n his inaugural address, President Biden pledged to "repair alliances." Yet one of his first moves in power was to remove a bust of the late British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill from the Oval Office, as President Barack Obama did in January 2009. This was a slap in the face for Great Britain on Day One of Biden's presidency, and sends the wrong signal to America’s closest friend and ally.
The Churchill bust is a sensitive issue for U.S.-British relations. The bronze bust, created by sculptor Jacob Epstein, was originally a loaned gift to President George W. Bush from British Prime Minister Tony Blair in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
The bust is a symbol of the British people standing shoulder to shoulder with their American brothers and sisters following the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history. Another bust of Churchill, which has been on the second floor of the White House since the 1960s, is outside the Treaty Room.
When Obama decided to send the Oval Office Churchill bust back to the British Embassy within days of taking office, the move attracted a great deal of negative publicity in the United Kingdom. It was strongly condemned by then-mayor of London (and now Prime Minister) Boris Johnson.
The Churchill bust was returned to the White House when Donald Trump became president in 2017, and was in the Oval Office until this week.
Indeed, under President Obama, the partnership between the two allies was not as close as it was under President George W. Bush. At the time, many British conservatives viewed the Obama administration as being at best lukewarm towards Britain, and on occasion even hostile.
In April 2016, ahead of the Brexit referendum, Obama warned the U.K. that it would be at "the back of the queue" for a trade deal with the U.S. if the British people dared to vote to leave the European Union. His remarks, made in London, were seen as both insulting and an unacceptable direct intervention by the U.S. president in British politics.
There are real concerns in London that Biden may translate his antipathy towards Brexit and his well-known admiration for the European Union into a downgrading of the Anglo-American alliance in favor of appeasing Brussels and the continental European powers of Germany and France.
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/chur...-nile-gardiner
The British people need to be punished for voting to leave is I believe how the thinking goes.
The bottom line is that conservatives cant admit to themselves the Evil they have allowed to romp on their watch.
This is going to hurt.
War=Peace (01-24-2021)
It reflects a mindset.
The Brits have a colonialist history that ‘enlightened’ progressives find offensive. It didn’t surprise me that Obama would kick Churchill out but it seems out of character for Biden to do it.
Apparently, he’s spent so much time with them lately they’ve taken over his mind. Or, it was ‘suggested’ that Churchill be sent back by someone else. Harris would be an obvious culprit for that.
In any event it’s petty and stupid.
Coup has started. First of many steps. Impeachment will follow ultimately~WB attorney Mark Zaid, January 2017
Churchill was an imperialist and a racist. He was also a drunk and a womanizer and a leader of men when times were tough. No person is perfect, not even most democrats, and it is beyond weird for trump stooges to try to act like Trump was such a pro-Brit kind of guy because he could dig Churchill's racist imperialist words and actions, from a long time ago, but alienated and insulted Britain and Germany and France and Canada and our other allies while bending over and defending true assholes like Putin and Little Kim and Erdogan and the murdering Saudi Prince.
this is what British sources say about him-
Winston Churchill: the man, the myth, the murderer | rs21www.rs21.org.uk › 2020/05/08 › winston-churchill-the...
May 8, 2020 — Churchill is central to the Tory myth of national unit. But the historical record is clear: he was a virulent racist, a diehard colonialist, and ...
Was Winston Churchill racist? Why some people have ...www.the-sun.com › news › was-winston-churchill-racist
Jun 8, 2020 — He served as Conservative Prime Minister twice - from 1940 to 1945, before being defeated in the 1945 general election by the Labour leader ...
Britain's persistent racism cannot simply be explained by its ...www.theguardian.com › commentisfree › jun › britain-...
Jun 24, 2020 — Empire does not explain all of Britain's history of elitism and exploitation, says historian David Edgerton.
The 10 greatest controversies of Winston Churchill's career ...www.bbc.com › news › magazine-29701767
Jan 26, 2015 — Views on race. In April last year, Labour candidate Benjamin Whittingham tweeted that Churchill was "a racist and white supremacist".
blackascoal (01-23-2021), christiefan915 (01-23-2021), Guno צְבִי (01-23-2021), Nomad (01-23-2021), Rune (01-23-2021)
AProudLefty (01-23-2021), blackascoal (01-23-2021), christiefan915 (01-23-2021), Diesel (01-23-2021), domer76 (01-23-2021), Guno צְבִי (01-23-2021), Nomad (01-23-2021), Rune (01-23-2021), TexanManWithPlans (01-23-2021), TTQ64 (01-23-2021)
I'm pretty sure that Trump's four-year retard-fest offended the Brits more than does the removal of a bust. Recall how Trump was always mocking London. (I know Faux News has amnesia, though, so maybe Trumpers can't recall.)
blackascoal (01-23-2021), Guno צְבִי (01-23-2021), Nomad (01-23-2021)
Frank Apisa (01-23-2021), Guno צְבִי (01-23-2021), Rune (01-23-2021)
I suppose Trump had one of Hitler. I expect President Biden had that removed too. One of my strongest early memories is how they had the face to show Churchill giving an election broadcast in one of our Rhondda cinemas. The place erupted, people standing up and screaming with fury, throwing things at the screen, whatever, till they took off the evil old bugger. Most exciting for a small child!
Guno צְבִי (01-23-2021), Rune (01-23-2021)
Absolutely petty, the President may have whatever art he wants in the White House.
cancel2 2022 (01-23-2021)
blackascoal (01-23-2021), christiefan915 (01-23-2021), Cypress (01-23-2021), Frank Apisa (01-23-2021), Guno צְבִי (01-23-2021), Nomad (01-23-2021), Rune (01-23-2021), signalmankenneth (01-23-2021)
Churchill killed millions of Hindus in the Bengali famine of 1943 & called Hindus beastly.
Churchill was at Tehran, Yalta & Potsdam conferences where he gave Stalin Poland & other regions ,when Poland objected he called Poles callous lunatics.
Churchill fire bombed Dresden killing at least 25,000 civilians.
Churchill put millions of Mau Mau of Kenya in internment camps.
Churchill only played a minor role in defeating Hitler, anyways.
Most of the credit goes to Stalin.
Care to field that one!?
Using a Stalin bust for the same reason as a Churchill bust!?
Being they both fought Hitler.
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