Trump erects statue of Christopher Columbus in White House grounds | Donald Trump
A statue of Christopher Columbus has been placed on the White House grounds in Donald Trump’s latest attempt to position the controversial explorer as America’s essential hero.
The president installed the 13-foot statue, which weighs one ton, outside the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on Pennsylvania Avenue. This is a replica of the destroyed Columbus monument. thrown to Baltimore’s inner harbor by protesters in the city amid widespread anti-racism protests in 2020.
The new statue was built in 2022 with fragmented pieces of the original monument recovered from the port. The statue’s base reads: “Destroyed July 4, 2020… Resurrected in 2022… Rededicated by President Donald J. Trump, October 13, 2025.”
Trump wrote: letter He told Basil Russo, leader of the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations, which owns the statue and lent it to the federal government, that Columbus was “the original American hero and one of the most courageous and visionary men who ever walked the Earth.”
The president added that he was “truly honored that this magnificent statue now stands on the White House grounds.” The White House added in a post on X that Columbus was a “hero” and that Trump would ensure he “will be honored that way for generations to come.”
Although Columbus never set foot on the continental United States, he has long been hailed as the discoverer of the Americas, coming closest by arriving in what is now the Bahamas. But Columbus is also a controversial historical figure due to his role as a slave trader and the subjugation and murder of indigenous people in the Caribbean, where he made several voyages between 1492 and 1504.
The awards given to him have come under scrutiny in recent years; In some jurisdictions in the United States, Columbus Day has been replaced by recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
In his Columbus Day announcement in 2021, then-President Joe Biden said the holiday’s name “caused a wave of destruction: violence against indigenous communities, the displacement and theft of tribal homelands, the introduction and spread of disease, and more.”
But Columbus’ legacy remains of great importance; The District of Columbia is named after him, and the Genoese explorer is still revered by some Italian-American groups as a symbol of national pride.
