Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth backed up his decision to return a Confederate monument to Arlington National Cemetery removed by “the woke lemmings” who have erased Confederate symbols from American culture. The Reconciliation Monument, a memorial to the Confederacy, was removed from Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia in 2023.

The memorial was removed in 2023 at the recommendation of a commission appointed by Congress to rid the military of Confederate symbols and names.

Confederate monument was removed from the historic military burial grounds in 2023 during the Biden presidency.