Trump to revive Confederate generals like Robert E. Lee to navy bases after Biden modified them | EUROtoday

President Donald Trump on Tuesday stated he’s restoring the names of Confederate traitors who fought to maintain Black folks enslaved to American navy bases throughout the nation regardless of Congress mandating their elimination in a legislation enacted over his veto 5 years in the past.

Speaking to active-duty troops at Fort Bragg in North Carolina — which had been renamed Fort Liberty below President Joe Biden — Trump advised the assembled troopers he would even be restoring the names of Fort Pickett, Fort Hood, Fort Rucker, Fort Polk, Fort AP Hill and Fort Robert E. Lee.

All of these bases are within the south — which shaped the previous pro-slavery confederacy — and had been named by southern lawmakers who sought to honor the “Lost Cause” of the combat in opposition to emancipating Black slaves.

“We won a lot of battles out of those forts — it’s no time to change,” stated Trump, who stated he was “very superstitious” and due to this fact in opposition to renaming the bases regardless of Congress ordering it achieved within the waning months of his first time period.

Trump really vetoed the laws mandating the renaming of bases that honored Confederate generals, the Fiscal Year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, in December 2020, citing the provisions for renaming the amenities as justification for the unprecedented rejection of the must-pass invoice.

In a veto message, Trump complained that the NDAA “would require the renaming of certain military installations,” with these provisions having been added by House and Senate members within the wake of racial justice protests following the May 2020 homicide of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.

“Over the course of United States history, these locations have taken on significance to the American story and those who have helped write it that far transcends their namesakes,” he stated, condemning Congress’ directive as a “politically motivated attempts like this to wash away history and to dishonor the immense progress our country has fought for in realizing our founding principles.”

That 2020 legislation stays in impact, which implies Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth should discover different veterans with similar names to rename the bases after.

Earlier this 12 months, Hegseth ordered the title Fort Bragg to be restored. But as an alternative of honoring Confederate basic Braxton Bragg, the bottom is now named for a a lot lower-ranked soldier, Private First Class Roland L. Bragg, a World War II veteran who earned a Silver Star and Purple Heart for his actions through the Battle of the Bulge.

In a press release on the time, Senate Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Jack Reed, the Democratic Senator from Rhode Island, stated Hegseth had “not violated the letter of the law, but he has violated its spirit.”