Trump promises to protect Christopher Columbus' legacy, accuses Abdul El-Sayed of seeking to eliminate Columbus Day
The president assured that his administration will protect Columbus's legacy against those who, he said, seek to tear down historical symbols and erase part of America's heritage.
A statue of Christopher Columbus in New York (File photo)
President Donald Trump promised on Friday to protect the legacy of Christopher Columbus against what he described as attempts by the radical left to erase him from history. During a Columbus Day celebration at the White House, he accused Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate from Michigan, of wanting to abolish the holiday.
"As you know, the radical left communists hate Columbus, and they want to abolish Columbus Day. They’re still trying very hard," Trump said during the event held in the East Room of the White House.
The president referred to El-Sayed by a name other than his own and used sarcasm to question him about his stance on the holiday.
"You know this guy, I call him Mohammed Al Fayad. Some people call him Abdul. I call him Mohammed. Somebody said, ‘Why?’ I said, ‘I don’t know. I feel like it.’ But he wants to abolish Columbus Day… Can you believe it?" he said.
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Trump assured that his administration will protect Columbus's legacy against those who, he said, seek to tear down historical symbols and erase part of America's heritage.
"But I’ll tell you what, we’re going to be here almost two and a half years… He’s going to be so protected, like nobody’s ever been protected before, because they want to tear down the history and heritage that makes us who we are," he said.
Trump defends American historical figures
Trump recalled that there were attempts to tear down a statue of Lincoln and rejected criticism that, he said, labeled him a racist.
"Not only Columbus. I mean, we had a time when they wanted to rip down the statue of Abraham Lincoln. That was about the end… Now we’ve hit pay dirt, you know… because they thought he was a racist. But he’s the one that freed the country," he said.
The president also denounced the fact that George Washington's name had been removed from numerous educational institutions.
"George Washington: they’ve taken the name of George Washington off schools, many schools…But these are different days now. Now we don’t do that anymore," he stated.
"So we protect Lincoln, we protect Washington, we protect Thomas Jefferson. They wanted to rip down Thomas Jefferson’s memorial," he added.
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