‘Not On My Watch’: Republican Governor Slams Idea To Demolish Mount Rushmore

OPINION | This article contains commentary which reflects the author's opinion.

June 25, 2020

Republican South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem said she will not allow protesters to deface or destroy Mount Rushmore while she is serving in office.

As the Daily Wire reports, editor-in-chief Ben Shapiro provoked the response when he openly asked on Twitter how long it would be before protesters took aim at Mount Rushmore as the next statue to topple.

“So, when is our woke historical revisionist priesthood going to insist on blowing up Mount Rushmore?” Shapiro asked on Monday.

So, when is our woke historical revisionist priesthood going to insist on blowing up Mount Rushmore?

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) June 22, 2020

“Not on my watch,” Noem responded.

Not on my watch. https://t.co/U6gGap5Ib6

— Governor Kristi Noem (@govkristinoem) June 23, 2020

The Governor then appeared on Fox News where she elaborated on her decision to stand up against the protesters.

“The men on Mt. Rushmore helped make America the greatest country in history,” Noem said in a tweet with a video of her interview on Fox News’ morning show “Fox & Friends.”

“They weren’t perfect; nobody is,” she continued. “But we should learn from their example and work together to accomplish their dreams for our country.”

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As the Daily Wire reports, Noem said she would not stand for the rewriting of history.

“What my message is, is that this is no longer about equality,” she said. “This is a radical rewriting of our history, and in South Dakota, we won’t stand for it.”

Noem continued: “This is a national monument. The more we focus on the flaws of these men that are on our mountain, the less likely we are to recognize the virtues and the lessons we can learn from their lives.”

“So that really is the message that I have for South Dakota, that loves this mountain and Mount Rushmore,” she added.

Watch:

The men on Mt. Rushmore helped make America the greatest country in history. They weren't perfect; nobody is. But we should learn from their example and work together to accomplish their dreams for our country. pic.twitter.com/MPBkTT8tYn

— Governor Kristi Noem (@govkristinoem) June 24, 2020

And:

The Daily Wire reports:

“The trend of defacing and toppling historical statues and monuments across the country was sparked by the police-involved death of George Floyd,” The Daily Wire noted.

Floyd, who was black, died last month fowling an arrest captioned on viral video where one officer, who has since been charged with second-degree murder, held his knee on the 46-year-old’s neck for over eight minutes.

The protesting and looting in the wake of Floyd’s death “has since morphed into activists going after Confederate statues,” The Daily Wire added. “The activists quickly moved on from the Confederate statues to vandalizing statues of America’s presidents, the man who wrote ‘The Star-Spangled Banner,’ a notable person from the Catholic church, and a Holocaust memorial.”