President Donald Trump plans to install a reconstructed Christopher Columbus statue on White House grounds, reviving a monument torn down during the 2020 racial justice protests and reigniting a long-running culture war over how America honors its past. According to the Washington Post, the statue—originally unveiled by Ronald Reagan and later dumped into Baltimore’s harbor—was recovered and rebuilt by a group of Italian American businessmen and Republican allies, who say it symbolizes immigrant pride rather than conquest. The White House has embraced that framing, with a spokesman declaring Columbus a “hero,” even as critics continue to point to the explorer’s role in violence, enslavement, and genocide against Indigenous people.
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