Scott Jennings: When the Left Was Tearing Down Statues, The Smithsonian Were Cheering that On

AIDALA: “So should we wipe out Columbus? Congressman, Mamdani says, if he becomes mayor, he‘s wiping out Columbus. Columbus, the statue comes down, and we should forget about Christopher Columbus. Is that okay?”
CUPP: “No, I‘m Italian, I‘m proud of Columbus.”
AIDALA: “According to you, it wouldn‘t be okay.”
CUPP: “I never said that!”
FROST: “I don’t understand why you can’t say — you just say, ‘I disagree with politicians trying to change history.’ Why can‘t you just say that? You‘re, like, going through all these hoops, trying to talk about highlighting things. You sound ridiculous.”
AIDALA: “Mamdani says — Mamdani says, if he becomes — “
FROST: “We’re talking about Donald Trump.”
AIDALA: “But he‘s a politician.”
FROST: “We‘re talking about Donald Trump.”
AIDALA: “No. If you‘re going to be upset about the right-wing doing something, are you upset about the left-wing doing something?”
PHILLIP: “Look, I — “
FROST: “Mamdani’s not saying he‘s going to go into institutions and museums and change things.”
AIDALA: “No, he said he’s going to take down the statue of Christopher Columbus, which is a historic landmark.”
PHILLIP:: “Listen, one of the — one of the things about Trump is that he forces people to think about politics in areas that they‘ve never thought about politics before. Most Americans never thought that the president of the United States would have their hand in Smithsonian exhibits. And he is doing that right now. And I can‘t think of a single good reason why.”
JENNINGS: “Yeah, the last time we sort of talked about the changing of historical exhibits was when all these angry mobs all over the country tore down historical statues all over the place, and the people who seem to be angriest about the Smithsonian review were cheering that on. So I agree with you. Occasionally, parts of our society do look into — “
FROST: “They put those statues in museums.”
JENNINGS: “No, they didn‘t — “
AIDALA: “They want those statues gone.”
JENNINGS: “It didn’t look like they were putting them in museums when they were tying ropes around them and dragging them down. You may be misremembering how it happened, but that‘s what happened.”
FROST: “I‘m not here to justify people tearing things down and this and that. But I just think it is grand that right at this table, I can‘t hear from both of you, you can‘t even just say politicians should not be editing our history and trying to change our history. That‘s what they‘re doing.”
JENNINGS: “I don’t think they’re changing our history. I don‘t believe that that‘s what they‘re doing.”
FROST: “It’s what he has been trying to do.”
PHILLIP: “All right, we gotta leave it there. Congressman Maxwell Frost, thank you very much for joining us.”