'Democrats want to remove America's guts': Trump tells cheering North Carolina crowd that he wants to 'restore patriotic education' after threatening to defund schools that are trying 'to take away history' by teaching The 1619 Project

President Donald Trump told a North Carolina crowd Tuesday evening that he wants to restore 'patriotic education' because Democrats are trying to take away America's history.

Trump was speaking in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, when he slammed schools for wanting to teach the New York Times' 1619 Project. 

'The first thing they do is they want to take your history away,' Trump said to the cheering crowd. 

'That's why the monuments and the statues, they want to knock them down. The first thing they do is take away your guts. They take away your statues, they take away your heroes, they take away your great generals, they take away your past.' 

The president then said that his goal is to 'restore patriotic education to our schools, and we will teach our children to love our country, honor our history, and always respect our great American Flag'.

Huge cheers went up when he spoke about the fines he had introduced for defacing monuments and statues, amid Black Lives Matter protests that gained international attention following the May 25 killing of George Floyd who died under the knee of a Minneapolis officer. 

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President Donald Trump told a North Carolina crowd Tuesday evening that he wants to restore 'patriotic education' because Democrats are trying to take away America's history

Trump's remarks about The 1619 Project came just a day after he was asked about instructors using the interactive project to teach slavery in America and whether he wanted the subject to be taught. 

In response, the president said: 'I want everybody to know everything they can about our history. I am not a believer in cancel culture, the good or the bad, if you don’t study the bad it could happen again. So I do want that subject studied very carefully and accurately.'

Trump then claimed: 'But, we grew up with a certain history and now they’re trying to change our history. Revisionist history. That’s why they want to take down our monuments, take down our statues.' 

The president was referring to the removal of several Confederate monuments amid the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. 

The Pulitzer-Prize winning collection of essays, photo essays, poems, and short fiction pieces published last year seeks to reframe American history as starting in 1619, when the first slaves from Africa arrived to Virginia, rather than 1776, when the founding fathers declared independence from Britain. 

Trump was speaking in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, when he slammed schools for wanting to teach the New York Times' 1619 Project . 'The first thing they do is they want to take your history away,' Trump said to the cheering crowd 

'That's why the monuments and the statues (file image), they want to knock them down. The first thing they do is take away your guts. They take away your statues, they take away your heroes, they take away your great generals, they take away your past'

On Sunday, the president retweeted a message from an unverified account saying the project would be taught in schools and shared: 'Department of Education is looking at this. If so, they will not be funded!'  

And on Friday, Trump banned federal agencies from conducting racial sensitivity training related to 'white privilege' and 'critical race theory'. 

The banning of the 1619 project is the latest effort by Trump against new progressive interpretations to history that he deems un-American. 

Trump has in the past defended Confederate statues, called the phrase 'Black Lives Matter' a symbol of hate, and threatened to withhold funding for liberal cities that saw civil unrest and protests decrying police brutality and racism. 

'You can vote for a candidate backed by violent left-wing rioters if you have to or vote for a candidate backed by selfless law enforcement heroes,' Trump said Tuesday night. 

The president also tore into Joe Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, during the rally. 

The president also tore into Joe Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, during the rally. Trump said it would be 'an insult to the country' if Harris became the first female president 

He also vowed that with him as president, 'we will live by the timeless words of our motto: in God we trust' 

Trump said it would be 'an insult to the country' if Harris became the first female president. 

He also vowed that with him as president, 'we will live by the timeless words of our motto: in God we trust'.

Trump claimed that Biden was determined to unleash a culture war, rewriting America's history.

'Biden's plan is to appease the domestic terrorists. My plan is to arrest them,' he said. 'You had a president who apologized for America,' he said, referencing Obama. 'Now you have a president who stands up for America.' 

Trump told the crowd that Biden claimed to be on the side of blue collar workers, but had 'stabbed them in the back' with his support for free trade.

Fans of the president wore his campaign t-shirt and baseball caps, and held up signs proclaiming their support

The president said that he had been told 15,000 people had gathered for Tuesday night's rally

Trump said before China sent 'the plague' he was 'sailing through an easy election'. 

The president said Biden was in thrall to China, and attacked him for his backing of the North American Free Trade Agreement - NAFTA. Trump has since repealed and replaced NAFTA with the North America Canada Trade Deal. 

'Joe Biden is weak, and he is always caving to China,' he said.

Referencing the much-vaunted border wall - a key 2016 campaign promise - Trump insisted Mexico was indeed paying for it. 

'Mexico is paying for the wall,' he said. 'Even though they don't say it. We're going to put a toll booth at the border. And maybe do something with remittances,' he said. 

Trump said the wall 'is almost completed' and was 'wired for every single thing you could have'.

As of August 7, work had been completed on 30 miles of barriers where none had existed prior to Trump's presidency, according to US Customs and Border Protection. 

Of that amount, five miles are 'primary' barriers - the first to be encountered - while 25 miles are 'secondary' barriers beyond the primary ones. 

Funding had been identified for another 157 miles of new wall that is 'in the pre-construction phase,' according to the agency. 

Trump was back on the campaign trail on Tuesday night, staging a rally at Smith-Reynolds Regional Airport

Trump's supporters waited for several hours for the president to arrive on Tuesday night in Winston-Salem

He told his supporters that he had kept his promises, citing justice reform, ending NAFTA and pulling the US out of the Iran deal.

'We ended catch and release, stopped asylum fraud, and deported 20,000 gang members,' he said.

'We invested $2.5trillion in the US military and gave our great warriors a big pay rise.'  

After Trump's stop in Winston-Salem, two of his sons will also be campaigning for their father in North Carolina.

Eric Trump is expected to speak at a campaign event on Wednesday in High Point. 

The following day, Donald Trump Jr will be campaigning in Hendersonville.

'You better elect me, North Carolina,' the president said, to chants of 'four more years'. 

As the rally finished, after an hour and 10 minutes, he promised to 'make America wealthy again, make America strong again, make America proud again, make America safe again, and make America great again'.