Billy Graham, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass: Who Trump wants in the 'National Garden of American Heroes
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President Donald Trump announced during a speech in front of Mount Rushmore on Friday an executive order to establish a "National Garden of American Heroes" featuring statues of "historically significant Americans."
The executive order includes a list of former American presidents and historical figures to feature – with Ronald Reagan, Abraham Lincoln, Amelia Earhart, and Billy Graham among them.
Trump's effort to build more statues comes as protesters across the U.S. have torn down statues in protest of police violence against Black people in the wake of George Floyd's death in May.
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Trump has condemned the protesters tearing down statues, which have included Robert. E. Lee and Christopher Columbus, among others, and signed a separate order in June to provide long prison sentences to people who remove or vandalize statues and other historical monuments.
In his speech Friday in South Dakota, Trump said protesters were "determined to tear down every statue, symbol, and memory of our national heritage." The executive order also mentions efforts to tear down statues.
'We'd all love for the election to be over today'
Trump’s wins in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, three pivotal states that historically vote Democratic, proved fatal for Clinton in 2016. Winning back the Rust Belt is key for Biden, who currently holds a polling lead of 6-points or greater in each, according to the Real Clear Politics average of polls.
Democratic leaders in these states say they began rebuilding campaign infrastructure quickly after their 2016 defeats in preparation for 2020.
“I don’t think anybody is comfortable with these numbers,” said Lavora Barnes, chairwoman of the Michigan Democratic Party. “There were people in 2016 who, very early on, because of who Donald Trump was, thought, ‘How could this nation possibly choose Donald Trump?’ Now that that’s happened, we recognize that we should never count anybody out.”
Barnes said the Clinton campaign started focusing on Michigan “late,” following the party conventions in the late summer, but said the Biden campaign is already working closely with the state party’s operations.