A bystander Wednesday night recorded a call between President Trump and Oklahoma republican Senator James Inhofe, one Inhofe had while on speakerphone in a DC restaurant, during which Trump discussed preserving the names of Confederates on US military installations, reports The New York Times and other sources.
The Senate had voted by a veto proof majority, 84-16, to pass the Defense Authorization Act which included a provision to remove the names of Confederates, including Robert E. Lee, from military assets.
However, Trump had challenged the issue, claiming the names of people who seceded from the United States should not be removed, and he tried to make it an issue in his ongoing culture war, decrying the so-called “cancel culture.”
“All right, my friend,” said Trump. “Are you doing good? We’re going to keep the name of Robert E. Lee?”
Inhofe responded, “Just trust me. I’ll make it happen.”
“I had about 95,000 positive retweets on that. That’s a lot,” Trump commented.
Inhofe and Trump also discussed the cancellation of a confirmation hearing for Anthony Tata, a retired Army general and Fox “News” regular whom Trump had nominated for Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.
Both republicans and Democrats desired to delay the hearing on Tata to gather more information on him for the hearing. Inhofe is the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee.