A Fox News host asked South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem Wednesday night if she’s concerned that liberals are “coming for Mount Rushmore.”
Fox News’ Sean Duffy brought up how New York is taking down statues of Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt. The Jefferson statue, which was in New York City Hall for close to two centuries, is being moved to the New York Historical Society. Meanwhile, the Roosevelt Statue — which had been prominently featured at the American Museum of Natural History for many years — is moving to North Dakota.
The Jefferson statue was scrutinized because, as officials argued, “It makes me deeply uncomfortable knowing that we sit in the presence of a statue that pays homage to a slaveholder who fundamentally believed that people who look like me were inherently inferior, lacked intelligence, and were not worthy of freedom or right.”
The Roosevelt statue, meanwhile, faced scrutiny because of its depiction of an African-American man and a Native American man walking behind him. Theodore Roosevelt IV, great-grandson to the U.S. president, said last year he supports its removal.
Noem remarked to Duffy, “You talked about a lot of other states that are tearing down statues, South Dakota’s putting them up. In fact, we’re taking the four presidents that are on Mount Rushmore, we’re building statues to them and putting them on our Capitol rotunda, so that we can send a message to the rest of the world that we’re proud of our leaders.”
“We know that they’re flawed,” she continued, “but they led us through challenging times.”
Duffy applauded her for being an “awesome” governor defending history.
“There is a concern because the left is canceling two of the faces on Mount Rushmore,” he continued. “Any concerns about the left coming for Mount Rushmore in South Dakota?”
“There was a lot of threats,” Noem said, “especially when President Trump visited July 3rd of 2020. In fact, we had to put security folks out there.”
She recalled that people “were threatening to blow it up” or threatening to pour red paint all over it.
“The real hate in this country, I think, for our history, we have to recognize has been around for a very long time. Although it’s not been something that so many people in the country have been aware of,” Noem said.
You can watch above, via Fox News.
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