Donald Trump wanted to have a “national hero garden” built. He wanted to choose himself who should be honored.
Washington DC / Keystone. – Shortly before the end of his term as US President, Donald Trump signed a decree that provided for a huge statue park in honor of the “greatest Americans”. The document was entitled “Building the National Garden of American Heroes”. It was planned that a total of 244 people should be honored in the park.
Trump’s initiative is and was – unsurprisingly – politically motivated: Among other things, the signed decree mentioned “dangerous, anti-American extremism”. This tries to “dismantle” the institutions, the history and the identity of the USA. He finally presented his idea of the statue park in a speech at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. The former US presidents Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson and Roosevelt are carved in stone there. The news agencies AP and Reuters report unanimously.
Donald Trump’s selection “provocative” – experts shocked by ex-president
The processing of the list, on which it was defined which 244 people should be honored, was the responsibility of Trump himself. When details of this became public, there was great confusion, as the criteria for its selection appeared highly questionable. The list included the names of singer Whitney Houston and presenter Alex Trebek. “The choices vary from weird to quite inappropriate to provocative,” said James R. Grossman, director of the American Historical Association, of the Washington Post.
“Building the National Garden of American Heroes”
Here you can find the document that Trump signed.
Karen Cox, professor of history at the University of North Carolina, emphasized: “It’s just so arbitrary.” Trump’s calculation is problematic, said Cox. He by no means goes into the reality and problems of people.
Even if Trump had won the 2020 US election, it would have been questionable whether the “national garden of American heroes” would ever have been implemented. For example, the financing was never clarified. Joe Biden has now revoked the executive order – and put an end to Trump’s plans.
Last year it was also announced that Trump was apparently planning to have a memorial erected on Mount Rushmore. (do)
