Fox News host Greta Van Susteren said the decision to replace former President Andrew Jackson on the front of the $20 bill with Harriet Tubman was “stupid” and creating an “unnecessary fight” in the country.
She said the choice to replace Jackson with Tubman showed the Obama administration acting “stupid for no reason.”
{mosads}“You all know I’m a feminist, love to see women acknowledged for the great things they do to contribute to our nation, and Harriet Tubman did, and she deserves it,” Van Susteren said on “Off the Record.”
“But what I don’t get is this: Rather than dividing the country between those who happen to like the tradition of our currency and want President Andrew Jackson to stay put and those who want to put a woman on a bill — it’s so easy to make everyone happy.”
Van Susteren said that while Tubman should be acknowledged for her “courage,” the decision to put her image on a bill doesn’t need to “stir up the country.”
She suggested instead that Tubman could be put on a new currency.
“We could use a $25 bill. Put her picture on that, and we could all celebrate,” she said.
“That’s the smart and easy thing to do. But no, some people don’t think and would gratuitously stir up conflict in the nation. That is so awful, and yes, dumb.”
The Treasury Department on Wednesday announced plans to replace the portrait of Jackson on the front of the $20 bill with Tubman’s image. Jackson will instead appear on the back of the bill. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew also announced plans to keep Alexander Hamilton on the front of the $10 bill and to put leaders of the suffrage movement on the back of that bill.