Trump Continues To Oppose Renaming Military Bases Honoring Confederates
In an interview aired on Sunday, Donald Trump again expressed support for symbols honoring the Confederacy, and upheld a previous threat to cut critical funding authorized for the military if officials decide to rename bases that currently commemorate Confederate generals.
In recent weeks, as Trump has tried to shift America’s attention from a worsening pandemic and spiraling economy, he has amplified a bevy of white racial grievance issues. His Sunday remarks are the latest in a string of full-throated appeals he has made to sympathizers of the Confederacy, which sought to secede from the U.S. and uphold legal slavery during the Civil War.
During a Fox News interview, Trump didn’t back away from his threat to veto the National Defense Authorization Act if officials rename bases. The NDAA is responsible for funding military expenses like pay raises and military operations. In June, a Pentagon official said the secretary of defense and the secretary of the Army are both “open” to renaming the bases.
“I don’t care what the military says,” Trump told host Chris Wallace on Sunday. “I’m supposed to make the decision.”
There are 10 Army bases named after Confederates: Fort Bragg in North Carolina; Camp Beauregard and Fort Polk in Louisiana; Fort Benning and Fort Gordon in Georgia; Fort Rucker in Alabama; Fort Hood in Texas; and Fort A.P. Hill, Fort Lee and Fort Pickett in Virginia.
“Fort Bragg was a big deal. We won two World Wars ― nobody even knows General Bragg ― we won two World Wars,” Trump told Wallace.
Braxton Bragg was a Confederate general who purchased and forced dozens of enslaved people to work on his sugar plantation.
“What are you gonna name it? You’re gonna name it after Al Sharpton?” Trump asked.
"I don't care what the military says" -- Trump dismisses military's support for renaming bases named after Confederate generals pic.twitter.com/ICGy2GTnXn
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 19, 2020
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