President Donald Trump was reportedly furious after defense security Mark Esper effectively banned the Confederate flag on military bases, CNN reported.
CNN reported that while Esper did not directly mention the flag by name, the new de facto ban would prevent the flag from being displayed on military bases.
Trump has previously defended the flag. In an interview with CBS News earlier this month, Trump said, “Well, people love it, and I don’t see it, I know people who like the Confederate flag and don’t think about slavery.”
Business Insider noted that: “Confederate leaders explicitly stated in their constitution that the Confederation’s primary objective was to preserve slavery.”
This is not the only case in which Trump was angered by the removal of Confederate symbols. According to CNN, Trump said he would veto the $ 740 billion National Defense Authorization Act that was passed in the House earlier this week if it removed Confederate names from military bases.
—Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 24, 2020
Business Insider previously reported that the US Army was considering renaming nearly a dozen military bases with the names of Confederate military leaders.
Esper and Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy said they would consider the measure on a “bipartisan” basis, according to the spokesman for the US military.
It’s also not the first time that Trump and Esper have disagreed. In June, The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump was angry and almost furious with Esper, when the defense secretary disagreed publicly with his suggestion to send troops to quell the protests.
