Raze the Mountain

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held his Congressional audience spellbound yesterday, evoking parallels between his nation’s plight and America’s experiences at Pearl Harbor and on 9/11.

Then he went further and recalled for his global audience seeing Mt. Rushmore, “the faces of your prominent presidents, those who laid the foundation of the United States of America . . . democracy, independence, freedom . . . we in Ukraine want the same for our people.”

Meanwhile, back in South Dakota, the Biden National Park Service (NPS) chose on Tuesday to announce that the famous memorial would once again be closed to fireworks this July 4. The reasons were similar to those the NPS cited last year – a fear of starting fires due to drought in the area and the concerns of tribal leaders over the land’s historical provenance.

Call me skeptical, I have a feeling the Biden people were moved not by the pleas of indigenous people, but by the members of the Squad “tribe” and the progressive left who scorn American history. To these leftists, the four faces carved on Mt. Rushmore are nothing more than tributes to white supremacy. They want these heroes erased from history textbooks and honored no more. 

Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota denounced the closure and is pursuing a lawsuit in the United States Eighth Circuit to overturn the ban. Congressional Democrats cheer Zelenskyy, but I won’t be holding my breath waiting for their amicus brief defending the July 4 celebration at this historic site dear to Americans. The mere thought of Donald Trump’s massive rally there in 2020 still gives them conniptions.

Not so long ago Democratic presidents, like their GOP counterparts, dreamed of being on Mt. Rushmore. Now it seems like they want no one there.