Donald Trump has an infatuation with large sculptures. When visiting the Governor of South Dakota, he mentioned that he had a life long dream of having his head sculpted on Rushmore along side George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. The Governor laughed, but Trump did not. He was serious.
On July 3, 2020 he flew to South Dakota set off fire works above the mountain. Weeks before a wild fire six miles from Rushmore burned 60 acres and required 117 firefighters from 3 states to get it extinguished. In preparation for the fireworks the US government spent $30,000 dollars to do a controlled burn in April around the site to mitigate the chance that the fireworks could start another wild fire. About $600,000 was being spent on the display, including $350,000 for the actual fireworks and $3,500 on portable toilets. The governor of South Dakota purchased the fireworks with money that had been earmarked for economic development. The money that could have helped the states economy grow went up in smoke in a matter of minutes.
3700 people showed up for the fireworks. There was no social distancing at the event despite the record-high new COVID-19 cases in the United States. Chairs at the event were zip tied together making any social distancing impossible. You had to rub elbows and breath on your neighbor. Face masks were optional but very few people wore them. This was the perfect breading ground for the COVID-19 virus to spread.
The Black Hills are a deeply sacred place of spiritual and cultural significance to the native peoples of the area, nearly 60 tribes. The 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty established the Black Hills as part of the Great Sioux Reservation, according to the National Archives, but the lands were systematically taken by the US government after gold was discovered in the area in the 1870s. Almost 50 years later, the likenesses of the four American presidents were carved into the mountain. In 1980, the Supreme Court ruled that the Sioux Nation had not received just compensation for the land.
Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor of the monument, was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson owned slave, and Abraham Lincoln approved the executions of 38 Lakota natives in Mankato, Minnesota, which was one of the largest mass hangings in the history of the country. A member of the Democratic National Committee, Tweeted, “Trump has disrespected Native communities time and again. He’s attempted to limit their voting rights and blocked critical pandemic relief. Now he’s holding a rally glorifying white supremacy at Mount Rushmore — a region once sacred to tribal communities.”
Members of the Lakota tribe blocked one of the roads leading to the monument by stalling three vans across the road and then lining up across the road to block oncoming traffic. They held the barricade for over two hours at which time National Guard in riot gear came and made arrests. A Lakota leader negotiated to make sure women and children had a chance to stand aside before the arrests began. More than a dozen protestors were arrested to make way for the presidents new photo op.
I found no reports of embers from the fireworks setting any fires, but the real wildfire sweeping the nation is COVID-19, which the president chooses to ignore. COVID-19 cases have been rising in 36 states with California, Arizona, Texas and Florida all posting record numbers of new infections this week. These are states that Trump convinced to open early. Florida reported 11,458 new COVID-19 cases Saturday July 4, 2020, shattering its record for daily reported cases coming just short of NYC’s highest case count.