Rep. Don Beyer Won't Back Down on Trump Arch Protest Despite Court Ruling

You know, I am a child of the 60s, and I have seen these protests. They can change hearts and minds, but they don't necessarily change the result you're looking for. So if you get hauled off, it's not going to stop Trump. from doing what he wants to do, at least the way I see it. What say you? Well, we're relying on the courts and so far, and we hope that Trump will obey the courts. But I actually had the pleasure of sitting in front of John Lewis for two years on the House Ways and Means Committee, one of my great heroes. And he always said, look for good trouble. Maybe when he crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge, And got arrested and got beat up. It didn't change everything right away. But we just elected four black governors the other night. I'm including a black woman governor in Georgia. So what John Lewis did all those years ago did make a difference. I certainly don't want to compare our little protest to what he, the civil rights movement, but, but there's an example there that we, something we don't like in public policy. We have a responsibility to stand up and protest. Will you be out there protesting out there in a sleeping bag, sleeping on the ground where they plan to break ground? Are you going to go ahead and do that just in case? The president says, screw that. I'm not going to listen to the judge, and let's get construction going. Well, certainly, if there's any indication that he plans to move forward, we will be there. And I won't be by myself, by the way. Everybody I've talked to about it in Northern Virginia is eager to come join me. And we hope to have people there, not just in the morning and the afternoon, but 24 hours a day. As we know from the East Wing of the White House, they can do evil things in the middle of the night. I'm curious if you are opposed to the idea of the arch altogether, of the triumphal arch, or are you only opposed to that location? Well, especially that location because of the, you know, the 40,000 men and women buried there, including my parents, my grandparents, my sister. You know, it's a sacred place. However, I still am against the notion of building an arch to one man's ego. You know, normally we honor people for their lovely service, their distinguished service after they're dead and gone. George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson. Rarely do we build statues to to people while they're still alive. Especially this president. What I thought of when I heard what you were doing, the first person I thought of was Jane Fonda and what she did during the Vietnam War. And it was impactful. I'm wondering if you've heard from any celebrities like a Jane Fonda who have said, if you do that, we'll join you. I've not heard from them, but we'd love to have Jane Fonda join. Jane came to Washington just a few years ago and got arrested every day on the steps of the House Capitol for three or four weeks. I remember. Police were very polite with her as they put her in handcuffs and took her off every day. So do you think this is going to make a difference? I mean, look, I think these protests are meaningful. But do you think, you know, if for whatever reason, either the court backs off. Or Donald Trump does it anyway. Is this symbolic or do you think it can actually make a difference? I think it definitely can make a difference. And because it's symbolic, we just look at Gandhi or Martin Luther King Jr. They were big fans of civil disobedience in order to establish what the future should be. And there is a free India right now. We have made, we're not perfect, but we've made enormous progress in civil rights in America. So yes, this is not as big a deal. This is just an arch, but I think this is our opportunity to stand up. Well, and I know you say it's just an arch, but I think, and I'm sure you've heard from constituents, it's more about the cemetery and what a sacred place that is, and that there have got to be so many families who don't live in Virginia, but have loved ones laid to rest there, who gave their lives for this country. So I would imagine that you're hearing a lot of support from people even outside of Virginia. Yeah. And this is very unifying. It's every Democrat I talked to, every Republican I talked to. I love the picture you just put up because you notice that every gravestone at Arlington is exactly the same. Different names, of course, but there's no bigger stone for a general and a smaller one for a seaman or a private. So the notion of an arch. You know, we talked yesterday about how the Arc de Triomphe in Paris has the names engraved on it of the generals and admirals that fought in the world wars. And ours would have the name of a draft dodger. So the last thing we want to do is build a huge monument to somebody so out of scale with the people who actually gave their lives for our country.