Joe Biden’s administration has once against blocked South Dakota GOP Gov. Kristi Noem’s Independence Day fireworks celebration, drawing another rebuke from former President Donald Trump.
“The best way to celebrate America’s Birthday is with fireworks at Mount Rushmore,” Noem posted Thursday night on Truth Social, sharing a photo of fireworks exploding over the faces of four presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt.
“Today, the Biden administration rejected them. Again.”
The news drew a response from Trump, who delivered a July 3, 2020 speech at Mount Rushmore the last time fireworks were permitted there. Biden’s National Parks Service has denied Noem’s requests since.
“But I made this incredible event happen, and was there to celebrate with the great people of South Dakota, and America,” Trump posted Thursday night on Truth Social. “Ridiculous that it is no longer allowed. So great for USA spirit.”
Trump vowed to bring the event back in July 2025, if he is elected the 47th president of the United States after the 2024 presidential campaign.
“As president, it will soon happen again,” Trump’s post concluded. “I love Mount Rushmore!”
Trump — then-president, during the height of the 2020 presidential campaign, the pandemic, and Black Lives Matter riots — delivered an Independence Day eve vow to protect America and Mount Rushmore from “a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values, and indoctrinate our children.”
“There could be no better place to celebrate America’s Independence than to lead this magnificent, incredible, majestic mountain monument to the greatest Americans who have ever lived,” Trump said in his speech in South Dakota, at the base of Mount Rushmore.
“I am here as your president to proclaim before the country and before the world: This monument will never be desecrated; these heroes will never be defaced; their legacy will never, ever be destroyed; their achievements will never be forgotten; and Mount Rushmore will stand forever as an eternal tribute to our forefathers and to our freedom.”