White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany defended President Donald Trump’s decision to condemn tearing down statues across America, wondering where the line is drawn during a press conference Monday.
PBS’s Yamiche Alcindor noted that Trump “has attacked the move to remove Confederate statues across the country,” adding that he called it “an assault on ‘our heritage.'” Alcindor asked McEnany what the administration has to say “to Americans who find it offensive to glorify people who owned other Americans, including enslaved African Americans.”
“So I would note on statues, that what we’re seeing across the country is really quite confusing because you are seeing statues defaced – like Gandhi’s statue defaced and Ulysses S. Grant statues defaced and abolitionist Matthias Baldwin statues defaced,” McEnany replied. “At the same time, we’re being told that the George Washington statue needs to come down, the Thomas Jefferson’s statue needs to come down. Where do you draw the line from Gandhi all the way to George Washington?”
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Throughout McEnany’s response, Alcindor tried to interject, saying that her question was only directed at Confederate statues. McEnany then brought up polls that she said shows that many of the American people disagree with having these statues taken down. (RELATED: ‘Not Doing Their Job’: Trump Criticizes DC Police As Confederate Statue Gets Toppled Right Outside Their Headquarters)
“So I would point that out and I will say that when people watch these statue defacements and the beheading of some of these statues, like Christopher Columbus — where do you draw the line? because apparently the line goes all the way to Gandhi,” McEnany continued.
Alcindor’s question comes as protesters around the country have toppled down and defaced various statues. Originally focusing on Confederate soldiers and generals, the move to remove figures has expanded to other monuments, Fox News reported Monday.
Some statues, like that of Theodore Roosevelt outside of New York’s American Museum of Natural History, are being removed professionally by city officials following years of outcry from activists.