Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is slamming protesters vandalizing statues and monuments amid civil unrest and protests over police brutality and racial inequality following the death of George Floyd.
During Thursday’s Senate Session on police reform, McConnell sounded off about presumed double standards where protesters are concerned.
“The American people have been asked to swallow a number of contradictions over the past few weeks,” McConnell said, adding, “Americans have been told they should very carefully distinguish good people from bad apples if they are talking about protests and riots. But they must not make the same dissension if they are talking about the police.”
He went on to criticize protesters targeting statues and monuments, as he described them as “historically illiterate.”
“Americans have been ordered to rethink and relearn our nation’s history by a movement that is itself so historically illiterate.”
The Kentucky lawmaker noted the demands for former Presidents George Washington and Ulysses Grant statues and monuments to be removed as he claimed they have been mistaken for “enemies of justice.”
“They mistake George Washington, Ulysses S. Grant, and a 19th century abolitionist for the enemies of justice and destroy their monuments,” McConnell said.
He later added, “The American people know they don’t need history lessons from common criminals who are dragging George Washington through the dirt.”
McConnell’s remarks on double standards come just one day after Senate Democrats blocked the Republican-backed police reform bill.
See McConnell’s remarks below:
According to historical records, Washington was an active slave owner for 56 years and ultimately freed his slaves. However, he did not do so until his death.
While Grant did command the Union Army, which won the Civil War, he did own one slave and, as history notes, he also managed the slaves his wife received from his father-in-law, prior to the war.
On Wednesday, President Donald Trump shared views similar to McConnell’s on the monuments.
“I think many of the people that are knocking down the statues don’t even have any idea what the statue is, what it means, who it is when they knocked down,” Trump said.