Under fire from critics for his silence on the alarming figures of the Covid-19 in the United States, Donald Trump goes Friday to Mount Rushmore for an evening of fireworks that he hopes to be a moment of unity in a country he’s struggling to muster.
On the eve of National Day on July 4, the Republican President will speak under the gaze of four of his distant predecessors - George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln - whose monumental heads were cut from granite in this imposing memorial.
The republican billionaire, who leaves his vice-president Mike Pence in the front line facing the spectacular rebound of the epidemic which darkens the summer of the Americans, does not hide his enthusiasm for this event for which some 7,500 people are expected. "It is going to be an extraordinary evening, with fireworks like few people have seen," he predicted on Thursday. "It will be magnificent!" .
Record of contamination
Will he evoke the resurgence of cases of Covid-19 in the south and west which "puts the whole country in danger" in the words of Anthony Fauci, director of the American Institute of Infectious Diseases? Will he finally wear a mask in public to set an example as demanded by many elected officials and personalities, including in his own camp?
In bad shape in the polls four months before the presidential election, the republican billionaire is sticking to one message for the time being: the coronavirus crisis is "managed", the American economy is starting again "stronger and more fast ”than expected and 2021 will be“ historic ”. However, in striking contrast to Europe, records of contamination are broken daily in the United States.
Many states have put the deconfinement on hold, even backtracked, hastily closing bars and beaches. The Republican Governor of Texas has announced that wearing a mask will now be mandatory in public places.
At the start of this long holiday weekend, former Democratic President Barack Obama called for a start. “Defeating this virus will require everyone's mobilization. Wear a mask. Wash your hands, ”he tweeted. "And listen to the experts, not those who are trying to divide us."
No social distancing
The White House tenant can expect a warm welcome in South Dakota, a sparsely populated state that he won in 2016 with more than 60% of the vote. And Republican Governor Kristi Noem does not intend to spoil the party.
"We have told those who are worried that they can stay at home," she said on Fox News. "For those who want to join us, we will distribute free masks, if they decide to wear one. But there will be no social distancing ”. "The majority of spectators do not wear masks," said a CNN journalist on the spot, indicating that social distancing is "as expected", not respected.
Representatives of Sioux tribes have announced demonstrations to protest against the organization of this evening in the Black Hills mountains - where the heads were carved from 1927 to 1941 - which they consider sacred.
Demonstrators at the entrance to Mount Rushmore Park. ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP
Donald Trump has long talked to him about his fascination with Mount Rushmore. In 2017, he even joked that his face might be added to it one day. Beyond all political considerations, however, it is unlikely to happen.
"From time to time, individuals or organizations offer to add new busts (...) but this is not possible," said AFP Dana Soehn, spokesperson for this National Park. "The rock that is around the faces (of the presidents) does not allow additional sculpture", she explains, recalling also that the sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, wanted to represent the ideals of the first 150 years of American history - birth, growth, development, preservation - and that his work is consequently finished.
The Lincoln Project, a group formed by fiercely anti-Trump Republicans, has also taken up the issue in its own way. In a clip released on the eve of this controversial move, he highlighted a few famous phrases uttered by Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln to emphasize the indelible mark they left. And to better mark the contrast with that which they consider to be "the worst president" in history.