues of people representing the pro-slavery South in the 1860s Civil War.

That would be members of the Democrat party then?

3 hours ago, webfact said:

"The United States of America trained and deployed our HEROES on these Hallowed Grounds, and won two World Wars. Therefore, my Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations...," Trump wrote in a tweet.

 

3 hours ago, webfact said:

NASCAR, whose races frequently feature fans waving the Confederate battle flag, said on Wednesday it would ban the "stars and bars" flag from its events.

Trump 1, NASCAR 0.

1 hour ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Perhaps let the military decide.

 

Celebrating the names of defeated traitors seems a bit of an odd history for the ‘victors’ to write.

No one complained till now.

I think it's somehow funny that Trump brought himself into the position that he can't make any compromises anymore - even any reasonable compromises.

The people who still support him must be radical right, radical evangelical, stupid, greedy and selfish, or all of that. So if Trump would even consider doing something to unite the people these radicals won't like it. He can't afford to lose any voters so he won't do anything to unite the country. But by doing that he disqualifies himself for anybody who was still somewhere in the middle ground. Soon Trump will only have the radicals to support him. And there are many of them in the USA, too many, but probably not enough to guarantee another Trump victory. There is hope...

Statues coming down, bases being renamed and the confederate flag being outlawed (by NASCAR no less).

 

About time.

 

A big thank you to trump, for uniting the country, and for helping to erase the vestiges of the Original Sin. Well done sir. Keep on tweeting.

 

 

 

 

4 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I think it's somehow funny that Trump brought himself into the position that he can't make any compromises anymore - even any reasonable compromises.

The people who still support him must be radical right, radical evangelical, stupid, greedy and selfish, or all of that. So if Trump would even consider doing something to unite the people these radicals won't like it. He can't afford to lose any voters so he won't do anything to unite the country. But by doing that he disqualifies himself for anybody who was still somewhere in the middle ground. Soon Trump will only have the radicals to support him. And there are many of them in the USA, too many, but probably not enough to guarantee another Trump victory. There is hope...

As long as Biden is the opponent Trump is probably quite safe. If the Dems found someone a bit better they'd be a shoo in IMO.

3 hours ago, Puchaiyank said:

Let us just erase all people of history anytime some minority group feels like history must go!

These people are not "erased from history" you can read about them in books, see them in museums...they are still there!

They will just not be honored anymore, with statues or things being named after them!

One reason why in Germany, we don't have Adolf Hitler Military Academies!

42 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

No one complained till now.

People have complained for some time now!

The fact that didn't hear it/ didn't want to hear it, doesn't mean it didn't happen!

1 minute ago, The Barmbeker said:

People have complained for some time now!

The fact that didn't hear it/ didn't want to hear it, doesn't mean it didn't happen!

Link please.

5 minutes ago, The Barmbeker said:

These people are not "erased from history" you can read about them in books, see them in museums...they are still there!

They will just not be honored anymore, with statues or things being named after them!

One reason why in Germany, we don't have Adolf Hitler Military Academies!

You seem not to understand why Confederate statues are left standing. It's because even though they fought for the losing side the winners respected them as soldiers.

Same reason Rommel is still respected even though he fought for Hitler.

3 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Link please.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-48125171

Read this for example and pay attention to the numbers, not only the pictures!

4 minutes ago, The Barmbeker said:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-48125171

Read this for example and pay attention to the numbers, not only the pictures!

Fair enough. Thanks for the link. I'd completely forgotten about those incidents.

1 minute ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Fair enough. Thanks for the link. I'd completely forgotten about those incidents.

Why am I not surprised?

5 hours ago, webfact said:

U.S. military bases named for Confederate military leaders are all located in former Confederate states. Many of those states helped elect Trump in 2016, and he is counting on them again for the Nov. 3 election.

 

Predictable response on Trump's part...

 

The only part I'm trying to fathom is.... how much of his response is rooted in the fact that he's basically a racist at heart.... vs.... how much is related to the fact that he knows a lot of the Southern conservatives who voted for him in 2016 and he hopes will vote for him again share those same tendencies.

 

Just like his quoting the Southern (Florida) sheriff from the late 1960s the other day with his "when the looting starts, the shooting starts remark." Which was aimed at black residents of that era who were threatened with being shot by shotgun toting deputies.

 

Renaming the bases would be the right thing to do for America and probably should have been done long ago. But as should be readily apparent to anyone by now, Trump isn't interested in doing what's right for America.... only what he thinks will benefit him personally.

 

 

 

Edited June 11, 20206 yr by TallGuyJohninBKK

5 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

You seem not to understand why Confederate statues are left standing. It's because even though they fought for the losing side the winners respected them as soldiers.

 

Based on this statement I would suggest that it is you are clueless.

 

Most of these statues were constructed during the Jim Crow era (1920's), by the LOSERS/TRAITORS.

 

Why we allowed this to happen says something (not good) about us.