President Donald Trump is preparing to install a statue commemorating Christopher Columbus outside the White House. So there's no mistaking the counterrevolutionary and restorative nature of this act, the White House will reportedly erect a replica of the figure that iconoclasts unceremoniously tore down and tossed into Baltimore's harbor on July 4, 2020.
Columbus' four transatlantic voyages opened the way for European exploration of the Americas. While once celebrated for his courage and ambition — such that counties, cities, and towns across the United States were named after him — the Italian "Admiral of the Ocean Sea" who sailed under the Spanish flag has in recent years been subjected to routine defamation and denunciations by liberals.
Columbus' memory and likeness were especially popular targets during the left's Black Lives Matter-bannered deracination and iconoclasm campaign of 2020 that saw graves dug up, animals and places renamed, church windows busted, and cities torched.
As various municipalities and institutions such as the Smithsonian advocated for dropping Columbus Day in favor of "Indigenous Peoples' Day," radicals vandalized and toppled statues commemorating the Italian explorer across the country.
'Thugs do not rule America.'
In Baltimore, masked thugs marched through the city's Little Italy neighborhood on July 4, 2020, in search of a target. After harassing restaurant patrons and other residents, the thugs set to work on toppling a Columbus statue dedicated in 1984 by former Mayor William Donald Schaefer and President Ronald Reagan.
After tearing down the statue and jumping on the broken Italian Carrara marble likeness of the great explorer — acts that were brushed off by city officials — the cheering mob chucked the broken pieces into the harbor.
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Artist Tilghman Hemsley hired a dive team to recover the broken pieces, which were taken to his family's art studio. Using 3D scans of the remains, the artist, working in concert with his son, digitally reassembled the statue, then created a mold to fashion a replica out of crushed marble and resin, reported the Baltimore Sun.
"We brought it out of the harbor and reconstructed it, rebuilt it," Hemsley told the Sun. "So it's not really our artwork, but we were instrumental in putting it back together. It's like Humpty Dumpty."
Bill Martin, an Italian-American businessman, told the newly thinned-out Washington Post that he and his allies ultimately raised and spent over $100,000 on the recovery and restoration efforts.
'One of the most gallant and visionary men to ever walk the face of the earth.'
John Pica Jr., the president of Italian American Organizations United and a former Democratic Maryland state senator, told the Associated Press that he was contacted in 2025 by a middleman who indicated the White House was seeking a statue of Columbus.
Pica's organization took a straw vote and unanimously decided to send a statue to the White House. They reportedly signed the loan agreement on Wednesday.
Pica told the AP that he was "cautiously optimistic" that the statue would make it to the White House and noted that it could possibly be installed "within two weeks."
Two people with knowledge of the counterrevolutionary initiative told the Washington Post that the statue will likely be installed on the south side of the White House grounds, by E Street and north of the Ellipse.
Nino Mangione, a Republican member of the Maryland House of Delegates who was involved in the effort to recover the statue, stated, "Thrilled at the possibility our Columbus statue could be placed at the White House! Stolen, vandalized, and dumped in the harbor in 2020 yet never forgotten."
"Six years later it rises again as a symbol of Italian American pride. Thugs do not rule America," added Mangione.
The statue's potentially imminent installation comes just months after Trump issued a proclamation honoring Columbus, calling him "the original American hero, a giant of Western civilization, and one of the most gallant and visionary men to ever walk the face of the earth."
Trump pledged to "to reclaim his extraordinary legacy of faith, courage, perseverance, and virtue from the left-wing arsonists who have sought to destroy his name and dishonor his memory."
Although the White House would not comment on any statues, White House spokesman Davis Ingle said in a statement to Blaze News, "In this White House, Christopher Columbus is a hero. And he will continue to be honored as such by President Trump."
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The Trump administration officials are pushing California to return over $1 billion in federal taxpayer funds that may have been used to cover the health care costs of illegal aliens.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced in May that it was increasing oversight on states that illegally used Medicaid funding to provide illegal immigrants with health care services, noting that Medicaid funding is generally available to illegal aliens only for emergency medical services.
'We are teaming up to combat healthcare fraud so the money can be used for American citizens who need it!'
As part of the announcement, the CMS declared that states could be forced to reimburse the federal government for funds spent on noncitizens.
CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz revealed in October that the agency found more than $1 billion of federal taxpayer funds were spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens.
“And my team is getting it back,” he remarked.
Oz called CMS’ findings “shocking.”
“In a preliminary review of six states, we found those states improperly using federal tax dollars for their allegedly state-funded program and providing coverage to individuals, including some with criminal records of murder and assault,” he stated.
Those findings included $1.3 billion in California, $2.1 million in Washington, D.C., $30 million in Illinois, $2.4 million in Washington, $1.5 million in Colorado, and $5.4 million in Oregon.
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Oz explained that the states had been notified and that “many” had begun issuing refunds to CMS. However the administrator provided an update on Wednesday, stating that additional uncovered data revealed the total had reached $1.8 billion across eight states.
He announced that the CMS is withholding nearly $300 million from California, which Oz labeled “the worst offender,” until the state’s leadership proves “they’re spending the money properly.”
Bill Essayli, first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, stated, “California must return more than $1 billion to the federal government after an audit by @DrOzCMS and his team uncovered federal dollars being spent on healthcare for illegal immigrants. We are teaming up to combat healthcare fraud so the money can be used for American citizens who need it!”
California officials have rejected claims that the federal funds were misused.
The California Department of Health Care Services previously told the New York Times, “Claims that California improperly used federal Medicaid dollars to provide health care to undocumented immigrants are flatly false and misrepresent both federal law and standard administrative practice.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom's office did not respond to a request for comment.
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Washington, D.C., has agreed to pay back over $650,000 to CMS by mid-November.
An Illinois Medicaid spokesperson previously told PolitiFact, “Once again, the Trump administration is spreading misinformation about standard uses of Medicaid dollars.”
“This is not a reality show, and there is no conspiracy to circumvent federal law and provide ineligible individuals with Medicaid coverage. Dr. Oz should stop pushing conspiracy theories and focus on improving health care for the American people,” the spokesperson added.
A Washington State Health Care Authority also pushed back on CMS’ claims, calling the estimates shared by Oz “inaccurate.”
“We were very surprised to see Dr. Oz’s post, especially considering we continue to work with CMS in good faith to answer their questions and clear up any confusion,” the spokesperson said.
Colorado’s Department of Health Care Policy & Financing also insisted the state did not break the law.
“Our payments for coverage of undocumented individuals are in accordance with state and federal laws,” a spokesperson told PolitiFact. "The $1.5 million number referenced by federal leaders today is based on an incorrect preliminary finding, and has been refuted with supporting data by our Department experts."
Oregon Health Authority previously told KOIN that CMS’ claim was “false and mischaracterizes not just this essential part of our nation’s emergency care infrastructure, but also an ongoing, routine audit process.”
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There were rumors that President Trump’s first State of the Union address was going to run two hours and anyone would be forgiven for dreading it, but it turns out it was a politically confrontational spectacle that this country needed and deserved. Trump used his nationally televised speech Tuesday to draw attention over and over […]
A panel of the 9th Circuit unanimously rejected Washington’s attempt to force a religious ministry to hire employees whose beliefs contradict those of the ministry.
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Alex Ovechkin and most of Washington Capitals players skip Pride Night ritual
Washington Capitals players from outside North America may not be as used to Pride Nights as other athletes.
On Saturday night, the Capitals celebrated alternative sexual lifestyles with their "All Caps All Love" night, posting rainbow and transgender flags ahead of their gay-memorabilia auction.
'We proudly stand with the LGBTQ+ community.'
After the NHL banned themed jerseys in 2023, some fought for the right to use rainbow-colored stick tape, and won. That is how select Capitals players decided to show their gay pride on Saturday night against the reigning champion Florida Panthers, but as the teams took the ice, viewers noticed only eight of the Capitals' 20 dressed players took part.
John Carlson, Nic Dowd, Brandon Duhaime, Hendrix Lapierre, Connor McMichael, Dylan Strome, Logan Thompson, and Trevor van Riemsdyk were the eight players spotted on video and cited in an article by outlet Russian Machine Never Breaks.
However, missing from the group was captain, and the NHL's all-time scoring leader, Alexander Ovechkin.
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Interestingly, all of the players that participated were from either the United States or Canada; none of the Capitals players born overseas participated in the stunt.
This included center Aliaksei Protas from Vitebsk, Belarus, left winger Ivan Miroshnichenko from Ussuriysk, Russia, defenseman Martin Fehérváry from Bratislava, Slovakia, and defenseman Rasmus Sandin from Uppsala, Sweden.
Despite their leader and biggest star not participating in their festivities, the Capitals went all out in their support for certain sexual preferences with promotional videos and statements.
"We proudly stand with the LGBTQ+ community, and celebrate the importance of inclusion every day," Strome, from Mississauga, Canada, said in a team video.
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"It was great," Dowd of Huntsville, Alabama, said in a post-game interview. "Every year we've put this on, guys lean into it and support it, and I thought it was another good night. I thought the Caps did a great job of showcasing it."
The team also hosted the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington, D.C., on the ice that night, but that was not enough to push them ahead of the Panthers, and the Capitals lost 5-2.
Fans in Seattle were recently outraged and piled plenty of backlash onto their Seattle Kraken team for supporting transgenderism with a themed logo, which inexplicably featured a unicorn drawn by a tattoo artist who said "queerness" inspires her work.
"Being able to be in Seattle surrounded by the queer community and being exposed to the queerness I never got to experience growing up, it inspires my work a lot," the artist said.
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