Democrat Sen. Tammy Duckworth Tells CNN She’s Open To Tearing Down Washington, Jefferson Statues

Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), who is said to be on the shortlist of people in the running to be Joe Biden’s running mate, just gave a disturbing interview in which she is open to removing statues of founding fathers George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. She said this while appearing on CNN‘s “State of the Union” on Sunday.

“Senator, I know that you support change in the name of military bases named after Confederate leaders, but there are leaders like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson who were slave owners,” host Dana Bash asked. “And some people are demanding their monuments come down, too. In your view, where does it end? Should statues, for example, of George Washington come down?”

Duckworth initially tried to get around answering the question by talking about President Donald Trump’s speech at Mount Rushmore on Friday. “Well, let me just say we should start off by having a national dialogue on it at some point,” Duckworth said. “But right now we’re in the middle of a global pandemic. And one of our countries that are opposed to us, Russia, has put a bounty on American troops’ heads.”

“What really struck me about this speech that the president gave at Mount Rushmore was that he spent more time worried about honoring dead Confederates than he did talking about the lives of our 130,000 Americans who lost their lives to COVID-19, or by warning Russia off of the bounties they’re putting on Americans’ heads,” she added. “His priorities are all wrong here. He should be talking about what we’re going to do to overcome this pandemic. What are we going to do to push Russia back? Instead, he had no time for that. He spent all his time talking about dead traitors.”

Bash then posed her question again, asking Duckworth if she thought it was a “good idea” to remove statues of Washington. “I think we should listen to everybody,” Duckworth replied. “I think we should listen to the argument there, but remember that the president at Mount Rushmore was standing on ground that was stolen from Native Americans who had actually been given that land during a treaty.”

"His priorities are all wrong," Sen. Tammy Duckworth reacts to Pres. Trump's Mt. Rushmore speech where he defended Confederate monuments. "He should be talking about what we're going to do to overcome this pandemic… he spent all his time talking about dead traitors." #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/eWEq750ZPy

— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) July 5, 2020

This woman could soon be a heartbeat away from the presidency. Let that sink in.

This piece was written by PoliZette Staff on July 5, 2020. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.