Nearly five months after Baltimore’s Christopher Columbus statue was dumped into Baltimore’s harbor, a local group is working to recreate it—using funds from the Trump administration. In one of its last acts before the 2020 elections, the Trump administration awarded $30,000 to repair or recreate the seven-foot-tall statue that was ripped from its pedestal on July 4.

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) awarded the funds as part of a countrywide effort to restore or rebuild statues of “iconic historical figures” that have been damaged or vandalized. The goal of the program, called the “A More Perfect Union” initiative, is to spark public interest in American history leading up to the country’s 250th anniversary in 2026."