We have to nip this one in the bud

| 3:00 pm EDT June 28, 2020
Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand the difficult era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight. We're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can donate here.

As Jon Stewart said in a chat with Trevor Noah, Confederate statues should have been removed by “a normal functioning society years ago.” He’s absolutely right. Most of the statues were erected well after the Civil War, with some having been erected very recently. Why do people want to commemorate traitors? Easy answer — because those monuments still stand for their oppressively backwards beliefs. For the same reasons, this is why we cannot let there be a single statue to Donald Trump.

Trump is, easily, the most polarizing political figure in recent—perhaps all of—American history. You either love him like one of your children, or you wish he would never leave Trump Tower again. But that’s irrelevant to my point that we cannot let any statues of Trump stand. Trump, like the Confederate statues we are finally toppling, stands for oppressive, racist, sexist, and generally hateful beliefs. To commemorate him would be not only a waste of bronze, but a waste of taxpayer money. The only good a Trump statue could do is spare the pavement from some bird shit.

We need to start having the conversation now. It took over 150 years to start saying “no” to statues that memorialize apartheid, murder, treason, and slavery. How long will it take for us to say “no” to a statue of a man who has done more than any foreign adversary to sow domestic division in this country? What about a man who, at the time of writing this, has the blood of over 120,000 Americans on his hands? A man who created internment camps for countless innocent refugees? A man who doesn’t seem to care whether our troops live or die.

We have a duty to nip this in the bud. Say “NO” to Trump monuments. There is no honor in honoring a dishonorable man, only foolishness. And to those who say that we need a monument to teach future generations about the plague that was the Trump administration, I say this: print out every tweet the man posted since he started campaigning. You’ll fill up a textbook in no time.

Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand the difficult era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight. We're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can donate here.