While substituting for Sandy Rios on her weekday morning radio show Monday, right-wing attorney and activist J. Christian Adams claimed that protesters have demanded that statues and monuments be removed from public property as part of progressives' larger pursuit of a “big government” utopia.
Adams, president and general counsel of the Public Interest Legal Foundation, praised President Donald Trump for his July 3 speech at Mt. Rushmore in which the president derided protesters and activists seeking the removal of statues—many of which honor the Confederacy, slaveholders, and colonizers. “We will never allow an angry mob to tear down our statues, erase our history, indoctrinate our children, or trample on our freedoms,” Trump had declared to much applause. Adams agreed with Trump’s sentiment, calling the people leading that push "crackpots.”
“They’re trying to take down all the symbols to say why we are good, right? Why we have achieved great things. That’s one of the steps toward their utopian imposition of progressive politics,” Adams said. “And I’ve said it before on this show. Never lose sight of that. They think the utopia is just around the corner. They think that they can create a perfect place here on Earth, and the only thing standing in their way is you and your beliefs.”
Adams blamed the political left’s pursuit of a "utopia" for “90 percent” of “what’s going on in this country.”
“That’s it. That’s the whole ball game,” Adams. “So, what do they do? They tear down statues. They want to get rid of the American Revolution. That is the essence of it. That’s why this weekend was so profound. That’s why the president’s speech was so important. Because the American Revolution stands for principles that they oppose. The Constitution stands for limited government, and they oppose that. They want big government. You can’t have utopia without big government. Remember, it all boils down to their quest for utopia.”
Correction: An earlier RWW story incorrectly stated J. Christian Adams' comments to be specifically about the removal of Confederate monuments, rather than all of the statues whose removal anti-racism protesters are demanding. While most calls are for the removal of Confederate monuments, protesters are also calling for the removal of other statues, including those depicting slaveholders, colonizers, and racist tropes.
