Trump Vows He’ll Restore All Confederate Names to Military Bases: ‘I’m Superstitious…We Won a Lot of Battles Out of Those Forts’

President Donald Trump promised the troops at Fort Bragg that he would restore the names of all military bases previously named for Confederate generals, saying that he was “very superstitious” and “we won a lot of battles out of those forts.”

Fort Bragg, more than 250-square-mile Army base located north of Fayetteville, North Carolina, is one of the largest military bases in the world by population with over 52,000 military personnel stationed there. It was originally named after Confederate General Braxton Bragg when it was founded in 1918, and then renamed in 2023 during President Joe Biden’s administration to “Fort Liberty.”

In February, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced the name was being changed back to Fort Bragg, but to honor a World War II veteran named Roland Bragg instead of the Confederate general.

Trump held a political rally Tuesday afternoon at Fort Bragg, where he spoke about the immigration protests in Los Angeles, complained about the “fake news” media, and discussed the history of that base and others, promising he would change back all the names that were changed during the Biden administration.

A transcript of Trump’s remarks (relevant section starts around the 17:30 mark):

Few places loom larger in army lore than where we are gathered today. The one and only Fort Bragg, the one and only Fort Bragg. But remember it was only that little brief moment that it wasn’t called Fort Bragg. It was by the Biden administration, not Trump. I had nothing to do with it. You — we got, we got it changed.

We said, you know, I came here numerous times and everybody, they kept saying “Fort Bragg, Fort Bragg.” I said, you know, it’s not the name, but then I was making a speech. I said, “What do you think I should call this place?” “Call it Fort Bragg.” I said, Fort Bragg, how are you doing? We won a lot of battles from this place, and that’s the way it is. It wasn’t even close when Pete and some of the generals came to see me, I said, not even close, not even close.

This is the home of the Green Berets, the Sky Dragons, and the all-American 82nd Airborne. We know what 82nd Airborne — this is where the GIs who won the Second World War learned to pack their parachutes and push Howitzers and go right into those C-47s with lots of arms and push them right out those big beautiful doors and wield their bayonets and pry the enemy from the hedgerows of the French countryside. France needed us badly. We were there. A lot of people needed us badly — they still do, maybe worse than ever.

It was here in this soil that the Army forged the metal that held strong at Bastogne. It was here the mighty paratroopers earned their wings before they rained down death from above to liberate Sicily, Normandy, and even the Netherlands. That’s right. We saved the Netherlands.

Every inch of this space is steeped in the legacy of those warriors who have said with pride, “Sir, I trained at Fort Bragg, sir.” That was pretty cool, and that is why we restored the historic name of this very, very special place. I don’t know if it could be the same place. Fort Bragg is in, that’s the name, and Fort Bragg, it shall always remain. That’s never going to be happening again.

And for a little news for the fake news back there, the fake news, ladies and gentlemen, look at them, look at them all, what I have to put up with, fake news. What I have to put up with, but they’re all right. They’ve been very nice today. They were impressed with that display, I can tell you that.

I think it took them a little by surprise, but for a little breaking news, we are also going to be restoring the names to Fort Pickett, Fort Hood, Fort Gordon, Fort Rucker, Fort Polk, Fort AP Hill, and Fort Robert E. Lee. We won a lot of battles out of those forts. It’s no time to change. And I’m superstitious, you know, I like to keep it going, right? I’m very superstitious. We want to keep it going.

So that’s a big story. We just announced that today to you for the first time. They said, “Why didn’t you wait till Saturday?” I said, “I can’t wait. I got to talk to my friends here today.”

This is a record crowd, you know, you never, you never had a crowd this big. That’s an honor. You think this crowd would have showed up for Biden? I don’t think so. I don’t think so. I don’t think so. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I’m wrong.

Watch the video above, via C-SPAN.