Nicolai Haugsted
President Donald Trump demands South Dakota Governor Larry Rhoden to add his face to the iconic mountainside.
Donald Trump has never been particularly shy about discussing his place in American history. On Friday, that conversation became considerably more literal.
A White House event about prescription drug prices briefly wandered more than 1,500 miles west to the Black Hills of South Dakota, where four presidential faces are already carved into Mount Rushmore.
According to The Irish Star, Trump suggested there might be room for a fifth.
Speaking directly to South Dakota Governor Larry Rhoden, the president once again raised the prospect of seeing his own likeness added to the famous monument – and jokingly told the governor it was time to get to work.
Friday’s gathering in the Oval Office was officially focused on health care.
Trump announced that all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico would participate in his administration’s Medicaid drug-pricing initiative. The GENEROUS model uses rebates from participating pharmaceutical companies with the aim of bringing the net prices paid by Medicaid for selected drugs in line with prices in other developed countries.
Rhoden praised the initiative and Trump’s approach to health care in South Dakota.
Trump responded by finding a rather different reason to stay on the governor’s good side.
“Well, I’m being very nice to him because maybe he’ll get my face on that beautiful wall,” Trump said as people in the room laughed.
“A beautiful wall that I’ve been looking at.”
CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz then joined in with: “Come on, Larry.”
Trump followed up immediately.
“Come on, let’s get going. You’ve got to get going.”
Rhoden had his own response ready.
“You want it on Crazy Horse?” the governor asked, referring to the separate Crazy Horse Memorial under construction in South Dakota.
Trump did not pursue the suggestion and moved on to the next governor at the event.
Washington has heard this idea before
Friday’s exchange may have produced laughter in the Oval Office, but the idea of putting Trump on Mount Rushmore has previously made its way into Congress.
Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida introduced legislation in January 2025 directing the Interior Department to arrange for Trump’s likeness to be carved into Mount Rushmore alongside George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. Congressional records also document the proposal.
Trump himself has repeatedly entertained the idea over the years, meaning his latest remarks did not arrive entirely out of the blue.
Actually adding another face would be another matter entirely. Mount Rushmore is administered by the National Park Service, while practical questions surrounding the mountain itself have long complicated suggestions that the monument could simply accommodate another president.
Social media quickly joined the discussion
Trump’s latest pitch inevitably supplied social media with fresh material.
Critics mocked the suggestion after clips from the Oval Office circulated online, with one MAGA X user comparing the prospect of Trump joining Mount Rushmore to receiving an NBA contract from the New York Knicks despite having no business playing for the team.
“Placing Trump on Mount Rushmore would be as embarrassing to America as it would be embarrassing for the New York Knicks to sign me to an NBA contract. Neither should ever happen!” the user wrote.
Online jokes, however, do not change the status of the monument. No plan to add Trump to Mount Rushmore was announced during Friday’s event, and Rhoden made no commitment to pursue one.
Four presidents have had company suggested before
Mount Rushmore currently features Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln, whose enormous granite portraits were created under sculptor Gutzon Borglum between 1927 and 1941.
Presidents and political figures have occasionally been suggested as potential additions since then, but the original quartet has remained untouched.
Trump’s comments therefore amounted to a request rather than an announcement of a new construction project.
Friday’s actual policy announcement remained considerably less rocky. The White House says the new Medicaid pricing arrangements cover hundreds of drugs, including treatments used in cancer, diabetes and asthma care, and projects $64.3 billion in taxpayer savings over the next decade. Independent experts have cautioned that the eventual savings remain difficult to establish because important details of the pharmaceutical agreements are not public.
Rhoden, meanwhile, returned to South Dakota with Trump’s message ringing fairly clearly in his ears.
The president has his eye on that “beautiful wall” – and apparently thinks the governor should get moving.
