Although I think it’s better to remove controversial statues through lawful methods, the president is clearly playing to his base. A 10 year prison sentence is excessive for damage done only to a carved piece of stone. That’s a harsher penalty than many violent offenders get for assaulting actual live people. And the Veteran’s Memorial Preservation Act doesn’t apply to statues of Confederate leaders, which are mainly the controversial ones. Confederate leaders, commanders and soldiers are not US veterans. They were enemy combatants. They committed treason against this country, and fought to preserve slavery. These statues deserve to be removed from public places to begin with.