WASHINGTON – President Trump promised on Friday to remove legislation renaming military bases that honor Confederate leaders after Congress this week voted overwhelmingly to pass the measure.
Trump had previously threatened to use his presidential veto to kill the $ 740 billion defense bill, but lawmakers overruled it when the Senate and House approved the measure with veto-proof votes of 86-14 and 295- 125, respectively.
In a tweet Friday morning, the president announced that he was changing tactics and claimed that Republican Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and an ally of Trump, would help him crush the name change. .
“I spoke to the respected Senator (President) @JimInhofe, who informed me that he will NOT change the names of our great Military Bases and Forts, places from which we won two World Wars (and more!”), Said the president. wrote
“Like me, Jim doesn’t believe in ‘Cancel Culture,'” he continued.
It is unclear how successful Trump will be.
While the House of Representatives and the Senate must now meet to resolve any differences in their two bills, the overwhelming bipartisan votes suggest that there is an appetite among lawmakers to remove the names of Confederate soldiers from military bases.
The motion will require that the Pentagon change the name in the next three years of all military assets named by people who fought against the Union 155 years ago.
It comes as the nation engages in an emotional conversation about race after George Floyd’s death at the hands of white police in Minneapolis, an event that sparked civil rights protests once in a generation.
Trump has opposed the idea from the start, saying that Confederate military leaders were part of the “Great American Heritage.”
The military bases that would be renamed include Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Fort Benning in Georgia, which are named for Confederate People. Braxton Bragg and Henry Lewis Benning.
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