Trump Used America's 250th Birthday to Campaign for His Face on Mount Rushmore — He Posted a Gold Video of Himself Carved into the Monument, the White House Said He'd Be "No Better Addition," He Distributed Cookies on Air Force One Depicting Himself as the Fifth President on the Mountain, and He Flew the Qatari Jet Over the Sacred Lakota Site While Hailstorms Battered the Crowd Below

The president of the United States distributed cookies on Air Force One depicting his face carved into Mount Rushmore. That is a real sentence about a real event.

The cookies

Conservative commentator Benny Johnson posted photos on social media of cookies Trump distributed to passengers aboard Air Force One during the flight to South Dakota on July 3, 2026. The cookies depicted Mount Rushmore with five presidential faces instead of four — the existing sculptures of Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln, plus Trump.

Johnson's caption: "These are the cookies Trump gave out last night on Air Force One during the trip."

The cookies read "Mount Rushmore National Memorial" and "Black Hills, South Dakota." The reaction among Trump supporters was enthusiastic. One commenter called it "the perfect placement for President Trump's face." Another called him the "greatest troller of all time."

The president was not trolling. He has wanted this for years.

The gold video

Hours before the speech, Trump posted a video on Truth Social showing a gold-plated 3D rendering of Mount Rushmore with his face carved in next to Lincoln's. The video opens with the text "Art of the vision" over an American flag, then a Trump voiceover:

"I will be the greatest president for many, many years to come."

The gilded rendering rotates to reveal five faces on the mountain. Trump added: "And we're gonna have a lot of fun tonight."

He had previously posted an AI-generated image of himself on Mount Rushmore in May 2026. A separate fake video circulating on social media — purporting to show his face being physically unveiled at the monument — was debunked by fact-checkers who identified AI artifacts including unnatural seams and blurry transitions.

The White House endorsement

White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in a statement to the Washington Post:

"There would be no better addition to the iconic Mount Rushmore than the 45th and 47th President of the United States, Donald Trump."

The White House did not answer questions about whether concrete plans exist to actually add his likeness.

The legislation, the petition, the dream

The campaign to put Trump on Mount Rushmore has multiple fronts:

• H.R. 792: Introduced January 28, 2025, by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), directing the Secretary of the Interior to "arrange for the carving of the figure of President Donald J. Trump" on Mount Rushmore. The bill was referred to the Natural Resources Committee. It has no co-sponsors. It has not had a hearing. It cannot pass the Senate
• "One More for Rushmore": A petition pushed online by former Trump adviser Roger Stone
• Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in an interview there is "certainly" room for Trump on the mountain
• Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) urged Burgum to add Trump to Mount Rushmore in a July 2025 social media post
• In 2018, then-Rep. Kristi Noem told the Sioux Falls Argus Leader that Trump told her: "Do you know it's my dream to have my face on Mount Rushmore?" She began laughing. He was "totally serious"
• In 2020, as governor, Noem gifted Trump a four-foot replica of Mount Rushmore with his face included

Why it cannot happen

The National Park Service told the New York Times in 2025 that it considers Mount Rushmore a completed work of art:

"The carved portion of Mount Rushmore has been thoroughly evaluated, and there are no viable locations left for additional carvings."

The monument's original sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, wrote in 1936 — while the project was still underway — that the stone had "serious" limitations: "I doubt if it would be possible to change the composition, which is fixed, in any way to include a fifth head."

Engineer Paul Nelson, who oversaw the rock monitoring system at Mount Rushmore: "It comes down to the geology, the engineering. It just can't be done."

Law professor Jeremy Paul noted the effort would require congressional approval and would face lawsuits from tribal nations and environmental groups.

Even Fox News hosts pushed back on the idea.

The stolen mountain

Mount Rushmore is carved into the Six Grandfathers — a mountain sacred to the Lakota Sioux. The Black Hills were reserved for the Lakota in the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty. After gold was discovered, the U.S. government seized the land in 1877.

In 1980, the Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians that the seizure was an unconstitutional taking. Rather than return the land, the court awarded $17.1 million plus interest. The tribes refused the money — now worth over $1 billion — declaring that "the Black Hills are not for sale."

The Oglala Sioux Tribal Council passed a resolution stating that a presidential visit for a fireworks celebration "should not occur." The resolution cited treaty rights violations, federal budget cuts causing hardship to the tribe, continued desecration of sacred sites, and the detention of tribal members by ICE.

No protesters showed up in the designated First Amendment zone — a 100-foot strip along a highway two miles from the memorial entrance. During the 2020 Mount Rushmore event, protesters blocked the road and were arrested; charges were later dropped.

The event

Trump flew to Keystone, South Dakota, aboard the Qatari-gifted Air Force One. The jet buzzed Mount Rushmore twice, flying directly behind the four presidential faces while spectators cheered.

The 4,800 ticket holders — selected months earlier by online lottery — endured a difficult afternoon:

• Two hailstorms struck during the pre-show
• Officials issued two shelter-in-place alerts
• Hundreds crammed into the memorial's cafeteria to escape the weather
• Thunder, hail, and heavy rain continued for over an hour

Governor Larry Rhoden and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum gave brief opening remarks. Trump then delivered a 28-minute speech followed by a 23-minute fireworks display.

The speech

Trump declared the United States "the most exceptional nation ever to exist" and warned of a "communist menace":

"Communism is a mortal threat to American liberty. It is the greatest threat to our country, including World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor, or even 9/11."

He did not define what he meant by communism. The speech's implicit targets included New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, and other recent progressive primary winners. Trump did not directly name them.

He warned the nation not to lose the midterms. He celebrated American power and greatness. He did not, in the speech itself, mention adding a fifth face to Mount Rushmore.

He didn't need to. The gold video was already posted. The White House statement was already issued. The cookies were already distributed. And in 2018, he had looked Kristi Noem in the eye, told her it was his dream, and did not laugh.

The fireworks

The fireworks display — the first at Mount Rushmore in six years — was revived by Trump's Interior Department over significant objections:

• Fireworks at the site had been paused since 2020 due to wildfire risk and environmental concerns. The Biden administration discontinued them
• A 2020 National Park Service environmental assessment documented water pollution, litter, and 21 small fires ignited by past displays
• Updated assessments identified threats to northern long-eared bats and tricolored bats, both endangered or proposed for listing, which live near the mountain and have suffered severe population declines from white-nose syndrome
• Parts of Pennington County — where Mount Rushmore sits — are in severe or extreme drought. A wildfire in neighboring Custer County burned 9,000 acres the previous month
• South Dakota's Department of Tourism spent $700,000 on the fireworks contract with Pyro Spectaculars of California

The Park Service relied on a six-year-old environmental assessment, updated with limited new information, to justify the display.

What Mount Rushmore tells you

On the eve of the 250th anniversary of a document about self-governance and the limits of power, the president flew a foreign monarch's gift to a monument carved from land the Supreme Court says was stolen, posted a gold video of himself on it, had his spokesperson declare him worthy of being added to it, distributed cookies depicting himself already there, delivered a speech calling his domestic opponents communists, and set off fireworks over drought-stricken land despite environmental objections — while the tribal council whose sacred mountain it is passed a resolution saying he shouldn't come.

The sculptor said a fifth face couldn't fit. The engineers said the rock won't hold it. The Park Service said it's finished. The Lakota said the mountain isn't his. Even Fox News pushed back.

But the cookies had five faces. The president has always known what he wants. He wants to be on the mountain. And if the mountain won't cooperate, he'll put himself there in frosting.