Conservative commentator Matt Walsh this week called on Republicans to demand prosecution of vandals for defacing statues dedicated to military veterans — which should be easy since such a law already exists.
He also pushed GOP lawmakers in Congress to force Democrats and President Joe Biden to publicly oppose stiffening penalties against vandals who destroy any historical monuments, saying doing so would be a “win-win” for conservatives.
Walsh made the comments on his podcast Tuesday when discussing the desecration of a World War I monument in New York City.
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According to the New York Post, pro-Hamas radicals on Monday attacked the 97-year-old bronze memorial, which depicts seven WWI infantry soldiers in battle, by spray-painting “Gaza” on its base. One of the vandals also burned an American flag in front of the monument.
The Post added that the leftist vandals also attacked a nearby statue of Union Civil War Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman.
“This is far from the first time we’ve seen a memorial, statue, or monument being defaced. But my first thought when I saw this was that it’s just shameful that there is really no current elected Republican, or there are very few, who have called for a law prescribing” the defacing or destruction of a historical monument, said Walsh.
Such criminals, he added, should be hit with up to 10 years in prison.
He predicted that such a proposal would generate broad public support.
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But then Walsh noted, much to his own surprise, that law already exists — and has existed for more than 20 years.
The 2003 Veterans Memorial Preservation Recognition Act, which Congress passed unanimously in spring 2003, says anyone who “willfully injures or destroys, or attempts to injure or destroy, any structure, plaque, statue, or other monument on public property
commemorating the service of any person or persons in the armed forces” can be punished by up to 10 years in federal prison.
“Why are we not arresting these people and giving them 10 years in prison?” Walsh said of the pro-Hamas vandals.
“They’re defacing a veterans’ memorial. … And if whoever you’re put in jail for 10 years, if they started crying about it, … most of us would say, OK, cry some more.”
“The people who treat our monuments and our memorials this way, their lives should be destroyed,” he continued. “And if that makes you squeamish at all, I don’t know why it would.”
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“But if you do feel squeamish about it, the good news for you is that you’d only need to do that to, like, one person and then never again because none of these punks would ever do it again,” Walsh added. “But how many Republicans have specifically called for that law to be enforced?”
“We need to actually enforce the law. And I would add a new law that extends the protections to all of our monuments and memorials. Yes, we should protect veterans’ monuments and memorials, but all of them, if it’s a statue of a Founding Father or any other historical figure, any of our historical heroes, they should all be protected. And it would be enormously popular.”
Walsh then challenged Republicans to put Democrats on the defensive.
“Put him [Biden] in a position where he has to say, ‘You know what? I’m not gonna sign a law that actually protects our monuments. I want to allow people to continue doing this.’ Put Democrats in a position where they have to vote against it, put them in that position. It’s a win-win. Why not do it?”
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