President Donald Trump’s preferred news program “Fox & Friends” equated Confederate statues to the 9/11 memorials on Monday, the 16th anniversary of the terror attacks.
For Monday’s show, “Fox & Friends” invited Donald Trump’s secretary of the interior Ryan Zinke on to talk about his visit to Pennsylvania to commemorate 9/11.
Zinke is visiting the Quaker State to see the Shanksville memorial to the innocent victims on United Flight 93 who thwarted another attack on Washington, D.C. The passengers’ actions “is an example of America sticking together,” Zinke said. He described the memorial as “magnificently designed and magnificently done — an example of public-private partnerships, communities, and our National Parks System working together to commemorate, I would think, American heroes.”
Host Brian Kilmeade then asked Zinke if he worries that “that 100 years from now, someone is going to take that memorial down like they are trying remake our memorials today?”
Many conservatives have pushed back against the removal of Confederate statues and monuments in the wake of the violent white supremacist rallies in Charlottesville, Virginia, last month.
“I’m one who believes, you know, that we should learn from history. And I think our monuments are a part of our country’s history,” Zinke replied.
“I think reflecting on our history, both good and bad, is a powerful statement and part of our DNA. I’m an advocate, again, of learning from our monuments, understanding the period they were made,” Zinke concluded. “But also we live in a great country and monuments are not Republican, Democrat, or independent. Monuments are a tribute to all of us.”
See the exchange above.