The Trump administration reportedly asked the governor of South Dakota about the process of adding President Trump to Mount Rushmore.
According to a report from the New York Times, White House officials reached out to Republican South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem last year about the process of adding the face of an additional president to the carving.
On July 3, the president delivered an Independence Day-themed speech in front of Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, highlighting momentous occasions throughout U.S. history. Upon Trump’s arrival, Noem, who compared the president to former President Theodore Roosevelt while opening for his speech, reportedly presented him with a 4-foot replica of Mount Rushmore with his likeness imprinted on it.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the White House and Noem’s office for comment.
In a 2018 interview, Noem said Trump expressed to her that it was a dream of his to be commemorated on Mount Rushmore, a proposition initially interpreted to be a joke. However, she later understood the president was entirely serious about the idea.
“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?'” Noem said. “I started laughing. He wasn’t laughing, so he was totally serious.”
In a 2015 interview with comedian Jerry Seinfeld, President Barack Obama quipped that he’d like to be remembered on the iconic hill, but it is “pretty exclusive real estate.”
