'Thugs do not rule America': Replica of Columbus statue toppled by liberal mob may soon have a home — the White House



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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A piece of the Christopher Columbus statue is pulled from the harbor in Baltimore on July 6, 2020. Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun/Tribune News Service via Getty Images.

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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Trump offers hilarious rebuttal to Tim Walz's absurd Civil War analogy



President Donald Trump gave a hilarious response to Democratic Gov. Tim Walz's attempt to compare the conflicts in Minnesota to the Civil War.

Blaze News asked Trump to address Walz's remarks likening the hostilities at Fort Sumter that sparked the Civil War to the heightened tensions seen on the ground in Minneapolis in recent weeks. When asked if he agreed with the characterization, Trump gave Blaze News a viral response.

'I was elected to do a job.'

"Does he know what Fort Sumter was, or do you think somebody wrote it out for him?"

"I was elected on law and order," Trump told Blaze News. "I was elected on a strong border. We had a border that allowed 25 million people to come in. Many were murderers. ... We had open borders."

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Blaze Media's @rebekazeljko: "Tim Walz recently likened the conflict on the ground to Fort Sumter..."

President Trump: "Does he know what Fort Sumter was?" pic.twitter.com/blvsf1RDjl
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) January 30, 2026

Trump brushed off Walz's remarks, differentiating his tough-on-crime track record from the Democrat governor's state that is rampant with fraud and violent crime.

"I was elected on a lot of reasons, because when I took over we inherited a mess," Trump told Blaze News.

"When I was elected, I was elected to do a job, and one of the big things I was elected to do is law and order."

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Francis Chung/Politico/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Trump criticized Democrats' refusal to embrace law enforcement, pondering if they really want criminals to remain in their cities.

"If you look at Minnesota, Minneapolis, we have crime down there because we took out thousands of people, despite all the mess and everything else," Trump told Blaze News.

"But do these people really want to have rapists? Do they really want to have drug dealers and people from prisons and murderers?"

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'Convicted and f**king dangles': NeverTrumper Rick Wilson calls for execution of top White House adviser



As uncertainty around the violence against law enforcement grows in Minneapolis, many people seemed to have missed the memo about cooling down the rhetoric after the events of the past weekend.

And a co-founder of the Lincoln Project was among those apparently calling for capital punishment.

'When this is done, I want Stephen Miller to be the first one who is tried and convicted and f**king dangles.'

On the Saturday episode of his show, NeverTrumper Rick Wilson had a pointed message for leaders in Trump's administration, with special ire for deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security adviser Stephen Miller.

Wilson said he knew he would "get canceled for saying this. I know I'm going to get in trouble."

He went on nonetheless: "I want Stephen Miller to be the number one in the Nuremburg trials when this is done. When this is done, I want Stephen Miller to be the first one who is tried and convicted and f**king dangles."

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Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

He continued, "I want him to be brought before a court of law, because he is the sole executive that runs all this DHS, ICE stuff — the 'ICEstapo.'"

Wilson was apparently angry at Miller and his characterization of male nurse Alex Pretti, the man who interfered with United States Border Patrol in Minneapolis and was subsequently fatally shot.

Wilson took issue with the fact that Miller called Pretti a "would-be assassin" on social media in more than one instance. Though the details of the incident are still debated, Pretti was carrying a gun at the time of his standoff with Border Patrol agents.

Wilson, the DOJ, and the DHS did not respond to Blaze News' request for comment.

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Venezuelan freedom fighter honors Trump: Machado insists 'he deserves' Nobel Prize after capture of dictator Maduro



While there have been mixed reactions to the January 3 capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro by the U.S., few have shown greater support for the move than opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.

On Thursday, Machado visited President Donald Trump at the White House and presented him with her Nobel Peace Prize, which she won in October.

'María presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done.'

When asked in a Fox interview why she gave her medal to the president of the United States, Machado had a simple answer: "Because he deserves it."

"It was a very emotional moment. I decided to present the Nobel Peace Prize medal on behalf of the people of Venezuela."

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Photo by Drew ANGERER/AFP via Getty Images

The medal was presented to Trump in a large golden frame with text that reads: "To President Donald J. Trump in Gratitude for Your Extraordinary Leadership in Promoting Peace Through Strength." The text further calls the award a “Personal Symbol of Gratitude on behalf of the Venezuelan People.”

After the meeting, Trump wrote on Truth Social: "María presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done. Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect. Thank you María!"

A White House official confirmed to CNBC that Trump intends to keep the medal.

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