The Daily Mail’s story claims that a controversial fifth face has been added to Mount Rushmore in the form of Donald Trump, leading many to believe that this is actually happening.
However, the article ended with an explicit note that revealed it was an April Fool’s joke. The prank still generated considerable buzz online, with users sharing their own AI-generated versions of Trump’s face on Mount Rushmore.
Meanwhile, ahead of President Donald Trump’s expected visit to the Mount Rushmore National Memorial this summer, his supporters have again called for his likeness to be carved into the memorial.
Trump has long expressed a desire to join four U.S. presidents on Mount Rushmore, and he is expected to visit there this summer for America’s 250th anniversary fireworks on July 3-4.
The 60-foot granite faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln have remained untouched since 1941.
Trump supporters, including some Republican lawmakers, argue that the fifth face should honor the current Republican president.
Florida Representative Anna Paulina Luna introduced HR 792 in January 2025 directing the Department of the Interior to create Trump’s likeness. The bill remains before the House Natural Resources Committee and has not advanced further.
Opponents, including historians and geologists, strongly oppose any changes.
According to experts, Trump cannot order the carving simply because Mount Rushmore is a protected National Park Service monument.
Any changes would require congressional approval, historic-preservation review and environmental studies.
Experts say this is physically impossible because the mountain’s granite is full of fractures. Chief sculptor Gutzon Borglum warned in the 1930s that there was no suitable rock left.
Engineers have repeatedly said that removing material for the new face risks destabilizing the existing statues.
