Trump’s Vanity Projects Blamed for Mount Rushmore Neglect

President Donald Trump’s various vanity projects are using up money intended to fix Mount Rushmore.

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The iconic site needs $57 million in repairs it isn’t getting, and Democrats say they know where the money went. They are accusing the Trump administration of redirecting tens of millions of dollars in national park fee revenue to fund the 80-year-old president’s Washington “beautification” projects, leaving landmarks like Mount Rushmore to deteriorate.

At the center of the dispute is revenue from the online sale of “America the Beautiful” national park passes. Unlike fees collected at park gates—which by law must largely stay at the park where they’re collected—online pass revenue carries no such restrictions.

“Credible sources with direct knowledge of these matters have now reported to Congress that much, if not all, fee revenue from online America the Beautiful Passes is being used to fund the President’s ‘beautification’ projects in Washington,” wrote California Sen. Adam Schiff and colleagues in a June letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. “This means that this revenue is not being directed to national parks across the country.”

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The Interior Department pushed back, with spokeswoman Katie Martin saying, “Unlike Barack Obama who spent millions upon millions in taxpayer-funded Great Recession recovery aid that should have gone to struggling families, the Trump administration is looking at different funding mechanisms for deferred maintenance which include endowment funds and revenue brought in from the sale of park passes,” she said. She noted that pass sales revenue in the first three months of 2025 rose to $14.3 million from $13.7 million the prior year.

The controversy lands as Trump is visiting Mount Rushmore on Friday. He has made no secret of his feelings about the monument’s four granite faces. He has mused at campaign rallies about adding his own, posted hints online, and called it a “good idea.” During his first term, he raised it directly with then-South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem in the Oval Office. “Do you know it’s my dream to have my face on Mount Rushmore?” he told her.

“I started laughing,” Noem recalled in a 2018 interview. “He wasn’t laughing, so he was totally serious. I said, ‘Come pick out a mountain.’”

Burgum, who oversees the National Park Service, has said there is “certainly” room for Trump’s face. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a Florida Republican and Trump ally, has introduced legislation to arrange the carving, which she said would “reflect his towering legacy.” The bill is currently stalled.

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