Mount Trumpmore?
Hmmmm.
Sneed could swear she hears the faint sound of chiseling in the wake of President-elect Donald Trump’s mandate-driven national election. Is it Trump hammering out plans to realize his childhood dream of being enshrined on Mount Rushmore?
The big question: How far up the mountain does the former and future president want to climb with his fantasy — and is a plan already in his back pocket?
Let’s back up!
Back in 2020, it was South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem who shone the July 4th spotlight on Trump at a fundraiser he held at Mount Rushmore in her home state, comparing him to Teddy Roosevelt, whose face is tucked between fellow former presidents Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln on the national monument. Roosevelt actually spent his early adult years in neighboring North Dakota raising cattle, shortly after he suffered the same day deaths of his first wife and his mother of unrelated ailments.
After comparing Trump to the famous “Rough Rider,” Noem later told reporters that Trump confided to her his “childhood dream” of being on Mount Rushmore.
The Republican governor didn’t shut Trump down, but she pointed out there appeared to be no more room on the mountain for his mug.
But that didn’t stop Trump from having himself inserted in a publicity pix at the end of Mount Rushmore’s national necklace of four U.S. presidential nabobs.
Chisel, baby, chisel?
So, was Trump’s appointment of Noem as his administration’s new U.S. secretary of homeland security part of his plan to occupy space next to George Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt?
And did Trump sweeten the pot by picking North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum as his U.S. secretary of the interior? Burgum’s state is building the new Theodore Roosevelt Library (with some federal help). In his statement appointing Burgum to his Cabinet, Trump said the GOP governor would be part of the administration’s “DRILL BABY DRILL” energy plans.
Sneed wonders if any of those drills could be repurposed for some mountain sculpting?
Before you dismiss this as pie-eyed in the sky, consider this: The federal government owns Mount Rushmore, which is enough to give one a case of the shpilkes with Trump soon at the peak of power.
And egads, will newly elevated South Dakota Republican and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who had been a critic of Trump, wind up having to deal with a monument move before Trump leaves office?
Can we wait ‘til second 150 years are done?
A little history: The National Park Service has turned a thumbs down to past suggestions of adding faces to Mount Rushmore, noting not enough secure rock is available near the already sculpted faces for additional carving. (And we’re talking a fair amount of face and hair to add.)
But the monument’s sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, did claim Mount Rushmore only represented the first 150 years of United States history.
In 1937, while work on the sculpture was still in progress, a bill was introduced in Congress to add women’s rights activist Susan B. Anthony. It failed to advance.
More recently, in 2010, a Gallup Poll listed assassinated President John F. Kennedy, as the top choice of Americans to be added. In 1985, some suggested President Ronald Reagan be placed on Mount Rushmore.
No go.
But, these days, nothing seems impossible when it comes to Trump.
Enjoy the rest of your day.
Bench press!
A huge shout out to the Honorable Joel M. Flaum of the Seventh Circuit’s U.S. Court of Appeals, who was honored at the U.S. Supreme Court with the nation’s highest judicial honor that can be bestowed on a federal judge: the 2024 Edward J. Devitt Distinguished Service to Justice award.
Judge Flaum, described by his colleagues as a person of “grace, wisdom, humanity, and courage,” is now approaching 88. His special award was presented in a private ceremony Wednesday in the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett praised him “for nearly 50 years of selfless service devoting your life to your country, serving with distinction at every turn.”
Amongst others, the ceremony was attended by Flaum’s wife, Delilah; former U.S. Attorney Dan K. Webb, one of the nation’s top trial lawyers; and former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Samuel K. Skinner, who was White house chief of staff under President George H. W. Bush.
Sneedlings …
Condolences to the family of Sally Wheeler, 95, who passed away recently. “A woman of style, grace and beauty to the end, she was wonderful to us always,” said Erin Wheeler, her former daughter-in-law and mother of beloved grandchildren, Jackson and Sheridan.
Saturday birthdays: actress Marg Helgenberger, 66; Jazz singer Diana Krall, 60; actress Lisa Bonet, 57; actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, 47; Pete “Saturday Night Live” Davidson, 31. … Sunday birthdays: actress Lauren Hutton, 81; film director Martin Scorsese, 82; actor Danny DeVito, 80; “Saturday Night Live” producer Lorne Michaels, 80; entertainer RuPaul, 64; actress Rachel McAdams, 46.