On Tuesday morning, President Trump sent out a tweet announcing his immediate plans to enforce the Veteran’s Memorial Preservation Act, which protects Federal monuments and statues from vandalism and has hefty prison sentences of up to ten years for defacing or destroying such pieces if public property.
Trump’s tweets read, “I have authorized the Federal Government to arrest anyone who vandalizes or destroys any monument, statue or other such Federal property in the U.S. with up to 10 years in prison, per the Veteran’s Memorial Preservation Act, or such other laws that may be pertinent.… This action is taken effective immediately, but may also be used retroactively for destruction or vandalism already caused. There will be no exceptions!”
The law will protect monuments across the country, including the Nation’s Capitol, where vandals have been attempting to create an “autonomous zone” similar to the one created in Seattle, WA. But other than the Washington, D.C., historic monuments have been the target of destruction, including the Shaw 54th Regiment Memorial in Boston, a statue dedicated to the victims of the Armenian Genocide in Denver, and various obelisks, including one in the heart of downtown in the nation’s oldest capital city, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Many liberal public leaders are caving to radicals demanding these historic landmarks be removed, or using the tragic death of George Floyd as an “opportunity,” as Santa Fe’s Mayor Alan Webber repeatedly said in an address last Wednesday before he ordered the removal of several statues and monuments.
However, a grassroots petition in opposition to the hasty removal of landmarks has already reached over 1,800 signers demanding Mayor Webber and the Santa Fe City Council involve the public in any decision to remove historical images across the city.
President Trump’s orders will go into effect immediately and will work retroactively to punish vandals who previously defaced or destroyed historic monuments, meaning the search is now on for the culprits who defaced images across the country.