President Trump declared that the second Monday in October is officially “Columbus Day”—as it’s been since 1934—in a wide-ranging Cabinet meeting Thursday afternoon.
The president signed an official proclamation, claiming “It’s Columbus Day,” as the Cabinet broke out in applause.
“We’re back,” said Trump. “We’re back, Italians. We love the Italians.”
The proclamation calls Christopher Columbus “the original American hero” before going through some flattering, elementary history of the Italian explorer.
Trump’s proclamation goes on to criticize left-wing Americans who take issue with the history of Christopher Columbus.
“Christopher Columbus has been a prime target of a vicious and merciless campaign to erase our history, slander our heroes, and attack our heritage,” it says.
“Before our very eyes, left-wing radicals toppled his statues, vandalized his monuments, tarnished his character, and sought to exile him from our public spaces. Under my leadership, those days are finally over — and our Nation will now abide by a simple truth: Christopher Columbus was a true American hero.“
Since FDR declared Columbus Day a federal holiday in 1934, the second Monday in October has always been “Columbus Day” in America. However, advocacy groups have emphasized the darker side of Columbus’ 1492 “discovery” of America for decades.
For example, in 1992, jurors in a mock trial of Christopher Columbus found him guilty of murder, torture, slavery, forced labor, kidnapping, violence and robbery during his reign as governor of the new Spanish colony of Hispaniola in the Caribbean. Displeased with Columbus’ brutality and mismanagement of their colony, the Spanish Crown arrested and removed Columbus from his post in 1500.
As a result, some states began celebrating the second Monday of October as “Indigenous Peoples’ Day,” focusing the holiday on Native Americans rather than Columbus. Joe Biden became the first president to formally proclaim the holiday “Indigenous Peoples’ Day” in 2021.
However, Biden’s proclamation did not officially change the name of the holiday—that would take an act of Congress—meaning the holiday has always been officially known as Columbus Day. Trump’s proclamation simply signals that the administration is not going to call it “Indigenous Peoples’ Day.”
Trump’s proclamation was but one order of business in a meeting that included Trump discussing the first steps in his Israel/Gaza peace plan, boasting of how he’s going to lower drug prices by the mathematically impossible “500%,” threatening to cut “Democrat programs” in the shutdown, accusing Democrats of “wanting” and “inciting” crime, and insulting Nancy Pelosi.
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