A Republican lawmaker has introduced a bill that would add President Donald Trump’s face to Mount Rushmore.
“Let’s get carving!” Florida Representative Anna Paulina Luna posted on X Tuesday after introducing legislation she said would recognise what she called Trump’s “remarkable accomplishments” and “the success he will continue to deliver.”
“President Trump’s bold leadership and steadfast dedication to America’s greatness have cemented his place in history,” Luna wrote in a statement. “He will be forever remembered among the great like Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt.”
These four presidents were selected to have their likeness carved into the South Dakota granite by artist Gutzon Borglum because, in his view, they represented “the most important events in the history of the United States,” according to the National Park Service, which also acknowledges that the project disregarded the site’s cultural significance for local tribes.
There were plans to add the men’s torsos but funds dried up before the work could be completed in 1941.
President Donald Trump pumps his fist as he arrives for the Independence Day events at Mount Rushmore National Memorial in Keystone, South Dakota, in 2020.Trump has publicly mused about having his face added to the contested national memorial, telling a crowd in 2017: “I’d ask whether or not you think I will someday be on Mount Rushmore.”
He then suggested his comment was in jest.
“Here’s the problem, if I did it joking, totally joking, having fun, the fake news media will say, ‘He believes he should be on Mount Rushmore!’” he added.
Four years later, then-South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, who was confirmed as Trump’s Homeland Security secretary last week, credited herself with gifting Trump a $1,100 bust depicting his face on the mountain.
She said Trump had told her that it was his dream to have his face added and that “I knew that that was something that he would find special.”
Luna’s proposal was endorsed by members of a Fox News panel on Monday.
“If there’s room up there, I think it’d be great,” said former Representative Jason Chaffetz.
“I think what Donald Trump has done, and is in the process of doing, is transforming the United States of America and putting America first. And I think America loves it, and I think there’s a great case for it,” he said.
Trump’s former press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, agreed.
“Yeah, I’m fascinated by this, because that would be some sweet irony after President Joe Biden stopped the fireworks display from Mount Rushmore,” she added. “So, if you did, like, the 250th anniversary of the country at Mount Rushmore with President Trump’s face, it would be epic.”