Former President Donald Trump is condemning the removal of the nation’s largest Confederate statue. A statue that pays tribute to Confederate General Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Virginia.
Trump issued a statement Wednesday calling Lee “the greatest strategist of them all.” He claimed Lee was more skilled than current U.S. generals.
In a reference to the just-ended 20 years of unsuccessful war in Afghanistan, Trump wrote, “If only we had Robert E. Lee to command our troops in Afghanistan, that disaster would have ended in a complete and total victory many years ago.”
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The statue came down yesterday, 130 years after it was erected. Virginia Governor Ralph Northam ordered that the statue be removed in June of last year, but the process was delayed by a legal battle which wrapped up last week. He called the move an important step in showing who the commonwealth is and what they value.
Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney also said in a statement, “Richmond is no longer the capital of the confederacy.” Adding, “We are a diverse, open, and welcoming city, and our symbols need to reflect this reality.”
