Over the last few months there has been a focus on tearing down statues of Confederate generals and leaders. There have also been talks of renaming military bases across the United States. All of it is part of the left's cancel culture mentality. If something isn't politically correct or someone has a blemish in their history, he or she should not be memorialized.
According to President Donald Trump, it's important for Americans to remember our past.
"This week, you said that the Confederate flag and Black Lives Matter are both matters, issues of freedom of speech, but in the case of the Confederate flag, there are a lot of people who say 'These people are traitors who split from this country, fought this country, in large part, to preserve slavery.' Is the Confederate flag offensive?" Fox News' Chris Wallace asked on "Fox News Sunday."
"It depends on who you're talking about, when you're talking about. When people proudly have their Confederate flags, they're not talking about racism. They love their flag. It represents the South," Trump replied. "They like the South. People right now like the South. I say it's freedom of many things, but it's freedom of speech."
Wallace pushed back and asked Trump if he's offended by the Confederate flag.
"Well, I'm not offended either by Black Lives Matter. That's freedom of speech," the president explained. "The whole thing with cancel culture, we can't cancel our whole history. We can't forget that the North and the South fought. We have to remember that, otherwise we'll end up fighting again. You can't just cancel all."
Wallace asked Trump if he would veto the National Defense Authorization Act because Congress put a line in it about renaming military bases that are currently named after Confederate soldiers.
"I think that Ft. Bragg, Ft. Robert E. Lee, all of these forts that have been named that way for a long time, decades and decades –" Trump said. "... Ft. Bragg is a big deal. We won two world wars. No one even knows General Bragg. We won two world wars. Go to that community where Ft. Bragg is, in a great state. I love that state. Go to the community and say, 'How do you like the idea of renaming Ft. Bragg?'"
"And then what are we going to name it? You gonna name it after the Rev. Al Sharpton?" Trump asked sarcastically. "What're you gonna name it, Chris? Tell me what you're gonna name it. ... We won two world wars, beautiful world wars, that were vicious and horrible and we won them out of Ft. Bragg. We won them out of all of these forts that they now wanna throw those names away. And no, I'm against that. And you know what? Most other people are."
WATCH: President Trump on violence in our cities, the battle over police funding, and "cancel culture." Check your local listings #FoxNewsSunday pic.twitter.com/s6G6PewEel
— FoxNewsSunday (@FoxNewsSunday) July 19, 2020
Join the conversation as a VIP Member