The Trump administration is standing firm and will reportedly “not allow” the Emancipation Memorial to be destroyed by activists, who recently publicized their plans to tear it down.
“Just talked to @SecBernhardt. President @realDonaldTrump will not allow the Emancipation Memorial of President Lincoln to be destroyed by the left-wing mob,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said on Wednesday.
“Thank you to our law enforcement for protecting our national treasures,” he added:
Hundreds of National Guardsmen are on standby to protect D.C. monuments amid the growing tensions and threats. However, they will be unarmed, serving as “uniformed deterrence.”
“Since their activation, none of the National Guard members have been dispatched to actual monument locations to provide assistance to the NPP,” Pentagon spokesperson Lt. Col. Christian Mitchell said in a statement.
“They remain on standby at the D.C. Armory at this time. They will support U.S. Park Police at key monuments to prevent any defacing or destruction,” Mitchell added.
McCarthy’s statement follows a warning from a leftist agitator, who on Tuesday announced that protesters will tear down the bronze statue in Lincoln Park — which depicts Abraham Lincoln freeing a black slave — on Thursday at 7:00 p.m.
“Thursday at 7:00 p.m., we tearing this motherfucker down!” the activist said as the crowd surrounding the memorial applauded and cheered:
The agitator invited the crowd to follow an Instagram account titled @thefreedomneighborhood, which contains an update detailing their plans to take down the statue.
“This statue represents a message that the freedoms and liberation of black people can only happen if it is on the white mans [sic] terms,” the group said in Q&A post.
The agitators claim that they “respect Lincoln and his sacrifice” but they “do not respect the imagery of his hand over a freed slave and the message it sends to our black people.”
In its place, activists demand a statue or mural of a “black abolition leader based in Washington D.C, designed by a black artist, sculptor, or muralist,” specifically.
When asked,” Is the statue coming down?” the group answered, “Anything is possible when the people have the power”:
In the coming days, President Trump is expected to sign an executive order to address the growing attacks on monuments and statues.
“I will have an executive order very shortly, and all it’s really going to do is reinforce what’s already there but in a more uniform way,” he said on Tuesday.
“We are looking at long-term jail sentences for these vandals and these hoodlums and these anarchists and agitators,” Trump said. “They’re bad people. They don’t love our country, and they’re not taking down our monuments”:
“These are not protesters, by the way. These are anarchists and other things, if these hoodlums come around and these states can’t handle it, we are ready and willing to help,” the president added.
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