Trump: ‘We resurrected Christopher Columbus’ as he proclaims Columbus Day 

President Donald Trump held a Columbus Day event ahead of the Monday holiday, saying “we resurrected Christopher Columbus” and calling the explorer “a hero.”

Speaking at the White House on Friday, Trump said Columbus’ dangerous voyage led to the discovery of the New World and the eventual discovery of “the most exceptional nation in history,” adding that the present-day U.S. is “the hottest country anywhere in the world.”

Former President Joe Biden in 2021 signed a proclamation declaring the day “Indigenous Peoples’ Day” alongside Columbus Day – a practice Trump has not continued during his term.

“I feel that I, with some of the people in this room, we resurrected Christopher Columbus,” Trump said. “I mean, you couldn’t even say his name. If you said his name, they’d start writing stories about you, like he’s some kind of an evil.”

Ahead of the event, the president issued a proclamation for the holiday reaffirming that “Christopher Columbus is a legend whose vision, fortitude and perseverance unleashed a dynamic of history that led to the creation of the greatest, freest and most just Nation in history.”

“We are forever indebted to his courageous voyage, and we will never allow his legacy to be erased by radical extremists,” the proclamation read. “For this reason, earlier this year, I was proud to install a statue of Christopher Columbus on the White House grounds – an exact replica of the statue that stood for more than three decades in Baltimore, Maryland, from its dedication by President Ronald Reagan in October 1984 until rioters tore it down and threw it into Baltimore Harbor on July 4, 2020.”

The destruction occurred during riots in the summer of 2020 involving Black Lives Matter and other groups seeking to eliminate America’s “racist” history. 

Trump credited Columbus with discovering the New World and “bringing with him the rich traditions of Western civilization and paving the way to the birth of the American Nation less than three centuries later.”

Columbus Day is a federal holiday, meaning federal government workers will have the day off work, and many banks will be closed. Local school district policies vary about whether to observe the holiday.

(Image credit: Screenshot/X/The White House)