Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been working overtime to restore the U.S. history that fits his—and MAGA’s—agenda.
On Thursday, the former Fox News talking head loudly blasted leftist “lemmings” for tearing down monuments commemorating history linked to the Confederacy and slave owners.
“We recognize our history. We don’t erase it,” he said on Fox News’ “The Will Cain Show.” “We don’t follow the woke lemmings off the cliff that want to tear down statues.”
And while Hegseth said he and the rest of the Trump administration are “proud of our history” and that they are “done” with “tearing stuff down,” it seems that only applies to history that is white, male, and straight.
Hegseth’s most recent restoration push involves two monuments in particular: the Reconciliation Monument and a statue celebrating Confederate Gen. Albert Pike.
Moses Ezekiel’s Reconciliation Monument, which was removed from Arlington Cemetery in 2023, was erected in 1914, nearly 50 years after the Civil War ended, as a way to commemorate the reconciliation between the North and the South. However, critics have found the bronze statue’s carvings depicting slavery less than heartwarming.
As for Pike’s statue, it was removed from a Washington park in 2020 after being toppled by protesters but the Trump administration announced on Tuesday that it will be reinstalled.
Related | Statues of racist traitors welcomed back in Trump’s America
Hegseth has also restored the names of military bases that once glorified Confederate leaders, some of whom were slave owners. Some of the bases include Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Fort Pickett in Virginia, Fort Benning in Georgia, and Fort Hood in Texas.
But even as he has worked to restore the names of military bases and controversial statues that critics say make light of slavery, Hegseth is trying to erase history in other ways.
As Daily Kos has previously reported, Hegseth got straight to work after his controversial Senate confirmation to make sure that the U.S. military scrubbed its social media and websites of any traces of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
In turn, years of historical content featuring women and people of color vanished from official records in the name of anti-DEI efforts.
But it wasn’t just recent online content that got the ax. In early March, the administration removed an image of the historical B-29 bomber Enola Gay—just because it included the word “Gay” in the name.
The historical plane pictured on the Pentagon’s website dropped the first atomic bomb over Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II.
In other words, as Hegseth complains about the left “erasing” history, the Trump administration is busy doing just that.