--- title: Donald Trump Once Said He'd Take Down a Confederate Flag description: Two years ago, Donald Trump struck a very different tone talking about symbols of the Confederacy. canonical: https://time.com/4907348/donald-trump-confederate-statues-flags/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-18T19:58:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:29:50.885Z article:section: Politics og:title: Candidate Trump Said He Would Take Down a Confederate Flag og:description: "Let it go," he said in 2015 og:url: https://time.com/4907348/donald-trump-confederate-statues-flags/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa8cac75805853b7/6988d9e8e76ad209fa62ebe9/donald-trump-white-nationalists.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4027 og:image:height: 2265 og:image:alt: President Trump Speaks On Infrastructure Meeting Held At Trump Tower og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Candidate Trump Said He Would Take Down a Confederate Flag twitter:description: "Let it go," he said in 2015 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa8cac75805853b7/6988d9e8e76ad209fa62ebe9/donald-trump-white-nationalists.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Candidate Trump Said He Would Take Down a Confederate Flag > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=2f1168d7-fbbf-4554-b133-160fc9e48a6e&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: President Trump Again Blames 'Both Sides' for Charlottesville Violence [Watch (HLS stream): President Trump Again Blames 'Both Sides' for Charlottesville Violence](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/EzwfOun0.m3u8) (1:32)  _Published 2017-08-15. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that anti-racism protesters bear some of the blame for the violent rallies in Charlottesville, returning to his original comments that "both sides" were responsible for the deadly clashes._  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Aug 18, 2017 7:58 PM UTC President Donald Trump said Tuesday that anti-racism protesters bear some of the blame for the violent rallies in Charlottesville, returning to his original comments that "both sides" were responsible for the deadly clashes.  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Aug 18, 2017 7:58 PM UTC President Trump [incited controversy](http://time.com/4906163/trump-confederate-statues/?xid=homepage) this week when he said that removing “beautiful” Confederate statues would tear apart American “history and culture.” But two years ago, he struck a very different tone. When he was still running for president in June 2015, Trump was asked whether or not the Confederate flag flying above the South Carolina state house needed to be taken down. “I think it probably does, and I think they should put it in the museum,” he replied. “Let it go. Respect whatever it is you have to respect because it was a point in time, and put it in a museum. But I would take it down, yes.” > [](https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/898629283102502912) That contrasts sharply with Trump’s statements this week about symbols of the Confederacy in the wake of the violence in Charlottesville. “Sad to see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments,” Trump said in a [series of tweets](http://time.com/4904510/donald-trump-twitter-confederate-statues/) on Aug. 17\. “You can’t change history, but you can learn from it. Robert E Lee, Stonewall Jackson – who’s next, Washington, Jefferson? So foolish! Also the beauty that is being taken out of our cities, towns and parks will be greatly missed and never able to be comparably replaced!” ## Transcript [00:00] I've condemned neo- Nazis, I've condemned many [00:04] different groups, but not all of those people were [00:08] neo- Nazis, believe me. Not all of those people were [00:11] white supremacists. I think there's blame on both [00:13] sides. You look at both sides I think there's blame [00:18] on both sides, and I have no doubt about it. What [00:20] about the alt- left? They came charging, as you say, at [00:23] the alt- right. Do they have any semblance of guilt? [00:27] [ CROSSTALK ]. Let me ask you this, what about the [00:31] fact they came charging with clubs in their hands, [00:34] swinging clubs, Do they have any problem? I think they [00:38] do. There was a group on this side, you can call them [00:41] the left, you've just called them the left, that came [00:44] violently attacking the other group. So you can say what [00:47] you want, but that's they way it is. You had people in [00:50] that group that were there to protest the taking down, [00:54] to them, a very, very important statue, And the [00:57] renaming of a park from Robert E. Lee to another [01:00] name .>> [ UNKNOWN ] George Washington was a [01:04] slave owner. Was George Washington a slave owner? [01:07] So, will George Washington now lose his status? Excuse [01:12] me. Are we going to take down statues to George [01:16] Washington How about Thomas Jefferson? What do you [01:19] think about Thomas Jefferson? You like him? I do love [01:20] Thomas Jefferson. Okay good. Are we gonna take [01:23] down the statue? Cuz he was a major slave owner. [01:25] Now are we gonna take down his statue? So you know [01:28] what? It's fine. You're changing history. 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