On Tuesday, Florida Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna introduced legislation in the House to add Donald Trump’s visage to Mount Rushmore.
“President Trump’s bold leadership and steadfast dedication to America’s greatness have cemented his place in history. Mount Rushmore, a timeless symbol of our nation’s freedom and strength, deserves to reflect his towering legacy — a legacy further solidified by the powerful start to his second term,” Luna said in a press release. “He will be forever remembered among the great like Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt.”
Yup.
And what’s remarkable is that this isn’t the first time a put-Trump-on-Rushmore movement has broken out within the GOP!
Back in 2017, Trump said this at a campaign rally:
Every single president on Mt. Rushmore – I’d ask whether or not you think I will someday be on Mt. Rushmore. But here’s the problem: If i did it, joking, totally joking, the fake news media would say he believes he should be on Mt. Rushmore. So I won’t say it.
He won’t say it!
Then, in 2018, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem visited Trump at the White House. Here’s how she recounted the conversation they had:
He said, ‘Kristi, come on over here. Shake my hand. I shook his hand, and I said, ‘Mr. President, you should come to South Dakota sometime. We have Mount Rushmore.’ And he goes, ‘Do you know it’s my dream to have my face on Mount Rushmore?’. I started laughing. He wasn’t laughing, so he was totally serious.
In 2019, according to the New York Times, “a White House aide reached out to the governor’s office with a question, according to a Republican official familiar with the conversation: What’s the process to add additional presidents to Mount Rushmore?”
The following year — in the teeth of the Covid-19 pandemic — Trump traveled to Mount Rushmore to deliver an Independence Day speech. During his visit, Noem presented him with a four-foot bust of Mount Rushmore with his head added to it.
We later learned that the bust had cost $1,100 — money that Noem said was funded by private donations.
Just in case you are wondering: Donald Trump is not going to be added to Rushmore — no matter what Congress does. The National Park Service, which runs the site, made clear back in Trump’s first term that there was simply no more room on the rock face for another president’s head. Sorry, folks. Park’s closed! The moose outside should have told you!
But, I DO think this odd episode makes an important point about the current state of the Republican party. And it’s this: The GOP functions much less like a traditional political party and much more like a cult of personality these days.
The only goal is proximity to Trump. Get in his good graces and good things will happen. I mean, Noem was just confirmed as the head of the Department of Homeland Security!
Luna has learned that lesson. Which is why she is making this quixotic effort to get Trump on Mount Rushmore. There will be more stuff like this — believe me. We are only in the 9th day of the second Trump presidency!
This is a FREE post. But all of this only works if you are willing to invest in independent journalism. Which is why I hope today is the day you become a paid subscriber to this newsletter. It’s $6 a month or $60 for the year.
Share this post