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Who are 244 nominees for Donald Trump's Garden of American Heroes? Internet asks Joe Biden to 'cancel this s**t'

The order to build the park comes just months after the countrywide uprising to remove monuments and statues that honor controversial ‘heroes’

Just two days before his exit from the White House, President Donald Trump issued another controversial order — to build a statuary park named the National Garden of American Heroes. The order to build this park comes just months after the countrywide uprising in favor of the removal of monuments that honor controversial personalities as ‘heroes’.

Trump has released a list of 244 ‘heroes’ whose statues should be put up in the garden. Incidentally, the list includes former presidents such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson who were historically infamous for supporting slavery and owning slaves. In addition, Trump has added the names of explorer Christopher Columbus and president Andrew Jackson, both of whom are abhorred by many for their brutal treatment of Native Americans; not to mention that Columbus’ identification as Discoverer of America is factually flawed.

However, to counterbalance the radical personalities, legends such as Martin Luther King Jr, Hannah Arendt, Harriet Tubman, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg have also been featured in the compiled list. 

Why does Trump want a National Garden of Heroes?

The proposal for the garden of statues was first floated by Trump last year during a speech at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. The iconic American tourist site, which depicts the carved faces of former presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt on a mountaintop, perhaps inspired Trump to create something equally stunning and iconic during his presidency.

Now, just two days before his Presidency ends, he has drafted an elaborate executive order that has created the Interagency Task Force for Building and Rebuilding Monuments to American Heroes, which is to begin the construction of the garden as soon as possible. 

“The National Garden will be built to reflect the awesome splendor of our country’s timeless exceptionalism,” Trump has mentioned in the order. He has also addressed the revolutionary movement around controversial monuments, dubbing it "a dangerous anti-American extremism that seeks to dismantle our country’s history, institutions, and very identity.” He also remarked how the rebellion has ‘desecrated’ heroes such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, or Hans Christian Heg. “The National Garden,” he adds, “... is America’s answer to this reckless attempt to erase our heroes, values, and entire way of life.”

Section 3(c) (i) of Executive Order 13934 has been amended to publish the final list of the American heroes which includes quite unusual names such as former presidents Grover Cleveland and William Howard Taft or nurseryman Johnny ‘Appleseed’ Chapman, among others.

The entire list with 244 names appears to be an assemblage of unlikely heroes and conflicting personalities, aside from the everyday American icons. For instance, Andrew Jackson sits side by side with Native American icons such as Sitting Bull, Sacagawea and Red Cloud. There are names from all walks of life — politics, literature, entertainment industry, activism or social welfare. You can view the complete list here. 

Will Joe Biden revoke the order?

The decision, however, did not sit well with a major section of Americans, who are now imploring Trump’s successor Joe Biden to rescind this order. One user called out Trump’s "tone-deafness" in placing personalities such as Hannah Arendt and Albert Einstein next to Antonin Scalia and Barry Goldwater. 

"The sheer unmitigated tone-deafness of putting Hannah Arendt and Albert Einstein and Muhammad Ali next to the likes of Christopher Columbus and ANTONIN SCALIA AND BARRY GOLDWATER," he wrote on Twitter.

Another user urged, "Andrew Jackson?? Christopher Columbus?? What in the absolute fuck...Biden, you need to cancel this shit ASAP."

Some, like Aaron Rupar, was puzzled at the sheer randomness of the names in the list. "Did he ... did he draw names at random out of a hat?" he asked

One user would not mind a statue of Christopher Columbus, as long as it is their favorite movie director and not the controversial 15th-century explorer. "i am very supportive of trump erecting a statue of christopher columbus. he is an american hero having directed some of my favorite films."