One can only imagine the reaction had someone attacked a monument to Barack Obama, but it appears that the physical attack upon the star of President Donald Trump in West Hollywood’s Walk of Fame is being rewarded by the West Hollywood City Council, with a political assault.
Using the excuse of recent costly vandalism and demonstrations around Trump’s star, the West Hollywood City Council has opted to vote — unanimously — to remove the star. Austin Mikel Clay allegedly destroyed the star with a pickax two weeks ago, and was charged with one count of felony vandalism on Monday for the allegation. If convicted, the 24-year-old faces as much as three years in jail.
The vote was non-binding, as the city council has no actual legal authority to have the star removed. It was rather a request to have the star removed through “legal” means, not through a criminal act: “Similar to how certain members of the entertainment community have been removed from the Academy of Motion Pictures, due to their actions toward women, reflecting a stance on their values by the Academy, this is an opportunity for decision-makers to take a stand on their values in support of women.”
What the vote actually did was authorize the sending of a letter to the Los Angeles City Council and L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, requesting they take an action to remove the star. A final decision to remove the star would have to come from the Chamber.
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Two West Hollywood council members, Lindsey Horvath and John D’Amico, made the proposal, citing Trump’s political views and his alleged “disturbing” treatment of women. In addition to unproven allegations involving women, the city council also expressed disdain for Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement, his ban on transgender military officers, and the separation of alleged immigrant families at the U.S. border with Mexico. In other words, they don’t like his politics.
The Walk of Fame, which runs 1.3 miles on Hollywood Boulevard from Gower Street to La Brea Avenue, is a popular site for tourists, attracting millions of visitors each year. The stars honor those who have made achievements in the entertainment industry. Ronald Reagan, who was a motion picture actor before his election in 1966 as governor of California, is the only president besides Trump to have a star. Trump was awarded his own star in 2007 for his work in producing the Miss Universe Pageant, not for his political views.
Leron Gubler, the president and CEO of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, issued a terse response to the proposal to remove the Trump star. “Once we receive a communication from the City of West Hollywood, it will be referred to our Executive Committee for consideration at their next meeting. As of now, there are no plans to remove any stars from the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The West Hollywood City Council does not have jurisdiction over the Hollywood Walk of Fame.”
Gubler added, “Once a star has been added to the Walk, it is considered a part of the historic fabric of the Hollywood Walk of Fame.” The most recent effort to remove a “star” was that of Bill Cosby in 2015, but that effort went nowhere.
Kevin Williamson also expressed disdain for the effort to remove the Trump star in a recent piece for National Review: “I’m not sure I would cite ‘West Hollywood values’ in a moral crusade.”
But the effort does fit in with the recent push by the Left to remove statues, monuments, school names, and anything else they simply do not agree with, in a way that would make the Taliban proud. When efforts were first made to end anything honoring Confederate generals such as Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, many insightful conservatives warned that this was just the beginning. They understood that taking down a statue of General Lee, or removing his name from a school building, was simply laying the precedent for going after the Founding Fathers such as George Washington or Thomas Jefferson.
The reason is clear: The Left does not like the founding principles of America, and sees the destruction of anything honoring someone such as Washington as a way to strike at the form of government he and others constructed.
They want to silence voices on television and radio, on Facebook and YouTube, with whom they disagree. Digging up a Trump star over a political position they do not like — such as “climate change” — should be alarming to any American who values a civil society and the free exchange of ideas.
Photo: AP Images
