#Trump says adding his face to Mount Rushmore ‘sounds like a good idea’

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President Donald Trump in front of Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.
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President Trump on Sunday denied reports that the White House contacted the governor of South Dakota about carving his face into Mount Rushmore — but said that adding his likeness to the historic monument “sounds like a good idea to me!”

“This is Fake News by the failing @nytimes & bad ratings @CNN,” Trump fumed in a Twitter in a post linking to the report.

“Never suggested it 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!”

The New York Times article, published Saturday, states a White House rep reached out to South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem last year, inquiring about the process of adding Trump’s face to the nearly 80-year-old monument.

The story, which was later picked up by CNN, also notes Trump previously spoke to Noem about it himself during a meeting in the Oval Office.

While denying the report, Trump on Sunday tweeted an image of his face superimposed in front of the mountain. In it, Trump is shown winking next to the 60-foot-tall likenesses of President Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and George Washington.

The president first brought up the idea of adding himself to the mountain during a 2018 Oval Office meeting with Noem — where she initially thought he was joking, according to the local outlet argusleader.com.

“I started laughing,” Noem said in the 2018 interview. “He wasn’t laughing, so he was totally serious.”

She added, “He said, ‘Kristi, come on over here. Shake my hand, and so I shook his hand, and I said, ‘Mr. President, you should come to South Dakota sometime. We have Mount Rushmore.’ And he goes, ‘Do you know it’s my dream to have my face on Mount Rushmore?’”

When Trump gave a speech at Mount Rushmore on July 4, Noem greeted him with a 4-foot replica of Mount Rushmore that included his face, according to the New York Times.