President Donald Trump smiles during a visit to Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Photo / AP
President Donald Trump smiles during a visit to Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Photo / AP
A White House official made discreet inquiries over the possibility of Donald Trump's image being carved into Mount Rushmore, it has been reported.
According to the New York Times the official, who was not named, last year approached the office of South Dakota governor, Kristi Noem to ask how an additional president could be added to the monument.
Details of the approach emerged over the weekend.
Likenesses of four presidents - George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt - were immortalised in the massive 1941 sculpture which took 14 years to create.
"I shook his hand, and I said, 'Mr. President, you should come to South Dakota sometime. We have Mount Rushmore.'
"And he goes, 'Do you know it's my dream to have my face on Mount Rushmore?' I started laughing. He wasn't laughing, so he was totally serious."
The South Dakota governor did present Trump with four-foot replica of Mount Rushmore - with his face added - when the US president visited the state early last month.
Trump denied that the conversation ever happened on Twitter today, but said it sounded like a "good idea".
"This is Fake News by the failing @nytimes & bad ratings @CNN, he wrote.
"Never suggested it although, based on all of the many things accomplished during the first 3 1/2 years, perhaps more than any other Presidency, sounds like a good idea to me!"
This is Fake News by the failing @nytimes & bad ratings @CNN. Never suggested it although, based on all of the many things accomplished during the first 3 1/2 years, perhaps more than any other Presidency, sounds like a good idea to me! https://t.co/EHrA9yUsAw
Social media reaction to the approach was scathing.
California Democratic congressman, Eric Swalwell suggested on Twitter that it would be more appropriate to add Trump's likeness to the Confederate likenesses at Stone Mountain in Georgia.
However, the chances of Trump's Mount Rushmore dream becoming a reality are considered slim, given the lack of useable rock on either side of the existing likenesses.
The kerfuffle over Trump's desire to carve his way into history was the culmination of a difficult weekend for the president.
On Saturday he abruptly ended a news conference after being challenged over his claiming credit for passing the Veterans Choice Programme, which made it easier for former servicemen and women to get medical care.
The legislation was passed in 2014 and signed by Barack Obama. Trump signed a law which expanded eligibility for the scheme.
Even though Joe Biden's poll lead over the president has been narrowing, Trump still appears to be facing an uphill battle to be re-elected in November.
Battleground polls taken last week in key swing states including Michigan, Ohio and North Carolina still show the former vice-president ahead.
Trump has sought to regain the initiative by issuing a series of executive orders which would guarantee the unemployed receive $400 a week in benefit.
With the Democrats and Republicans deadlocked over the next relief package, Trump went over their heads in announcing his own plans.
