In recent weeks, apparently absurd news has gone viral on social media – especially American ones: Donald Trump would like to put his face on the Mount Rushmorealongside those of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln. Let’s make it clear right away: it’s one hoaxor rather an April Fool’s joke. If the matter had ended here, however, we wouldn’t be talking about it. The current president of the USA in fact he is not new to this idea and over the years it has repeatedly proven its worth interest in being sculpted on that mountain. But could he really do it? What does the law say about this?
Trump and Mount Rushmore
Trump’s first public statement regarding his presence on Mount Rushmore dates back to 2020. That year the New York Times wrote that South Dakota’s governor Kristi Noem would have received a request of this type informally from the president. The request was politely declined at the time.
Trump however through a post on he denied immediately that he had ever made a similar request, highlighting however that that – after all – would not have been a bad idea.
Let’s jump forward in time, to 2025. As also confirmed by Snopesthe deputy in that year Anna Paulina Luna presented a bill «aimed at placing the sculpture of the figure of President Donald J. Trump on the Mount Rushmore National Memorial». This never left the commission but it is interesting to note how, five years later, there has been a new openness to the idea, this time even more formal.
But could something like this ever happen?
What the law says
According to what was declared to Northeastern Global News from Jeremy Paullaw professor and former dean of the School of Law at Northeastern University, first the White House should request thecongressional approval – which is extremely complicated, both due to the historical value of the work and the technical difficulties in its creation. But even assuming, absurdly, that we managed to get the green light, the problems would not have ended there. In fact, the presidency could be forced to face numerous causes legal against environmental groups and, above all, against tribal nations.
In fact we must keep in mind that Mount Rushmore is historically a very hot area regarding resistence indigenous. In 1868 with the Treaty of Fort Laramie those lands were recognized to the Sioux but, a few years later with the discovery of large quantities of gold in the area, the area was occupied, giving rise to strong opposition. Precisely for this reason in 1980 the Supreme Court testified in favor of the Sioux Nationestablishing that the government had illegally appropriated the Black Hills. This means that permits to carry out further interventions in that area – especially of this scale – would be incredibly complicated to obtain.
So, in light of all this, we can say that no, Trump is nowhere near having his face carved into the mountain – and it’s very likely he never will be.
