In his defense of white supremacists, the president compared statues of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson to George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. This comparison accomplishes two things: It equates Confederate generals with heroes of the American Revolution. And it changes the subject from whether Confederate monuments should remain, to whether monuments to Washington, Jefferson should.

This subject change is an attempt to force opponents to defend Washington and Jefferson’s slave-owning or advocate their removal. The key difference is the purpose of the monuments: Washington and Jefferson are honored for winning independence for the United States, freedom for (some) Americans. Whatever their actions in their own households, their actions as statesmen are the subject of monuments to Jefferson or Washington. The Confederate monuments are also honoring the subjects’ public lives – careers defined by the defense of slavery. That these statues were erected during the Civil Rights era reveals them to be monuments not to great leaders, but to White Supremacy.

Whatever you think of Washington or Jefferson, they’re not being honored FOR owning slaves or FOR maintaining white supremacy. For Lee and Jackson, white supremacy is why they fought. White Supremacy is why they are honored. And White Supremacy is why they must come down.