Trump Administration Restores Confederate Statue In DC

In a move that can only be filed under “disappointed, but not surprised,” the Trump administration has reinstalled a toppled statue of a Confederate general in Washington, D.C. 

According to NBC News, protesters used a rope to topple the statue of Gen. Albert Pike amid the racial uprisings in June 2020. The statue was defaced with spray paint, doused in lighter fluid, and set ablaze, which, you know, is probably how most Confederate statues should be treated. Of course, the administration that downplayed a group chat of not-so-Young Republicans engaging in racist, antisemitic, and generally grotesque rhetoric would make restoring a Confederate statue a priority. 

“The restoration aligns with federal responsibilities under historic-preservation law and recent executive orders to beautify the nation’s capital and restore pre-existing statues,” a White House spokesperson said in a statement..

On Saturday, the statue of Gen. Albert Pike was reinstalled in Judiciary Square. The area was closed off with fencing with a sign reading “Area closed. Historic preservation work in progress.” If the toppling of the statue in 2020 didn’t clue you in, the statue has been the source of controversy for many years.

In addition to betraying his country, Gen. Pike was also a longtime leader of the Freemasons. The statue was dedicated to Pike in 1901 at the Masons’ request, though they asked that he be displayed in civilian clothing rather than his military uniform. 

In recent years, D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton has introduced multiple bills in Congress to have the statue removed. “The decision to honor Albert Pike by reinstalling the Pike statue is as odd and indefensible as it is morally objectionable,” Norton said in a statement this summer when the restoration was revealed. “A statue honoring a racist and a traitor has no place on the streets of D.C.”

Upon taking office earlier this year, President Donald Trump issued the Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History executive order aimed at removing “improper ideology” from national parks and museums. Improper ideology, of course, is anything that celebrates Black people, is honest about the horrors of American imperialism, or just downright makes white people uncomfortable. The order tasked Vice President JD Vance to remove “divisive, race-centered ideology” from the Smithsonian museums. This order spurred concern over the removal of exhibits from the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) earlier this year. 

The Trump administration has a downright weird obsession with Confederate statues and namesakes. Under the Biden administration, several military bases named after Confederate generals were given decidedly less despicable names. Of course, Defense Secretary and DUI hire Pete Hegseth wasn’t going to let that slide and has begun restoring those bases to their original names. 

While Congress passed a law demanding the names be changed from their Confederate namesakes, Hegseth is playing games by giving them their old names, but dedicating them to soldiers with the same last names. Take, for instance, Fort Beauregard in Louisiana, where Hegseth said the army base is now named after the father of the Confederate soldier whom the base was originally named after. 

I can think of no better metaphor of the Trump administration than the fact that they take such great pains to restore the namesakes of a bunch of racist losers. Couldn’t be me, y’all. 

SEE ALSO:

Confederate Group Sues Georgia Over Changes To Stone Mountain Confederate Monument

Fort Renamed After Confederate General’s Slave-Owner Father