Trump authorizes arrests of anyone trying to vandalize or destroy monuments
Fox News contributor Katie Pavlich reacts to the growing unrest after protesters fail to topple a statue of Andrew Jackson outside the White House.
Protests that were initially against police brutality, the death of George Floyd, and racial inequality have since devolved into violent chaos and have been "hijacked" by anti-American anarchists who aim to erase American history, Fox News contributor Katie Pavlich said Tuesday.
Appearing on "America's Newsroom" with host Sandra Smith, theTownhall.com editor pointed to the events of Monday evening when numerous "violent agitators" were arrested after they attempted to construct their own "autonomous zone" and remove the statue of former President Andrew Jackson that stands near the White House in Washington D.C.
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President Trump took to Twitter after the incident, noting that some could face a potential decade-long sentence under the Veteran’s Memorial Preservation Act.
"Beware!" he warned.
"Earlier this month, President Trump sent the National Guard back after unrest in the city was quelled, but at this point, it seems like he may need to bring them back," Pavlich remarked. "And as you’ve seen this morning, he’s calling on folks to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
"And based on what the Department of Justice has been doing over the course of the past four weeks -- handing down indictments, initiating a number of arrests for rioters in cities like Philadelphia and elsewhere -- you should believe that those laws will be enforced for unlawfully tearing down federal statutes on federal property," she added.
With the White House and the Washington Monument in the background, a National Park Service worker cleans a statue of President Andrew Jackson, Thursday, June 11, 2020, near the White House in Washington, after protests over the death of George Floyd, a black man who was in police custody in Minneapolis. Floyd died after being restrained by Minneapolis police officers. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Pavlich told Smith that while the "argument has been made" that over a month of nationwide protests were sparked by calls for racial equality, situations like Monday night show good intentions have been waylayed.
"The argument has been made that this was about racial equality, but this has been hijacked and gone far beyond that and turned into an anti-American mob that is insistent on erasing parts of American history that are good," she argued.
"You don’t protest and vandalize the Lincoln Memorial where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his ‘I have a dream’ speech if you’re interested in racial equality," Pavlich said. "You don’t tear down the Teddy Roosevelt monument in New York City – who invited the first black man to the White House to dine with him ... You don’t tear down the statue or go after those who fought for the union against the Confederacy for the future of a better country and away from slavery."
Pavlich said she agreed with comments made by Fox News host Tucker Carlson on his show Monday evening that the efforts to tear down history are instigated by a well-funded and well-organized political movement with goals contrary to equality or moving forward as a country.
"I think Tucker Carlson put it well last night when he [said] it’s a political movement that is very well-funded and organized and has goals of not just equality or moving forward as a country, but rather tearing down our country from the inside out," she explained. " And you saw this at the beginning of these riots about a month ago, when you saw the violence start. And you’re seeing it increasingly now as these autonomous zones keep popping up."
On Monday, Seattle leadership announced they would move to dismantle the police-free autonomous zone -- nicknamed "CHOP" -- after multiple shootings over the weekend.
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On Tuesday morning, President Trump tweeted that if any citizen attempted to create an autonomous zone in the nation's capital, they would be "met with serious force."
"And I know that there might be some controversy over the president saying that these people will be met with force. Well, as we’ve seen in places like Seattle, these autonomous zones have become very violent and their victims are black victims," Pavlich concluded. "So again, this is not about equality. This is about destroying American history, whether it's the good parts or the bad, and erasing it so people understand it."
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