Donald Trump threatens statue activists with 10 years jail

Donald Trump declares war on activists as statue toppling spreads to more historical figures, many with no links to slavery.

A statue of Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Park is pressure washed after being attacked by protesters. Picture: AP.

Donald Trump has threatened to jail activists for a decade for toppling statues as the White House steps up its efforts to combat the controversial wave of attacks across the country on historical figures.

The move comes as the statue-toppling craze in the US spreads well beyond former confederate leaders and into former presidents and others historical figures, many with no links to slavery.

Mr Trump was responding after the administration was embarrassed by attempts by activists to topple the statue of former president Andrew Jackson directly outside the White House on Tuesday (AEDT).

The attempted toppling of the Jackson statue comes amid a growing campaign to destroy or deface statues of historical figures deemed by activists to be disrespectful to racial minorities.

The attacks on confederate statues began as part of the protests against the killing of African-American George Floyd by the police but they have since morphed into attacks on statues of other historical figures.

These now include attacks on statues of America’s first president George Washington, on the grounds that he owned slaves, and also the former president and leader of the Union forces during the civil war Ulysses Grant who help defeat the confederate forces and end slavery.

Other statues targeted include the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus and Francis Scott Key who wrote the lyrics to the Star Spangled Banner. Even monuments to the fallen American soldiers of both world wars have been defaced despite having no links to racial issues, police or slavery.

“We are looking at long-term jail sentences for these vandals and these hoodlums and these anarchists and agitators, and call them whatever you want,” Mr Trump said. “Some people don’t like that language, but that’s what they are. They’re bad people. They don’t love our country, and they’re not taking down our monuments.”

“I have authorised the Federal Government to arrest anyone who vandalises or destroys any monument, statue or other such Federal property in the US with up to 10 years in prison, per the Veteran’s Memorial Preservation Act, or such other laws that may be pertinent.....”

Mr Trump described the attack on the Jackson stature as a “sneak attack and he accused state governors of being ‘weak’ on protecting their “heritage.”

“I don’t think they know who they are taking down,” he said of the activists.

New York mayor Bill de Blasio announced this week that a statue of former president Theodore Roosevelt riding alongside a native American and an African outside the Natural History Museum would be removed because it depicted the Native American and African as ”subjugated and racially inferior.”

“It is the right decision and the right time to remove this problematic statue,” Mr de Blasio said.

The attack on the statue of former president Jackson reflects his reputation as a polarising figure in US history.

Jackson, who was president from 1829 to 1837, was a military hero who supported slavery. He was also an outsider and a populist and is someone with whom Mr Trump has said he identifies.

Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell said the protesters were seeking to “erase history” and that people should accept that most heroes were flawed.

“The vast majority of Americans know full well that imperfect heroes are still heroes,” Senator McConnell said.

In Columbus Ohio the city’s mayor Andrew Ginther has said he would remove the statue of the Italian explorer from outside city hall, adding to the numerous other Columbus statues toppled in the US over the past week.

“For many people in our community, the statue represents patriarchy, oppression and divisiveness,” Mr Ginther said. “That does not represent our great city, and we will no longer live in the shadow of our ugly past.”

Cameron Stewart is also US Contributor for Sky News Australia