Fox & Friends: Mayor Pete Wants To ‘Erase’ Thomas Jefferson, ‘Diminish’ Andrew Jackson

While South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg was winning praise for his town hall on MSNBC, the network that aired the event was taking aim at him. Brian Kilmeade, co-host of Fox & Friends, devoted a segment to Buttgieg’s remarks about long-dead presidents Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson.

Both men were slaveholders and Jackson was responsible for the expulsion of Native Americans from their ancestral homelands, so when Buttigieg was asked whether events should be named after them, he said it was worth considering who is publicly honored. This was too much for Kilmeade, who asked his guest, John Robbins, about the issue.

“We should think twice about the people we honor. Should we?” Kilmeade asked.

“Well, you always have to think about who you’re going to honor and how you’re going to honor them,” Robbins said, striking a calmer tone than Kilmeade. “It was nice that Mayor Pete pledged not to blow up the Jefferson Memorial. I think he’s kind of staking out a middle ground in the Democratic field with a no detonation pledge. But, yeah, in general we want to pay attention to that, who we honor and who we don’t.”

Kilmeade then asked a softball question about honoring Jefferson, which allowed Robbins to list Jefferson’s achievements. Kilmeade then showed a clip of Buttigieg discussing whether the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner should be renamed. The dinner is a major Democratic event and Buttigieg said it was worth considering a name change. Robbins was measured in his response to the suggestion, but Kilmeade wanted to force the issue.

“So what’s the danger of erasing our past?” Kilmeade said. “Slavery is abhorrent, it’s inexcusable, you can’t wrap your head around how these smart people can justify it. I get it. What’s the danger of taking Washington down, Jefferson down and diminishing Jackson?

“Well, I think the danger is that if we have a narrative for this country that is based on shame and looking at all the negatives and not looking at all the positive aspects of American history, then there’s no reason for people to be loyal though this country,” Robbins said. “Why should they love a country that was founded on all of these evils? If that’s all they want to focus on, and also, it’s ahistorical to ignore all of the positive aspects of American history and focus in on all the negatives.”

“If we have perfect people on statues we’ll be a nation of pedestals. There will be no one left,” Kilmeade said.

Watch the video above, via Fox News.