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Trump says Confederate flag proud symbol of U.S. South

Published 07/19/2020, 10:04 AM
Updated 07/19/2020, 04:00 PM
© Reuters. U.S. Army paratroopers of an immediate reaction force from the 82nd Airborne Division prepare to leave Fort Bragg

By Doina Chiacu

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump declined to say the Confederate flag was an offensive symbol in an interview broadcast on Sunday, saying it is a source of pride for people who love the South.

The Republican president was asked on "Fox News Sunday" if the flag, a symbol of U.S. slavery and white supremacy for many Americans, was offensive.

"It depends on who you're talking about, when you're talking about," Trump responded. "When people proudly had their Confederate flags they're not talking about racism. They love their flag, it represents the South. They like the South ... I say it's freedom of many things, but it's freedom of speech."

Trump has in the past appeared sympathetic to the flag and symbols of the Confederacy of the 1861-65 Civil War.

In 2017, he criticized the removal of monuments to the Confederacy and said there were "very fine people on both sides" of a deadly clash in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

Earlier this month, he criticized NASCAR’s ban of the Confederate flag from its events.

Breaking with several of his fellow Republicans in Congress, Trump has promised to veto the annual National Defense Authorization Act over an amendment to remove the names of Confederate generals from military bases within a year.

"We won World Wars out of these, out of these military bases, no I'm not gonna go changing. I'm not gonna go changing," Trump said in the interview, which was taped on Friday.

He drew a parallel to the Black Lives Matter movement that was born out of police brutality targeting Black Americans.

"I’m not offended either by Black Lives Matter. That’s freedom of speech," Trump said.

Former Republican Secretary of State Colin Powell, who last month endorsed Democrat Joe Biden in the November election, said on CBS' "Face the Nation" the Confederate flag represents something that was never the United States of America.

© Reuters. A Trump sign between Confederate flags in Virginia

"It was the Confederate States of America. They were not part of us and this is not the time to keep demonstrating who they were and what they were back then," said Powell, who is Black. "This is time to move on. Let's get going. We have one flag and only one flag only."

Latest comments

The country is moving forward, leaving the incompetent racist fool behind. Goodbye Donald, you worthless baggage.
Trump's comment is missi v the boat as usual. He's too unintelectual to be a valid discussion partner. He needs an intelectual babysitter to explain the issues and to train him in basic understanding and basic logic. Trump is a lost cause for the purpose of this topic. One should send him home to watch the news and chew on his pacifier
Get this ******out of our financial news feed
I side with Powell. When there is advanced awakening the flag unites ppl to move forward and develop a stronger base. Whereas potus hides behind the skirt of the past that defends a backwarded state of unawakened, a state of division, a state of reminding about the abusers and the abused, not the current will to move forward TOGETHER.
A Behavioral Contagion, is a virus like condition that humans catch from their perceived Alpha. You are likely acting out and calling people names and defending a rotton cause because you sense that it is ok to do so because your alpha is doing it.
insane dem / liberals going crazy and creating as much division as possible
Put your guns away and stop murd3ring unarmed black folks.Southern racist, confederates totally full of hate.
Yeah right, Flippy Donald, finally you got it that slavery is the proud symbol of South.
lol.. lots of pro maga cencorship here
Well that is total lie about the flag. Only Communist Reuters
totally agree with him.
totally agree with him.
The confederate flag represents the ideals of those who fought against basic human rights and the abolishment of slavery in the United States. Based upon that simple fact, the flag should be relegated to the history books and remembered only for what it was, a symbol of opression and repression.
We are supposed to also have one national anthem, but now a so called black national anthem is going to be played before nfl games this year. I don’t hear anyone outraged over that? I agree the confederate flag doesn’t nake sense to keep flying but it’s an object. It doesn’t hurt anyone. Angry mobs hurt and destroy more than the flag does.
So many sympathizers on here and for an article that has nothing to do with investing. How hard is it to acknowledge that the Confederate flag is the flag of a short lived oppressive government that promoted the legal enslavement of people based on race ... essentially based on who their parents were and so it promoted people being born into slavery. That's disgusting.
Until such time as we find a government that does not promote the death of black babies en utero and finds a way to stop scape goating the South for race problems decades after the civil war.
while segregated northern cities continue to be a maelstrom of death and chaos.
why do they have a flag? you lost. get over it. its called the united states
That's 100% correct. The southern confederates lost. And they'll lose again.
They have an identity as Southerners...and you know how important identities are in America.
I find it offensive being white that we don't get out own white entertainment channel, white actor awords. Make a wire group and white pride awwwww ******* I'm obviously joking but whites are the minority, so if we were to burn confederate flags and make things fair then no should deny what I mentioned above. if not let's stop taking people who look at things differently then others and forcing our opinions of different belief on them
The Confederate flag belongs in a history book or a museum. That's it.
The debate WAS then and IS now about State's Rights.
Yes, states’ rights to preserve slavery.
 - that was a small part of it for sure.
what was this larger part unrelated to enslaving people??
i do not believe history should be destroyed and re-written because of politically motivated pandering during an election year by openly marixst organization BLM who has also gone around destroying many statues and even statues of jesus. this is 1984-style soviet activity going on in the country right now, and is just the motivation trump supporters needed to vote for him again in 2020. meanwhile demented biden is being hidden from public because he cannot complete a single coherent thought anymore.
And segregated Detroit is the reality ofnorthern racism.
Tenemos Avoir...And of course... another !d!oc remark from a racist Trump supporter.
Racist Racist Racist... You have no point to make so the name calling begins.
meanwhile this weekend BLM has beheaded several statues of jesus... MSM silent
I don't care what you believe. Crying about the destruction of a statue that represents a fictitious character and then comparing that to the destruction of a statue representing an actual American hero who was assassinated is idiocy. The fact that mongoloids like you guys are more concerned with destruction of public property over the existential threat posed by Trump is mind boggling.
Can you manage to care about almost alive en utero black babies?
 - Uh.. Jesus was 100% real. Where did you barely finish grade school? MLK was as much of a hypocrite as Obama, but conservative Americans aren’t calling for their elimination. If we delete all our imperfections, how are we supposed to learn from them?
doh
Democrats only started pandering for black votes after black people gained the right to vote, and since democrats are the party of keeping people poor and oppressed they were a good fit at keeping black people strangulated in inner cities to keep them having to vote democrat due to government dependence.
Nahhh
 Texas was a confederate state, and now has a gdp larger than Russia. Uneducated isn’t a word I’d use to describe them. They’d spit you out like chew without noticing. You’re out of your depth.
Buzzy Jefferson deferring from the topic of racism is typical of racist Trump supporters.. The south lost the CW and they'll lose again.. the Liberals won the CW and they'll chew the south up and spit them out again for their continued racist attacks.
The confederacy were traitors of the United States of America! They went to war against the United States Military and killed American soldiers all in the name of preserving the immoral and wrong institution of slavery! Though they unsuccessfully try to spin the war as a fight for states rights and that it was about economics but the truth is that they wanted the southern states to be free to keep slavery because the free labor was making them all very rich! Besides... they lost the war! It is a symbol of defeat and does not belong anywhere in public except museums and history books! It is high time for America to move on towards unity and peace because if we don't stand together as Americans we will most certainly fall together!
Rrright.. Less tan 2% of Southerners owned slaves at that time. The other 98% wanted to fight because it sounded exciting or fun.. got it!
Billy Wood.. You're wrong.. the Civil War was specifically about freeing the slaves.. but, not worth wasting time talking to brain dead racists.
Well said Zen, you're of a higher frame of mind, seeing the bigger picture for a better future.
The democrat party voted in favor of slavery/segregation historically and founded the KKK. Abraham Lincoln was a republican. Republicans had the first black member of congress. How about the Chinese communist media write a story about abolishing the democrat party who has used racial hatred/division for votes since its creation.
i do not believe history should be destroyed and re-written because of politically motivated pandering during an election year by openly marxst organization BLM who has also gone around destroying many statues and even statues of jesus. you are a completely mor.onic sheep if you do not see what you are supporting.
So, you are a racist.. calling names to people of color protesting for hundreds of years of continued murders of unamrmed people of color.. and in the same breath, you attempt to lie and call yourself and the confederates the ones who free'd the slaves... all while that racist confederate flag is known to be directly related to Southern slavery in history. Your brain is all screwed up by your attempts to defend the indefensible.
 True!
ah yes.. the South Park symbol
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