Trump vows to bring Columbus Day back ‘from the ashes’
President Donald Trump vowed Sunday to bring back Columbus Day "from the ashes," while calling out Democrats for doing everything possible to destroy Christopher Columbus’ reputation.
"I’m bringing Columbus Day back from the ashes," the president wrote in a post on Truth Social. "The Democrats did everything possible to destroy Christopher Columbus, his reputation, and all of the Italians that love him so much.
"They tore down his Statues, and put up nothing but ‘WOKE,’ or even worse, nothing at all! Well, you’ll be happy to know, Christopher is going to make a major comeback," Trump added. "I am hereby reinstating Columbus Day under the same rules, dates, and locations, as it has had for all of the many decades before!"
Columbus is commonly credited with discovering the "New World." This after journeying across the Atlantic Ocean from Spain to find a direct route from Europe to Asia without traveling around the massive African continent. This inadvertently bridged the divide between Europe and what would eventually become North and South America.
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Columbus' ships – the Niña, the Pinta and the Santa Maria – most likely landed on San Salvador, one of the Bahamian islands, before moving to different locations in search of valuable resources.
The controversial part of his history, however, revolves around enslavement and colonization.
In recent years, the Columbus Day holiday has come under heightened scrutiny, with many opting to honor Indigenous Peoples' Day instead.
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In fact, several statues of Columbus have been removed, defaced or even dragged and submerged into water over the past few years because of the controversy surrounding the historical figure.
An 8-foot-tall bronze statue of Columbus once housed at the entrance of Byrd Park in Richmond, Virginia, was uprooted by protesters in light of George Floyd’s 2020 death until finding a new home in a New York City suburb last year.
In images from the tumultuous summer, protesters are seen marching near the statue, holding signs that called for removal of imagery that recognizes colonizers to pay respect to indigenous communities.
Other reports and images show the statue on the ground after being pulled down from its pedestal with ropes, defaced with spray paint and lit on fire.
The protesters then dragged the statue to a nearby pond and submerged it in water.
The nearly 100-year-old homage to Columbus was later retrieved and restored before eventually being shipped to its new home at the Rockland Sons of Italy Lodge in the hamlet of Blauvelt, located approximately 20 miles northwest of New York City.
Fox News Digital’s Taylor Penley contributed to this report.