Donald Trump Praises Andrew Jackson’s Legacy, Dismisses Harriet Tubman Change As ‘Political Correctness’
Donald Trump criticized the U.S. Treasury’s decision to replace Andrew Jackson with Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill, calling the change “pure political correctness.”
Speaking with NBC’s Today Show this morning, Donald Trump blasted the Treasury Department for planning to replace Andrew Jackson — the U.S. president responsible for the infamous “Trail of Tears” — with the less contentious choice, Harriet Tubman, an abolitionist who bravely fought to end slavery in the United States.
“Andrew Jackson had a great history. I think it’s very rough, when you take somebody off the bill, Andrew Jackson had a history of tremendous success for the country,” said Donald Trump this morning, singing praises of President Andrew Jackson, who engineered one of the most infamous acts of genocide in the history of the United States.
Donald Trump stated this morning that he doesn’t dislike Harriet Tubman, he called her contributions to the abolitionist cause “fantastic,” but Trump said removing Jackson is the wrong call — according to the Republican frontrunner, who has been a vocal critic of “political correctness” in American society. Still, critics of Andrew “Old Hickory” Jackson stand firm in the belief that the controversial U.S. President does not belong on U.S. currency.
“The Trail of Tears is one of the largest-scale acts of ethnic cleansing in history, with its explicit end the eventual annihilation of the Five Civilized Tribes as peoples in the name of progress,” writes Arthur Chu for the Daily Beast. “Jackson brazenly, callously spat on the treaties that had been established with our erstwhile allies in the name of convenient access to cheap land.”
Donald Trump expressed his opposition to the change — replacing Andrew Jackson with Harriet Tubman — by echoing the sentiments of Trump campaign surrogate and former rival Ben Carson, who stated he’d rather see Tubman honored on the $2 bill, a much less common denomination. Carson, as Inquisitr reported previously, supports putting Tubman on U.S. currency, but does not support the removal of Andrew Jackson.
“I don’t like seeing it. Yes, I think it’s pure political correctness. Been on the bill for many many years, and really represented — somebody that was really very important to this country. I would love to see another denomination and that could take place. I think it would be more appropriate,” said Donald Trump this morning, speaking in support of Andrew Jackson.
Donald Trump characterizes Andrew Jackson’s legacy as a “great history” and a “tremendous success” for the United States, a claim that has already attracted sharp criticism from commentators. Trump however, echoed Ben Carson’s support for Andrew Jackson’s legacy — Carson was quick to point out that Andrew Jackson was the last president in U.S. history to balance the U.S. budget, an act that Carson praised last night on Fox News.
“Andrew Jackson was the last president who actually balanced the federal budget, where we had no national debt. In honor of that, we kick him off of the money,” said Ben Carson, expressing opposition to the change on U.S. currency.
.@RealBenCarson: "I love Harriet Tubman. I love what she did. But we can find another way to honor her." @TeamCavutohttps://t.co/2QkQy0rt5L
— FOX Business (@FoxBusiness) April 20, 2016
Andrew Jackson, the president whose legacy Trump characterizes as “great” and “important” for American history, was responsible for the forced relocation of Native Americans in order to clear the way for American settlers. Andrew Jackson’s edicts and famous anti-Native American rhetoric and policy resulted in thousands of deaths – men, women, and children who died either during forced marches or in the concentration camps set up and authorized under the bill signed into law by Andrew Jackson. The “Indian Removal Act of 1830” was signed into law by Andrew Jackson, who himself had been a vocal opponent of American Natives.
“They have neither the intelligence, the industry, the moral habits, nor the desire of improvement which are essential,” said Andrew Jackson of the Native American population he forcibly resettled under the Indian Removal Act of 1830.
[Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images]
