Trump Planning To Bring Columbus Statue Thrown Into Baltimore’s Harbor in 2020 to Washington

President Trump is planning to install a reconstructed statue of the 15th-century explorer Christopher Columbus near the White House grounds. In 2020, the Carrara marble statue — unveiled by President Reagan in 1984 — was pulled off its pedestal at Baltimore’s Little Italy neighborhood and broken into three pieces during the protests that followed the killing of George Floyd. Demonstrators, who said the statue was a symbol of racism, rolled chunks of the statue into Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, angering the Italian-American community. After the statue was dumped into the harbor, a group of Italian-American businessmen and politicians raised an estimated $100,000 to recover the pieces of the statue from the harbor and reconstruct it. However, the sculpture was never returned to its Little Italy pedestal and has been kept in storage on Maryland’s Eastern Shore due to fear that it would be destroyed. Now, Mr. Trump is planning to give the Columbus statue a new home outside the White House, the Washington Post reports. It is expected that the figure will be placed on E Street to the north of the Ellipse in the coming weeks. However, three unnamed White House sources told the Post that those plans could change. A White House spokesman, Davis Ingle, did not confirm the plans, but told The New York Sun, “In this White House, Christopher Columbus is a hero. And he will continue to be honored as such by President Trump.”Mr. Trump has said he wants to reclaim the “extraordinary legacy of faith, courage, perseverance, and virtue” of the man credited with discovering America. In October, Mr. Trump issued a proclamation that he said would “reinstate” Columbus Day and honor “the original American hero.”“Columbus Day, we’re back, Italians. Okay? We love the Italians,” he said.Columbus Day was not eliminated as a federal holiday. However, the proclamation appeared to be aimed at countering a 2021 decree by President Biden that formally recognized the day as Indigenous Peoples’ Day, while also keeping the name Columbus Day.While left-wing protesters argue that Columbus’s legacy should not be celebrated — saying his exploration led to the exploitation of indigenous Americans — the explorer is still revered by members of the Italian-American community.A Republican member of the Maryland house involved in the recovery of the statue, Nino Mangione, told the Washington Post that the plan to place the statue at the White House is “such an honor for the Italian-American community.”“This proves that gangs, thugs, and people of that ilk don’t control things by mob rule,” he said. “In America, the people rule, and our voices are heard.”Last month, Mr. Trump said that “Italian people” are “very happy” about his decision to honor Columbus and added, “Remember when you go to the voting booths, I reinstated Columbus Day.”

Trump Planning To Bring Columbus Statue Thrown Into Baltimore’s Harbor in 2020 to Washington

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