Donald Trump and Mount Rushmore!

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By Maya J. Carter

Mount Rushmore is a historic national monument located in the Black Hills of South Dakota, the result of a colossal team project led by sculptor Gutzon Borglum who worked on the massive carving from 1927 until his death in 1941, after which the project was taken over by his son Lincoln Borglum until its completion. The four Presidents commemorated on Mount Rushmore are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln, and the monument hosts nearly three million visitors annually. The National Park Service produces virtual tours online as well. Each presidential face stands at least 60 feet tall.

Why were these four presidents in particular selected to become immortalized on such as prestigious monument? According to Gutzon Borglum’s standpoint, “they represented the most important events in the history of the United States” as noted by the National Park Service.

George Washington, the first president of the United States having served from 1789 to 1797, was the “father of the new country and laid the foundation of American democracy”, having been a military general leading the Patriots in the War for Independence from Great Britain. Everyone is aware of his contributions to the creation of the United States Constitution and the formation of our federal government. He was chosen to represent the birth of the United States.

Thomas Jefferson, another of the nation’s Founding Fathers, was the third president of the United States having served from 1801 to 1809. He was the principle author of the Declaration of Independence. Among many historic contributions, he nearly doubled the land mass of the United States via the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 from France. His inclusion in the monument represents the growth of the nation.

Theodore Roosevelt was the 26th president of the United States from 1901 to 1909. While a leader of the Republican party, he espoused Progressive Era polices such as the Square Deal which promoted conservation of natural resources, control of corporations, and consumer protection, and furthered cooperation of the United States with international partners. A central accomplishment under his leadership was the construction of the Panama Canal, allowing for ships to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in less time and via a safer route. His addition to the monument represents the development of the United States.

The final image etched into Mount Rushmore, Abraham Lincoln, was the 16th president of the United States, having served from from 1861 to 1865. He led the United States through one of its most difficult eras of unrest, the American Civil War. Delivering the Gettysburg Address in November 1863, a rally cry four months after Union troops defeated Confederate troops at the Battle of Gettysburg, he called for equal rights, national unity and democracy. Prior to this, his most notable contribution to United States history was the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in January 1863, thus freeing the slaves of 10 states not under Union control. Lincoln was chosen to represent the preservation of the country on Mount Rushmore.

So, on this monument there are four presidents representing the birth, growth, development, and preservation of the United States. Each of these presidents, while controversial for better or for worse when evaluating their personal lives and policy, made significant contributions to the overarching and ongoing experiment of the melting pot that is the current United States. And then we have Donald J. Trump, the man who slaps his name on buildings and products (without actually having ownership in some) as a ploy for shameless self-promotion – not to mention the failures of many of these business ventures bearing his name. Trump held yet another divisive campaign rally at Mount Rushmore on July 4, 2020, where some of his supporters were on-hand to provide the adulation he so desperately craves, as he said such statements including the following:

“This monument will never be desecrated these heroes will never be defaced, their legacy will never, ever be destroyed, their achievements will never be forgotten, and Mount Rushmore will stand forever as an eternal tribute to our forefathers and to our freedom.”

“…And yet, as we meet here tonight, there is a growing danger that threatens every blessing our ancestors fought so hard for, struggled, they bled to secure. Our nation is witnessing a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values, and indoctrinate our children.”

“…Angry mobs are trying to tear down statues of our Founders, deface our most sacred memorials, and unleash a wave of violent crime in our cities. Many of these people have no idea why they are doing this, but some know exactly what they are doing. They think the American people are weak and soft and submissive. But no, the American people are strong and proud, and they will not allow our country, and all of its values, history, and culture, to be taken from them.”

“…One of their political weapons is “Cancel Culture” — driving people from their jobs, shaming dissenters, and demanding total submission from anyone who disagrees. This is the very definition of totalitarianism, and it is completely alien to our culture and our values, and it has absolutely no place in the United States of America. This attack on our liberty, our magnificent liberty, must be stopped, and it will be stopped very quickly. We will expose this dangerous movement, protect our nation’s children, end this radical assault, and preserve our beloved American way of life.”

“…In our schools, our newsrooms, even our corporate boardrooms, there is a new far-left fascism that demands absolute allegiance. If you do not speak its language, perform its rituals, recite its mantras, and follow its commandments, then you will be censored, banished, blacklisted, persecuted, and punished. It’s not going to happen to us.”

“…Make no mistake: this left-wing cultural revolution is designed to overthrow the American Revolution. In so doing, they would destroy the very civilization that rescued billions from poverty, disease, violence, and hunger, and that lifted humanity to new heights of achievement, discovery, and progress. To make this possible, they are determined to tear down every statue, symbol, and memory of our national heritage.”

“…The violent mayhem we have seen in the streets of cities that are run by liberal Democrats, in every case, is the predictable result of years of extreme indoctrination and bias in education, journalism, and other cultural institutions.”

“…The radical ideology attacking our country advances under the banner of social justice. But in truth, it would demolish both justice and society. It would transform justice into an instrument of division and vengeance, and it would turn our free and inclusive society into a place of repression, domination, and exclusion. They want to silence us, but we will not be silenced.”

What an arousing oration! More stuff was said…and he later invoked the names of Andrew Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King, JR., Wild Bill Hickok, the Tuskegee Airmen, “Harriet Tubman, Clara Barton, Jesse Owens, George Patton — General George Patton — the great Louis Armstrong, Alan Shepard, Elvis Presley, and Muhammad Ali” as if he were reciting a list of Americans whose accomplishments had just learned about. He barely mentioned the coronavirus pandemic sweeping across the nation, perhaps an oversight. On Twitter, an image was posted with his face superimposed on Mount Rushmore, with him in the first position (in front of the other presidents), of course.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem recalled a conversation upon meeting Trump in person in the Oval Office in 2018. Trump stated it was his “dream” to have his face added to Mount Rushmore. “I started laughing,” she said. “He wasn’t laughing, so he was totally serious” according to reporting from the New York Times.

Let’s imagine, as horrific as this sounds, that the face of Donald J. Trump, the 45th president of the United States is added to Mount Rushmore. What moral quality would he represent? A return to nationalism and a departure from global cooperation? A fall from grace of the United States on the international stage? A harkening back the “good old days” circa the 1950s and 1960s for racial division and inequality? How about the dismantling of the very Constitution of the United States that his neighbor etched upon the very same monument, George Washington, endeavored to create and uphold?

Maybe his inclusion in Mount Rushmore could represent the worsening divide between peoples and parties within the United States, to an “us versus them” mentality so woefully prevalent in the present American psyche. Or, a re-emergence of the Great Depression, symbolizing the loss of American productivity and financial might. Perhaps he could represent the embrace of the disbelief in, or even the rebuke of, scientific pursuit, innovation and medical advancement. Or, he could represent the anti-New Colossus doctrine: turning away the “huddled masses yearning to breathe free” or cruelly locking them in cages. Or, the rolling out of the red carpet for foreign actors to undermine our very democracy. Possibly, his big, tremendous face upon that mountain could represent the transition from democratic ideas governing the nation to those of authoritarian or oligarchical ideological dominance. Maybe his image would represent the trivializing of an unrelenting pandemic affecting an entire country, and a bottle of disinfectant could be etched in stone by his big, tremendous head. Wouldn’t that be a sight?

What value or principle of American doctrine would he truly represent if he were immortalized in that stone? Comically, during the same time when several properties are removing his name from their signage, Trump contemplates adding his Stable Genius noggin to Mount Rushmore. Although we cannot take his narcissistic proposal seriously, it oozes of the Machiavellian deception this president and his supporters have imparted upon our citizenry during his entire wretched term, and reeks of Orwellian doublethink; that he is even remotely worthy of such an honor in the first place. If he truly believes he deserves any memorial, then I urge you to honestly comprehend that 2 + 2 now equals 5.

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