--- description: Two years ago, Donald Trump struck a very different tone talking about symbols of the Confederacy. title: Candidate Trump Said He Would Take Down a Confederate Flag image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa8cac75805853b7/6988d9e8e76ad209fa62ebe9/donald-trump-white-nationalists.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Donald Trump](/tag/donald-trump/) ## Donald Trump Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Candidate Trump Said He Would Take Down a Confederate Flag  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 18, 2017 7:58 PM CUT  President Donald Trump speaks following a meeting on infrastructure at Trump Tower, August 15, 2017 in New York City. President Donald Trump speaks following a meeting on infrastructure at Trump Tower, August 15, 2017 in New York City.Drew Angerer/Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 18, 2017 7:58 PM CUT President Trump [incited controversy](http://time.com/4906163/trump-confederate-statues/?xid=homepage "undefined") 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/ "undefined") 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!” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4907348/donald-trump-confederate-statues-flags/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4907348/donald-trump-confederate-statues-flags/"},"headline":"Candidate Trump Said He Would Take Down a Confederate Flag","datePublished":"2017-08-18T19:58:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:04:22.476Z","description":"\"Let it go,\" he said in 2015","url":"https://time.com/4907348/donald-trump-confederate-statues-flags/","keywords":["Donald Trump","White House","onetime","president trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa8cac75805853b7/6988d9e8e76ad209fa62ebe9/donald-trump-white-nationalists.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa8cac75805853b7/6988d9e8e76ad209fa62ebe9/donald-trump-white-nationalists.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trump Speaks On Infrastructure Meeting Held At Trump Tower","caption":"President Trump Speaks On Infrastructure Meeting Held At Trump Tower","creditText":"Drew Angerer/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4907348/donald-trump-confederate-statues-flags/","name":"Candidate Trump Said He Would Take Down a Confederate Flag"}}]}] ```