Trump Wants to Place a Statue of Christopher Columbus Outside the White House

• Columbus statue returns to the White House
• Trump pushes symbolic shift
• Historical memory controversy

President Donald Trump is once again using public space and historical symbols as a cultural battleground.

His plan to install a statue of Christopher Columbus outside the White House is not merely an architectural gesture—it is a direct political statement against the “woke” agenda and a bid to rewrite the historical narrative from a position of power.

Trump Revives the Figure of Christopher Columbus at the Heart of U.S. Power

What’s Happening

The President of the United States, Donald Trump, is planning to install a statue of Christopher Columbus near the White House, marking a new move in his “anti-woke” agenda and cultural confrontation strategy.

The decision adds to a series of actions through which Trump seeks to leave a visible and lasting mark at the political heart of Washington.

According to The Washington Post, the statue will be placed on the south side of the presidential complex, along E Street and north of the Ellipse—one of the most heavily trafficked and symbolically significant areas of the U.S. capital.

Where the Columbus Statue Comes From

The artwork is not entirely new.

It is a reconstruction of a Columbus statue that was originally inaugurated in 1984 in Baltimore by then-President Ronald Reagan.

That monument was torn down on July 4, 2020, by protesters and thrown into the city’s harbor amid demonstrations against symbols viewed as colonial or racist.

The incident occurred during a wave of protests that swept across the United States following the killing of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020.

From that moment on, the removal, vandalism, or demolition of monuments linked to slavery, racism, or colonization accelerated nationwide.

The Ideological Clash Surrounding Columbus

Since then, Christopher Columbus has become the epicenter of an ideological confrontation.

In cities across the country—such as Boston, Richmond, Saint Paul, and Baltimore—statues of the navigator were officially removed or destroyed during protests.

In that context, former President Joe Biden recognized Indigenous Peoples’ Day, observed on the second Monday of October, as part of a policy aimed at historical redress.

That move sought to correct the traditional narrative focused exclusively on Columbus’s arrival in the Americas on October 12, 1492.

Trump reversed that course in 2025. He restored the official designation of Columbus Day, ordered flags to be flown at public buildings, and called for celebrations and ceremonies “in honor of the ‘original American hero.’”

More Than a Statue

The controversy goes beyond symbolic defense of Columbus.

The initiative to install the statue is part of a broader set of changes Trump has promoted at the White House with the explicit goal of cementing his legacy.

Among them is his intention to demolish the East Wing to build a large ballroom—a decision that has also sparked debate.

But his ambitions extend beyond the presidential grounds.

Trump has promoted transformations in other parts of Washington as well, including the idea of building a triumphal arch inspired by Paris’s Arc de Triomphe, to be named the Trump Arch.

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Between Symbols and Power

Installing a Columbus statue outside the White House encapsulates a broader strategy: using urban landscapes, monuments, and historical memory as political tools.

In a deeply polarized country, Trump is betting on divisive symbols that energize his base and reinforce his narrative of cultural confrontation.

SOURCE: EFE