Just two days ago, Army brass did an about-face and said it would be fine with reconsidering the names of 10 bases that now honor Confederate leaders. On Wednesday, President Trump put a halt to that. "These Monumental and very Powerful Bases have become part of a Great American Heritage, and a history of Winning, Victory, and Freedom," Trump tweeted. "The United States of America trained and deployed our HEROES on these Hallowed Grounds, and won two World Wars. Therefore, my Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations." Army officials had no comment about the tweet. Nothing says the president has to approve name changes, the New York Times reports, but it's not known if the Army will press on with the issue.
Kayleigh McEnany, the White House press secretary, began a briefing minutes after the tweets by distributing and reading them to reporters, per the Hill. Trump will veto the military's annual spending bill if it calls for changing the names of bases, she said. McEnany also cited Fort Bragg's role in training. "It’s an insult to say to the men and women who left there, the last thing they saw on American soil before going overseas and in some cases losing their lives, to tell them that what they left was inherently a racist institution because of a name," she said. In the past week, the Navy and the Marines have prohibited the display of the Confederate battle flag. (Driver wants the Confederate flag to be banned at NASCAR races. (More Confederacy stories.)