After demonstrations surrounding the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville, Va. devolved into deadly violence last weekend, the debate over whether monuments celebrating the Confederacy should remain standing was ignited once again.

The disgusting and craven white nationalists who rallied around Lee on Friday and Saturday deserve absolutely no validation whatsoever, but before the rally was even planned, one conservative leader broached a fresh take on the matter that’s worth revisiting in light of recent events.