President Donald Trump posted to Truth Social on Sunday that he’s “bringing Columbus Day back from the ashes,” suggesting that the holiday had been eliminated.
However, Columbus Day currently remains a federal holiday as it did throughout former President Joe Biden‘s administration, with Biden, a Democrat, issuing an official proclamation celebrating it in October 2024.
Newsweek has reached out to the White House via email on Sunday for comment.
Why It Matters
Columbus Day is a federal holiday celebrated in the United States on the second Monday of October, marking Christopher Columbus‘ arrival in the Americas in 1492. Some Americans, especially within Native American communities, have argued to change the focus of the holiday in part because of the bloodshed and devastation the Italian explorer left behind.
While the holiday continues to be federally recognized, there has been a growing movement to also recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day, which Biden became the first president to officially commemorate in 2021, alongside—not replacing—Columbus Day.
President Donald Trump is seen at the White House on April 15 in Washington, D.C. President Donald Trump is seen at the White House on April 15 in Washington, D.C. Win McNamee/Getty Images
What To Know
In his Truth Social post on Sunday, the president wrote: “I’m bringing Columbus Day back from the ashes. The Democrats did everything possible to destroy Christopher Columbus, his reputation, and all of the Italians that love him so much. They tore down his Statues, and put up nothing but ‘WOKE,’ or even worse, nothing at all! Well, you’ll be happy to know, Christopher is going to make a major comeback. I am hereby reinstating Columbus Day under the same rules, dates, and locations, as it has had for all of the many decades before!”
During the 2020 racial justice protests following George Floyd‘s death, at least seven Christopher Columbus statues were destroyed across the nation. Demonstrators targeted these monuments as symbols associated with colonization and the mistreatment of indigenous peoples. In response, officials in at least 27 additional cities ordered the removal of Columbus statues that year to prevent potential vandalism.
In 2021, Biden became the first president to issue an official proclamation commemorating Indigenous Peoples Day, also on the second Monday of October to “honor America’s first inhabitants and the Tribal Nations.”
Maine, New Mexico, Vermont and Washington, D.C., have renamed the day Indigenous Peoples Day in 2019. Several states still have an official public holiday exclusively called Columbus Day and others like Nebraska or Pennsylvania celebrate both.
Trump regularly praised the 15th century Italian explorer in his Columbus Day proclamations during his first administration, while notably not mentioning Indigenous peoples.
During the 2020 presidential election, Trump in October spurred the crowd at a Michigan rally to boo the idea of replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day.
“So last week, Biden attacked Christopher Columbus by refusing to recognize Columbus Day. And he wants to change the name of Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day. Who likes that idea? What the heck are you saying? That’s politically incorrect! What they don’t understand is that they’re politically incorrection. So he wants to change it to Indigenous Peoples Day. Not as long as I’m president.”
In that year’s proclamation, Trump said: “Sadly, in recent years, radical activists have sought to undermine Christopher Columbus’s legacy. These extremists seek to replace discussion of his vast contributions with talk of failings, his discoveries with atrocities and his achievements with transgressions.
Meanwhile, during the 2024 presidential campaign trail, Trump accused then-Vice President and Democratic hopeful Kamala Harris of wanting to “get rid of this holiday honoring the hero that discovered a new world.”
Harris told a crowd during her 2019 presidential run in New Hampshire that she would push for the federal government to rename Columbus Day to “Indigenous Peoples Day.” “Sign me up,” Harris said in response to a voter’s question about her support in the renaming initiative.
What People Are Saying
President Donald Trump wrote in a social media post in 2018: “Christopher Columbus’s spirit of determination & adventure has provided inspiration to generations of Americans. On #ColumbusDay, we honor his remarkable accomplishments as a navigator, & celebrate his voyage into the unknown expanse of the Atlantic Ocean.”
Former President Joe Biden in an October 2024 Columbus Day Proclamation: “For some Italian American families, the stories they share about their ancestors’ lives in this country stretch back generations. They are stories about immigrants who left everything behind to sail across an ocean and chase the American Dream for the hope of a brighter future. They are stories about ancestors who helped build this country and found America’s middle class — and their traditions and recipes still bring joy to their families today.”
What Happens Next?
Given that Columbus Day remains a federal holiday, Trump’s “reinstatement” appears largely symbolic.
