Politics
GOP Rep. Launches Bid To Add President Trump To Mount Rushmore
The push to add President Donald Trump to Mount Rushmore took on new life Thursday when a Republican lawmaker announced he has petitioned the government to do just that — right in time for the 4th of July.
Congressman Andy Ogles (R-TN) revealed he has sent a letter to Doug Burgum, U.S. Secretary of the Interior, asking him to explore the possibility of plastering the president’s likeness alongside George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. It would be the first addition to the iconic American landmark since its completion in 1941.
“Given the scale and scope of President Trump’s recent achievements—especially the impending enactment of the Big Beautiful Bill, the historic act that will ignite America’s Golden Age—it is essential that we immortalize President Trump’s likeness on Mount Rushmore,” Ogles writes.
“Like Washington, Trump did not seek his position for glory but out of love for his country, championing American independence and reshaping the presidency with dynamism, clarity, and purpose.
“Like Jefferson, he expanded America’s horizons by pursuing new frontiers and breaking away from deep state tyrants.
“Like Teddy Roosevelt, Trump took on entrenched interests, reinvigorated American industry, and avenged the working class against bureaucratic bloat and corporate corruption.
“The legacy of Mount Rushmore cannot remain frozen in stone; it must evolve to reflect the full arc of American history, including its most recent and transformative chapter.”
Construction on Mount Rushmore, situated in the Black Hills of South Dakota, began in 1927, with the U.S. government funding the vast majority of the $1 million project. In today’s dollars, such an endeavor would likely run north of $20 million, or perhaps far more.
Olges urged Burgum not to let “logical and preservation questions” interfere with the importance of acknowledging Trump’s accomplishments for generations to come.
“While meeting the logistical challenges may require engagement with state and/or tribal officials, the national benefit of promptly recognizing President Trump’s accomplishments in restoring American greatness makes doing so a priority, and the benefits of elevating the dignity and relevance of the site, thus increasing both its grandeur and its visitor traffic, will accrue to South Dakota, the Lakota Sioux, and the broader,” he added.
The site attracts two million visitors annually and costs an estimated $2.1 million per year to maintain, according to the Secretary of the Interior’s website. Gutzon Borglum, its sculptor, originally conceived his vision under the name “Shrine to Democracy,” but died months before it was completed.
Borglum’s son Lincoln took his place as project lead to see it finished, but it was not until 1966 that Mount Rushmore was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, President Trump held his 4th of July celebration at Mount Rushmore and teased the possibility of his face emblazoned on it someday, according to then-Gov. Kristi Noem.
“He said, ‘Kristi, come on over here. Shake my hand,’” Noem told the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader about a meeting with Trump in the Oval Office. “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.”
