As the nation marks Columbus Day today, President Donald Trump is demanding that the city of Columbus, Ohio, bring back the Christopher Columbus statue it took down in 2020.

"We demand that Christopher Columbus be put back into the heart of Columbus, Ohio," Trump said Friday at a Columbus Day celebration in the East Room of the White House. "We want it back. We want it back in Columbus."

The Statue at the Center of the Debate

The statue stood outside Columbus City Hall for decades before Mayor Andrew Ginther ordered it removed in 2020, amid the civil unrest and racial justice protests that swept the country that summer. Cities across the U.S. took down Columbus statues around the same time, as critics pointed to the explorer's treatment of Indigenous people.

The statue has been in storage since its removal, CW Columbus reported. Its future is now tied up in a court case.

Columbus Leaders Fire Back

Ginther said he and the president "clearly have different priorities." He said he is focused on the everyday concerns of residents and urged Trump to stop dividing the country. Instead, the mayor said, the president should focus on the war, tariffs, rising prices for gas and goods, and housing costs.

As for the statue itself, Ginther said it is "the subject of pending litigation" and that the city would not comment further while the case is before the court.

Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin was even more blunt. "Mr. President, keep my city's name out of your mouth," he wrote on Facebook. Hardin told Trump to use his remaining time in office to lower costs and end the war in Iran, calling him a soon-to-be lame duck.

Trump's Columbus Day Celebration

Trump has made honoring Columbus a priority of his second term. At Friday's event, he said he "resurrected Christopher Columbus," calling the explorer a hero who changed the course of history. He also noted that the nation's capital, the District of Columbia, is named in his honor.

"We love Italian Americans," Trump said during the celebration, according to Spectrum News. The event featured a performance by opera singer Christopher Macchio, and guests included Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.

Trump also unveiled a new Columbus statue that will be placed in the White House Rose Garden. It joins another statue installed in March outside the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which Trump had rebuilt from the rubble of a Columbus statue that protesters toppled into Baltimore's harbor in 2020.

In his proclamation for today's holiday, Trump praised Columbus' "valor, adventure, and ingenuity" and said his 1492 voyage "set in motion the forces that would culminate in the miracle of July 4, 1776."

Columbus Day vs. Indigenous Peoples' Day

The holiday has become a point of division in recent years. In 2021, President Joe Biden became the first president to formally recognize Indigenous Peoples' Day alongside Columbus Day. Trump reversed that last year, proclaiming the day solely as Columbus Day.

Many communities have gone a different direction. Berkeley, California, became the first city to rename the holiday in 1991, and hundreds of cities and several states have since replaced or combined Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples' Day.

Supporters see Columbus as a symbol of exploration and Italian American heritage, while critics point to the violence and enslavement Native Americans faced after his arrival. The debate over the Columbus, Ohio, statue shows that divide is far from settled.

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