How Not to Defend America's Heritage

In his speech at Mount Rushmore, President Trump came out against the current mania of mindless iconoclasm.

Politically, it’s an obvious play. Sinking in the polls and going into what ought to be the middle of his reelection campaign down by nearly ten points, Trump is grasping for anything he can use to prop himself up, and the rioters of the far left have given him a gift. When they were protesting against monuments to the Confederacy, Trump couldn’t oppose them without looking like he was endorsing the Lost Cause. But then they went on a senseless rampage, attacking statues of Union generals, abolitionists, random dead white dudes, an elk, and even the Emancipation Monument, for crying out loud.

So this is a gimme, an easy layup for Trump to present himself as a defender of our nation’s history—or even as a defender of art and culture, no matter how implausible that may seem.

But Trump is the wrong man for this message and the way he’s going about it is only going to make things worse.

Read the rest at The Bulwark.