Donald Trump’s speech on Sunday took an unexpected turn when he went on a tangent about the names of U.S. military installations.
“We won world wars out of forts,” he said. “Fort Benning, Fort This, Fort That, many forts. They changed the name, we won wars out of these forts, they changed the name, they changed the name of the forts, a lot of people aren’t too happy about that.”
Trump then essentially repeated the aside.
“They changed the name of a lot of our forts, we won two world wars out of a lot of these forts and they changed the name,” he said. “It’s unbelievable.”
Nine U.S. military installations named for Confederate generals have been renamed to honor people who haven’t fought against the United States.
The Fort Benning referenced by Trump was named for Henry L. Benning, who NPR noted was not just a Confederate general but a “virulent white supremacist.”
It was renamed Fort Moore last year in honor of Lt. Gen. Hal Moore and his wife, Julia Compton Moore, who Military.com called “one of the Army’s most influential couples.”
Trump’s critics on X noted the strange digression:
Understand that Trump is mad because military facilities named for treasonous white supremacist slavery advocates who waged war against the United States were renamed to honor actual American heroes. That’s what he and his audience are pissed about. https://t.co/wAIQGKupjV
— Paul Waldman (@paulwaldman1) January 22, 2024
I was stationed at Fort This in 2009. They wanted to transfer me to Fort That. Lol a commander in chief that can’t even remember the names of the bases, yet he’s so upset the names were changed.
— Chris Taylor (@taylor4arizona) January 22, 2024
Attached to this post is an excerpt from the speech Henry Benning made at the Virginia convention with his reasons for secession. Trump is bemoaning not having a base named after him. https://t.co/c6HaYsrGa9
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) January 22, 2024
“Where were you stationed?”
“Fort This, you?”
“Fort That!”
“Oh weird!”
— ProLib 🇺🇦 (@prolibshow) January 22, 2024
Of all the world’s problems and Trump wants to whine about Forts. 🤦♀️
— Art Candee 🍿🥤 (@ArtCandee) January 22, 2024