An interview with the president
As I walked into to the Oval Office, President Donald Trump was going over new polls — some internal, some not — showing him tied or leading Joe Biden in key swing states. “Pennsylvania tied. Florida, up one. Wisconsin, up one. Texas, up five. Arizona, Trump 49, Biden 45; North Carolina, Trump up three. And then Montana: Trump up a lot - 5238,” he said.
While some in the Republican Party may be panicking over other polls showing an uphill climb for reelection, the president remains confident. “I haven’t really even started to campaign yet,” he said, adding: “Now, campaigning’s a little bit tough because of the coronavirus. This thing, what China did to us, is just unbelievable. We were sailing, it was unstoppable. And then, this happened. And it’s [a] shame, but now [we’ve] got to go back to work. But I think we’re doing really well.”
Our conversation turned to negative media coverage of his outstanding speech at Mount Rushmore on July 3. The speech, he said, “was actually not dark, it was the opposite of dark.” “What’s dark is the other side. .
. . They’re trying to take everything down. And I think they’re crazy, but I also think they’re evil. There’s an evilness to it. And I can’t believe that there’s not more pushback. I mean, I push back. But people who are on the other side of the issue, are like lambs being led to slaughter. They’re like lambs being led to slaughter. They’re going to get slaughtered if they don’t push back.”
During his speech, Trump praised Abraham Lincoln for winning the Civil War and issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, and called slavery an “evil institution.” So why is Trump so adamant about defending Confederate memorials? “Oh, I’m not,” the president says. “But I am adamant about defending the past. It’s part of our history. They’re taking down everything. They’re taking down history, they’re taking down so much, Marc. They’re taking down everything and they call it ‘cancel culture.’ ... These people are crazy. They’ve gone stone-cold crazy.”
The president’s critics in the media conflate his criticism of mobs tearing down statues with criticism of the broader racial justice movement. So, I asked him point blank: Do you support the peaceful protests? “Peaceful protests for racial justice? Absolutely. Peaceful protests, period. Absolutely. I support peaceful protests,” he said. What he does not support is mob violence and cancel culture. “You had people that were far-left radical maniacs, they were anarchists, and they were agitators, and you also had other people that were there and they didn’t know what they were doing. They got caught up in the whole thing.”
Trump also says he has no love for the Confederacy. “I’m against it. It was my opponent. I was born in New York, I’m against it . . . . I am a Yankee. But I also believe in free speech, and I believe in history. You can’t erase history. If you erase it, you’re going to repeat it.”
What about the military posts and bases named for Confederate generals?
What about naming them for some of the American heroes Trump named during his remarks at Mount Rushmore? “I would, but I’m not sure that you could get them,” he said. “It won’t be accepted.”
But if he could control it, would he rename them? “If I could control it . . .” He paused and thought for a moment, then said, “I believe in history. To me, this was Fort Bragg named after somebody as a reconciliation matter. I mean he was a general, he was a tough general, he’s very tough, but this was done for reconciliation. These bases were named to bring the South because it was tremendous animosity from the many years to bring the South . . .” But, I interjected, that’s been accomplished, so the names are not needed anymore. “Yeah, but you could also say then did they go back on the deal?”
This is a mistake. If Trump directed the Army to rename bases for the Founding Fathers, he would be striking a blow against the cancel culture, not giving in to it. But Trump is absolutely right to fight back against the cancel culture. And his message will resonate more than many in Washington realize. “It takes guts to say what I say,” he said on Wednesday. “I mean, I understand, I could do it a lot easier, but it would be the wrong thing to do. I could say I’m against everything — ‘I’m against everything, I’m totally in favor of all of the hate.’ — The real hate is not the hate from me. The real hate is the hate from the other side on many of the things that we talk about.”
“Maybe I’m a voice in the wilderness,” he said, “but most people agree with me. And many won’t say it, and they might not even say it in a poll, but I think they’ll say it in an election.”