During a speech at the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota on Friday, President Donald Trump shared an AI-generated video that depicted his face added to the monument alongside the four original presidential carvings. The video, which featured a gold-plated engraving of Mount Rushmore with Trump’s likeness on the far right, played as a voiceover stated, "I will be the greatest president for many, many years to come. And we're gonna have a lot of fun tonight."
The Trump administration also distributed cookies aboard Air Force One that featured an engraving of Mount Rushmore with Trump’s face included. The cookies were inscribed with "Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Black Hills, South Dakota. Five Presidents."
A White House statement to the media suggested support for the idea, stating, "There would be no better addition to the iconic Mount Rushmore than the 45th and 47th President of the United States, Donald Trump."
Trump has previously expressed a desire to be added to Mount Rushmore, a sentiment that has surfaced intermittently since at least 2018. Then-representative Kristi Noem stated at the time that the president had declared it his "dream" to be included. In 2019, when asked directly by The Hill if he wished to be added, Trump responded coyly, "If I answer that question, 'Yes,' I will end up with such bad publicity."
In 2020, following a report by The New York Times suggesting he was campaigning for his likeness to be added, Trump wrote on X that he "never suggested" it, but added, "Although, based on all of the many things accomplished during the first 3 1/2 years, perhaps more than any other Presidency, sounds like a good idea to me!"
Earlier, in 2017, Trump had told a rally crowd, "If I did it joking, totally joking, having fun, the fake news media will say, 'He believes he should be on Mount Rushmore.' So I won’t say it, okay? I won’t say it."
Trump's focus on historical monuments extends to other projects during his administration, including approving a restoration of the Lincoln Memorial and overseeing the addition of a golden ballroom in the White House. His name was also added to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, which also saw renovations.
During his Friday speech, Trump reflected on the monument's significance, stating, "Their faces are engraved on these bluffs, not only because of what they did, but to remind us forever who we are. These heroes exemplify what is timeless, enduring, eternal about the American character—and in the end it has always been that character, our distinct and unique identity."