President Donald Trump plans to honor some controversial figures from American history, according to a new report.
Part of Trump's big spending bill includes a $40 million allotment to build a sculpture garden at the White House with life-sized statues of 250 "mostly famous" Americans, according to The Washington Post. Some of the statues will depict heroes like George Washington, Rosa Parks, and Muhammad Ali. However, the newspaper reports that there are also several seemingly "intentionally controversial" and "obscure" figures included in the list as well.
The controversial figures who are planned to be honored include slave owners like former presidents Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Alexander Hamilton.
The list also includes politically controversial figures like Christopher Columbus, Antonin Scalia, and Barry Goldwater. Those figures are listed next to other figures like Hannah Arendt, Woody Guthrie, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Trump first announced plans for the sculpture garden during his first administration. A 2021 executive order issued shortly before former president Joe Biden's inauguration lists more than 200 names of people who could be honored in the garden. The chosen people represent “the American spirit of daring and defiance, excellence and adventure, courage and confidence, loyalty and love," according to the order.
Funding for the statue garden was redirected from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts, according to The Washington Post.
