Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has suggested there is room on Mount Rushmore for President Donald Trump's likeness, reigniting debate over the monument's future. In an interview on Fox News's 'My View with Lara Trump', Burgum responded affirmatively when asked if Trump's face could join the four presidents already carved into the South Dakota landmark.
'Well, they certainly have room for it there,' Burgum told Lara Trump, the president's daughter-in-law. The interview, aired on Saturday, also saw Burgum confirm that fireworks would be held at Mount Rushmore around July 4th as part of celebrations for the 250th anniversary of the United States' founding in 2026.
The comments come after President Trump granted Burgum authority to decide whether public monuments removed under the Biden administration present a 'false construction' of American history. Trump first floated the idea at a 2017 rally, asking a cheering crowd if they thought he would 'someday be on Mount Rushmore'.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, then running for South Dakota governor, said in a 2018 interview that Trump told her it was his 'dream' to be placed on the monument. The movement gained traction when a Fox News panel supported the idea, and in January, Republican congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna introduced a bill to carve Trump's face into the monument.
'His remarkable accomplishments for our country and the success he will continue to deliver deserve the highest recognition and honor on this iconic national monument. Let's get carving,' Luna wrote on X. If added, Trump would join George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.
