The origin of the hoax about President Donald Trump praising neo-Nazis by saying there were very fine people on both sides dates back to the controversy over whether or not the statue of Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville should be removed, as the city had voted, or preserved as a historical artifact. (The statue was eventually removed and famously melted down, with the metal to be used in an art project.) Trump asked where the taking down of statues would stop. George Washington? Thomas Jefferson?
There's long been a push to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples' Day, and statues of Christopher Columbus were among those that were knocked down or otherwise vandalized during the statue-destroying craze. In 2020, Popular Mechanics magazine published a piece on "the best, safest ways" to bring a statue you no longer liked to the ground.
It looks like we're in for a minor controversy now that Trump has erected a replica of the Columbus statue toppled in Baltimore during "racial justice protests" outside of the Eisenhowever Executive Office Building.
A statue of Christopher Columbus has been erected outside of an ornate federal office building on the White House grounds — the latest sign of the Trump administration's efforts to reshape cultural and historical representations across the nation's capital.
— CNN (@CNN) March 23, 2026
The installation of… pic.twitter.com/QaCZGJxBT9
The post continues:
… the statue — which is a replica of one toppled in Baltimore during racial justice protests in 2020 — occurred over the weekend outside of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
Piper Hudspeth Blackburn reports for CNN:
President Donald Trump, in a letter published by the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations, praised the group for its “incredible generosity” in bringing the statue to Washington after the original was “torn down by anti-American rioters.”
Many statues of Columbus, an Italian often falsely credited as the first overseas explorer to discover America, were taken down at the height of the demonstrations over George Floyd’s murder in 2020. Columbus has long been a contentious figure in history for his treatment of Indigenous communities and for his role ushering in European colonization in the Americas.
The White House said it’s “proud” to honor Columbus. “As we celebrate our Nation’s 250th anniversary of independence, the White House is proud to honor Christopher Columbus’s legendary life and legacy with a well-deserved statue on the White House grounds,” spokesman Davis Ingle said in a statement to CNN on Monday.
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George Floyd's "murder." Whatever you say.
We are so, so back
— Kyle Raccio (@kyleraccio) March 23, 2026
Removing all of those historical statues was just as much of an attempt to "reshape cultural and historical representations across the nation's capital."
— Me (@Keefer1958) March 23, 2026
I believe the word you are looking for is "restore", not "reshape".
— IT Guy (@ITGuy1959) March 23, 2026
Reshape culture? More like preserve and return. pic.twitter.com/lZiTmhEnAU
— Bob Johnson (@realBob_Johnson) March 23, 2026
My God did you have an AI prompt write this drivel?
— 🦅🦅TwoEaglesMom🦅🦅 (@TwoEaglesMom2) March 23, 2026
It is placed outside the Eisenhower Building in Washington DC.
The marble had been rescued from the original statue the BLM had torn down in Baltimore.
Baltimore refused to put it back up.
I don't think the Trump administration did the "reshaping."
— Sue (@SusanK1717) March 23, 2026
That comment is really strange. That is actual history and to suggest otherwise is just bizarre. 🤦♂️
— William Mitchelson (@WRMitchelson) March 23, 2026
“Racial justice protests”. You aren’t despised enough.
— Stark (@Foldedspace) March 23, 2026
"Protests" which resulted in the destruction of a one of a kind work of art...those are riots CNN.
— Blaine Pardoe (@bpardoe870) March 23, 2026
“Toppled” during “racial justice protests”
— TECHTONIK ⚔️ (@TechTonik808) March 23, 2026
Unreal
Trying to reshape history is removing statues of significant historical importance, and pretending they never existed.
— The Chemist 2.0 (@jacek_kapu94021) March 23, 2026
CNN: Tearing down statues is progress, putting them back up is fascism
— ahrii.luvv (@ahriiluvv) March 23, 2026
"His role ushering in European colonization in the Americas" should not be "contentious."
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