Donald Trump is coming to Mount Rushmore this summer. Even though Watertown has canceled its Independence Day fireworks display out of concern for coronavirus spread and Brookings has declared July 11 too early to safely host its big Summer Arts Festival, Trump thinks crowding a bunch of people in the Black Hills and setting off explosives over a tinderbox is a great idea, and he’s coming to watch:
President Trump said Friday that he plans to travel to South Dakota to view a fireworks show at Mount Rushmore on July 3 after his administration lifted environmental restrictions that prevented such displays.
“For 20 years or something it hasn’t been allowed for environmental reasons. You believe that one? It’s all stone,” Trump told conservative personality Dan Bongino on his podcast.
“Anyway, I got it approved so I’m going to go there on July 3 and they’re going to have the big fireworks,” he added.
There have not been fireworks at the monument since 2009, but the Department of the Interior performed an environmental assessment that found there would be “no significant impact” if the show proceeded this year [Brett Samuels, “Trump to Travel to Mt. Rushmore for July Fireworks,” The Hill, 2020.05.01].
The National Park Service announced Tuesday that it would allow the fireworks to happen. However, the NPS website says the Mount Rushmore Information Center, gift shop, and café are closed and all educational and interpretive programs are suspended “in the interest of public health.”
Coincidentally, eleven United States Senators (none of them from South Dakota) sent a letter to the Forest Service Thursday asking what steps the agency has taken to protect its firefighters from covid-19, especially given the danger firefighters would face if called to fight a fire and forced to lodge in crowded and hence pandemic-prone fire camps. Wildfire expert Bill Gabbert reads that letter and recent stonewalling by the Trump Forest Service as a sign that the Trump Administration may not be supporting wildfire leaders and wildfire preparedness.
I hope it rains, fog would be nice along with a little hail for the chief. Well, may be a lot of really big hail!
Yuuuuge hail, Ray. Yuuuuge! Enough to knock some sense into the stable genius.
trump republicans will finally reach rural areas with this visit. You can be sure there will be a lot of bib overalls and ranch caps there. Couldn’t ask for a better incubator than that to reach out and Make America Great Again. I guess this is the plan then that they finally came up with. I would’ve thought caution and a continued respect for this trump republican plague, but looks like I’m wrong. What the hell are they thinking??
I hope the fellers are way to busy cutting hay and taking care of business to come into town, but you know how they liked Hope and Change.
Between the Fourth of July at Mount Rushmore and Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, South Dakota should not only be a major hot spot for COVID-19, but a major carrier throughout the country. I’m staying in and sewing more masks.
Yep. Bad weather would be perfect! Barring that, Orange Imbecile will make sure there are many photos of him, back to the monument, so his face is next to the 4 Real Presidents. He’s going to say his face should be up there too. 🤮 🤮 🤮 🤮 🤮
Well, Debbo, there is this joke about “the smartest man in the world” claiming what he thinks is a parachute on Air Force One, and instead he grabs a backpack and jumps. I can’t remember the whole thing now, but if “the smartest man in the world” flies over Mt. Rushmore, his face would be up there, but not in the way he’d want it.
I remember the first time I heard the “smartest man in the world” joke it involved Henry Kissinger.
Punkin’ Head can have the Air Force spray the whole Western part of South Dakota with Lysol…maybe Kristi could help set that up.
Debbo, There’s no available rock left at Mt. Rushmore…I did hear there might be something available on the ground under the tail of the horse over at Crazy Horse.
Ray, I know about the rock, but when have Facts ever stopped him? I do like your idea for the addition at Crazy Horse. 😆
Meanwhile, the Forest Service continues to carefully assess the advisability of firebombing an area full of dry brush and dead pine trees.
Sioux Falls is still owed money from trump’s “help kristi” visit in 2016.
Rapid City and the surrounding communities better make sure to get the money this is going to cost up front.
Wonder where he’s gonna sleep …… and what he’ll have to say about the AJ.
Can we maybe hire the “baby blimp?”
Fire should not be a problem. The park service and the forest service just has to “rake the forest” like the “stable genius” told California to do.
… and besides, like he said, “… it’s stone, what is there to burn?”
Buckobear, he won’t sleep here. He’ll get back on AF1 at EAFB and fly away. He wouldn’t spend the night in this $hithole state.
He’s not gonna pay a dime for any of it. Kruel Kristi will happily allow SD to foot the bill to keep *daddy* happy. 🤢
The lowest rated governor in the United States for her coronavirus response and Trump (ditto).
I hope it rains to reduce wildfire risk!
Axios has a list of governors and a list of local officials who are noted for doing for their responsibilities what Donny Doofus is not. SF mayor is on the list. I think it’s partly due to what Kruel Kristi has refused to do, though her incompetence is absent from the piece.
is.gd/spCYHp
Just watch the evening news coverage of the anti-lockdown protesters and sadly one can imagine this mix of anti-vax and anti-mask, pro-gun, white supremacists, trump bobbleheads and religious zealots heading for Western South Dakota. Kristi gave us the NRA open carry law and now ironically her anti riot boosting law may need to be used against ultra-right wing conservatives instead of left-leaning Environmentalists.
For most people’s knowledge, who are not aware of weather modification… Rain can be sent to dampen the area, before July 3rd. Look up AboveGroundNews and watch undeniable proof of total weather modification – going on heavily and daily, worldwide since the mid-’90s.
The nano-particulates of aluminum, a desiccant and accelerator of fire, coats all trees and all life. After soaking into the ground, the nano tech aluminum retards the uptake of nutrients for the trees. Therefore, weakening the plant life, making trees susceptible to pine beetles to take over. Sir Paul McCartney (if you look it up) made it sunny for his concert once. A person is able to contract weather services for their purpose. If they are famous or something……knighted by the Queen etc. ho hum
How best to observe the serenity of the Black Hills? By having a military flyby ordered by criminal in chief.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/03/trump-mount-rushmore-military-flyover-298870