Four hundred troops with the Washington, D.C., National Guard have been mobilized to protect monuments in the nation’s capitol, a senior U.S. defense official tweeted on Wednesday.

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The deployment has been launched because violent rioters on Monday attempted to tear down a statue of Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Square by the White House, and vandalized it with the phrase “killer scum.” Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said that he had visited Lafayette Square on Tuesday and witnessed the destruction. He said the nation “will not bow to anarchists” and that “law and order will prevail, and justice will be served.” Other GOP leaders challenged the power and violence of the rioters, Antifa, and their Democrat allies.

Secretary Bernhardt said Tuesday night, “This evening, I requested from the secretary of defense that the National Guard be available to us to begin to redact additional monuments. Earlier today, I instructed the erection of a fence at Lafayette Plaza as well as at St. John’s Church. And we will protect these monuments and we will do it with the dispatch and severity last night. Our Park Police and the Metro D.C. Police, as well as the U.S. Secret Service uniformed patrol, did an excellent job in addressing the issue and rapidly protecting the statue. And those activities will continue.” Conservative activists applauded the secretary’s decisive action.

Bernhardt added, “These people [DC law enforcement] are exceptional. They’re dedicated, and they are dealing with the savage, highly significant situation. In terms of morale, these are some of the most dedicated law enforcement officials on the planet, and they are true professionals. They also, I must say, I was out last night with them, and I must say they have the patience of Job taking some of the stuff that they take. I couldn’t do it. But here is the reality: Many were injured…many are back on the job. And we are bringing in additional supplemental efforts and people and personnel, just like I mentioned, the Guard, to ensure that we provide all of the force and all the resources they need to do their job, which is to protect us and our property.”

Amazingly, DC congressional delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, who is black, wants a statue torn down that commemorates the Emancipation Proclamation and the subsequent liberation of millions of African Americans from slavery. Former slaves paid for the statue. Again, the wishes and heartfelt desires of left-wing racists and the Ku Klux Klan are one and the same. Holmes’ explanation: “Although formerly enslaved Americans paid for this statue to be built in 1876, the design and sculpting process was done without their input, and it shows. The statue fails to note in any way how enslaved African Americans pushed for their own emancipation. Understandably, they were only recently liberated from slavery and were grateful for any recognition of their freedom.”

So an effete DC politician like Holmes Norton has no time for the real and sincere thanks rendered by those who had been enslaved toward the men who liberated them. It could only be said by a Democrat and almost only in DC.