President Trump Restoring Idea of the American Hero

Christopher Columbus statue and “Freedom’s Charge” statue placed at White House. Making America great again.

The new Christopher Columbus statue installed at the White House was built from pieces of a monument destroyed by Black Lives Matter in Baltimore.

Restoring some of what was destroyed—both symbolically and literally—during the BLM riots. The White House installed a Christopher Columbus statue in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building courtyard as well a “Freedom’s Charge” statue commemorating the revolutionary struggle for our independence. From Trump’s letter to the Italian Sons and Daughters of America: Christopher Columbus was the original American hero and one of the most gallant and visionary men to ever walk the face of the Earth. Guided by steadfast prayer and unwavering fortitude and resolve, Columbus’ voyage in 1492 carried thousands of years of wisdom, philosophy, reason, and culture across the Atlantic into the Americas-paving the way for the ultimate triumph of Western civilization less than three centuries later on July 4, 1776. As you know, the statue you generously gifted is an exact replica of the Columbus statue that stood for more than three decades in the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, Maryland-from when it was first dedicated by President Ronald Reagan in October 1984 until it was torn down by antiAmerican rioters and thrown into the harbor on July 4, 2020. I am truly honored that this magnificent statue will now sit on the grounds of the White House (ISDA).

What is going to be President Trump’s greatest legacy? Could it be enduring peace in the Middle East (after a definitive victory over the mullahs in Iran)? Border security? Setting us up for victory over our greatest economic and geo-political rival in the Chinese Communist Party? Roger Kimball is looking elsewhere: I suspect that his greatest achievement will be in the spiritual, not the material realm. In a word, Donald Trump has given America back its heroes. In recent years, we have been taught to disparage the giants who made us who we are. Christopher Columbus was supposed to have been bad for the Indians. Donald Trump restores Columbus to the pedestal upon which he used to stand, describing him as “the original American hero, a giant of Western civilization, and one of the most gallant and visionary men to ever walk the face of the earth.” The late English philosopher Roger Scruton popularized a fancy Greek word for the disease that has held America and the West in its grip for decades: “oikophobia,” “the repudiation of inheritance and home.” By restoring our collective memory through nobly wrought works of art that celebrate America, by demanding that federal buildings be beautiful as well as utilitarian, by dismantling the racist impositions of DEI and kindred banners of self-hatred and resentment, Donald Trump has give us back the culture of affirmation. He has repudiating our repudiations. That is why a couple of statues on the grounds of the White House are much more than a couple of statues. They are tokens of our restoration on the eve of America’s 250th anniversary (Spectator).

White House installs Christopher Columbus statue made from remains of toppled sculpture

By Victor Nava, NY post, March 22, 2026:

A new statue of Christopher Columbus went up on the White House grounds Sunday that was built using pieces from a monument to the Italian explorer that protesters destroyed six years ago.

The 13-foot, one-ton replica of a Columbus statue toppled in Baltimore in 2020 – then dumped into the city’s inner harbor – was commissioned by the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations and is part of the White House’s celebration of America’s 250th anniversary.

A new statue of Christopher Columbus went up on the White House grounds Sunday that was built in part with pieces from a monument to the Italian explorer destroyed by protesters six years ago.

Artists retrieved shards of marble belonging to the wrecked statue from the harbor that were used in the recreation – and reached out to the White House after officials in Baltimore refused to put the new monument up, according to the organization.

“Columbus statues have long stood as symbols of pride and cultural identity for more than 18 million Americans of Italian descent,” Basil M. Russo, the conference’s president, said in a statement. “For over a century, Columbus’s legacy helped Italian immigrants navigate prejudice and hardship, serving as a source of unity and belonging as they built new lives in this country.

“Columbus Day itself emerged in the aftermath of the 1891 New Orleans lynching, when 11 Italian immigrants were killed by a mob of thousands, an event that prompted a national effort to promote the acceptance and assimilation of Italian Americans,” Russo continued. “This history remains central to why these monuments matter.”

Baltimore’s Columbus statue was torn down in July 2020 by Black Lives Matter activists, who argued the Italian explorer was responsible for the genocide and exploitation of native peoples in the Americas.

The statue was owned by the city and dedicated in 1984 by former Mayor William Donald Schaefer and former President Ronald Reagan.

At the time of the statue’s destruction, a spokesperson for Baltimore’s then Mayor Jack Young said the monument “may represent different things to different people.”

“We understand the dynamics that are playing out in Baltimore are part of a national narrative,” the spokesperson told the Baltimore Sun.