Details Surface on South Dakota Governor Noem’s Mount Rushmore Gift to Trump

Details surrounding South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem (R) and her spending habits are coming to light. One purchase of furniture produced directly from prison labor, adjusted to her specifications, and paid for at a discount has the governor catching flack. Another recent purchase had Noem pursuing a commission of a custom-crafted, mini Mount Rushmore sculpture as a gift to former President Donald Trump last summer when he came to visit the monument.

The sculpture includes Trump’s head along with the four presidents carved into the granite formation Tunkasila Sakpe Paha, or Six Grandfathers Mountain, on Lakota Sioux land.

Noem commissioned the piece right around the time Trump had allegedly made attempts to add himself to the actual Mount Rushmore, making numerous tweets hinting at the idea and including one photo with his face edited onto it.

The Daily Beast first tracked down the artists who made the model and the person connecting it to Noem after learning about the purchase through disclosure filings with the Office of Government Ethics. It was first reported in August, but this is the first time the public has actually seen the sculpture.

Seen for the first time ever: The sculpture Trump lapdog, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, gave to Trump with his likeness added to Mount Rushmore. It’s 27 inches wide, 12 inches tall. Nice he has it since no real monument or statue will ever honor Trump. (Photo: Tom Lawrence) pic.twitter.com/B948ssf4Qw

— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) September 5, 2021

The Office of Government Ethics also indicated it cost $1,100, which Noem’s office said was paid for by private donors. Three copies were created according to the artists, one going to Trump and the other two to unidentified donors, which the artists said were unknown even to them. They are “bookshelf-sized,” at 27 inches wide, 12 inches high, and eight-and-a-half inches deep.

Noem’s communications director, Ian Fury, told The Daily Beast, “As Governor Noem has said in the past, her philosophy towards giving gifts is to always give the person something that they’ll appreciate, and that’s how she approached this sculpture. No taxpayer dollars went into this gift—it was paid for by two donors.”

The artists were instructed not to speak publicly about making the gift.

Noem has been in the headlines for attempting to emulate Trump’s agenda in South Dakota, adopting Trump’s position against trans girls and women in sports, which she attempted to enact by legislation, refusing to sign what republicans in the state legislature passed and enacting her own ban with two executive orders.

The attempt to get quick popularity on the right with anti-trans legislation soon backfired, conservatives calling Noem selfish and her orders weak and insufficient. Her popularity on the right has since declined.

Noem is still at it, though, recently signing an executive order to requiring abortion medications to be picked up from a doctor’s office, cutting off access to abortion services via tele-health, which has become essential since the pandemic, and barring abortions for residents without the means to travel long distances for the procedure.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia and Matt AJ