A number of MAGA and Republican figures have attacked former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi‘s suggestion that a carving of President Joe Biden could be added to Mount Rushmore.
The California congresswoman made the claim during an interview on CBS News Sunday Morning while praising Biden’s achievements during his time in office, which is set to end in January.
On July 21, the president confirmed he would not seek reelection and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee. His decision followed a pressure campaign, reportedly led by Pelosi, to persuade him to withdraw from the 2024 race in the wake of a stumbling CNN debate. The former House speaker denied the claims, telling anchor Lesley Stahl that she “didn’t call one person.”
Pelosi also said Biden was at the “top of his game” before ending his reelection bid and is such a “consequential” president that he deserves to be added to the South Dakota monument alongside George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.
When asked by Stahl if she believed Biden “belongs” on Mount Rushmore, Pelosi added: “You got Teddy Roosevelt up there, and he’s wonderful. I don’t say take him down, but you can add Biden.”
Multiple Trump supporters, including South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, have now mocked the suggestion from Pelosi after clips of her remarks went viral on social media.
Noem wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “Sorry Nancy, Mount Rushmore is not a place to celebrate someone who lied about his mental decline, willfully and knowingly endangered the lives of the American people, crushed American families, undermined the Constitution, and weakened our country at home and abroad.
“Joe Biden’s 4 years as President—with Kamala Harris being part of those radical policies and countless failures—will go down as the worst in American history.”
The RNC Research account, which is run by the Republican National Committee and Trump’s campaign team, wrote, “Crazy Nancy’s delusions have reached a new level—saying Biden should be added to Mt. Rushmore.”
In reply, Roger Stone, a veteran political consultant and top Trump ally, wrote, “Somebody is drunk again.”
Stone may be referencing manipulated videos of Pelosi that went viral in 2019, which had been slowed down to make it appear as though Pelosi was slurring her words.
Nick Sortor, an independent journalist who regularly appears on right-wing news outlets and podcasts, added: “Nancy Pelosi just told CBS Sunday Morning that Joe Biden should be added to Mt. Rushmore. I kid you not. Even liberal anchor Lesley Stahl was like ‘what the hell?’”
Newsweek has contacted the White House and Pelosi’s office for comment via email.
Elsewhere in her interview, Pelosi denied that she headed a plot to persuade Biden to drop out of the race over fears he would not beat Trump in November.
“No, I wasn’t a leader of any pressure party,” Pelosi said. “Well, let me say things that I didn’t do. I didn’t call one person. I did not call one person. I could always say to him, ‘I never called anybody.’”
She continued: “What I’m saying is, I had confidence that the president would make the proper choice for our country, whatever that would be, and I said that. ‘Whatever that is, we’ll go with.’”
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