PrintA Night at Mt. Rushmore
Friday’s celebration at Mount Rushmore reminded me of Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain” where after a wild witches’ sabbath, church bells ring, the sun comes out and the witches vanish. For weeks now we’ve watched the Antifa-BLM-just plain thugs and looters’ witches’ sabbath -- rampaging through our streets, defacing and destroying treasured memorials, looting, shooting, beating innocents and murdering them. Not a single Democrat leader has condemned these things, choosing instead to pretend these are peaceful protests against police brutality. Every four years they gin up some incident to create the impression that this is a racist society that requires radical reformation and conservatives are to blame.
The media once again played along, hiding the faces of those arrested for the mayhem, downplaying the destruction of lives and property and foolishly finding racism everywhere, though this is the least racist society of any major nation on earth, a nation that sacrificed hundreds of thousands of men and impoverished many to free the slaves. The mobs march with anti-Israelis in support of Palestinians, never mentioning that slavery is a thousands-year-old scourge which still exists in parts of Africa and Arab lands and nowhere in Israel or the Western world. Slavery is, in fact, a natural end point of identity based tribal cultures, which the Democrats historically seem never to apprehend or condemn. Supporting these atavistic morons is not the approach of winners. It is the tactic of a party falling apart at the seams and grasping for any vote, despite what the ginned-up media polls report.
It’s hard to pick the dumbest example of the media racist hornswoggle, but I hand it this week to ABC. That network reported “America’s national parks face existential crisis over race.” The charge was based on a survey, which showed 77% of park visitors are white. With one of his usual, brief but effective backhands, Don Surber responds, “76.3% of the nation is white.”
Why such a stupid claim? Because the President announced he was going to celebrate the Fourth of July at Mt. Rushmore, one of America’s most treasured national parks. Over at Instapundit, Ed Driscoll reviews how the media treated Democratic Presidents and contenders at this park, a traditional pre-election visit:
в—Џ Shot:
Betty Nguyen, CNN Anchor: Barack Obama is in South Dakota today. He arrived there last night. Take a look at this. He got a good glimpse of the majestic Mount Rushmore. Well, South Dakota and Montana have closed out the primary season on Tuesday.
Rob Marciano, CNN Anchor: Well, while the surrogates battle it out in Washington today, the candidates are back on the trail. Hillary Clinton is in Puerto Rico ahead of tomorrow’s primary there. Barack Obama is campaigning in South Dakota. That state’s primary is Tuesday. Obama arrived there late last night and got a good look around Mt. Rushmore -- it’s quite a sight if you haven’t seen it.
-- CNN Saturday Morning News, May 31st, 2008.
в—Џ Double Shot:
Jim Acosta (voice-over): It’s a fitting campaign stop for a presidential contender looking to make history. Standing before Mount Rushmore over the weekend, Barack Obama was asked whether he sees his face joining the likes of Washington and Lincoln.
Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), Presidential Candidate: I don’t think my ears would fit. There’s just only so much rock up there.
-- CNN American Morning, June 2nd, 2008.
в—Џ Triple-shot:
Jake Tapper: In fact, today, Sanders had his eye on the ultimate in presidential achievements, South Dakota landmark, Mt. Rushmore.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Democratic Presidential Candidate: This is our country at its very best. What an incredible achievement.
CNN’s Jeff Zeleny (voice-over): Visiting Mt. Rushmore today, Bernie Sanders taking in the majesty of the moment. This monument to four great American presidents.
Sanders: Just the accomplishment and the beauty, it really does make one very proud to be an American.
-- The Lead with Jake Tapper, May 12, 2016.
--The Daily Wire, yesterday.
в—Џ Related: Trump Campaign Calls Out CNN, Alleging Mount Rushmore Hypocrisy.
-- Newsmax, yesterday.
Most networks covered little if any of the President’s address. It’s a must-see recitation of American values and the mood of most of us who aren’t totally addlepated. I urge you to watch or read it all. Among the high points he names this onslaught it for what it is -- ”far-left fascism.”
“There is a new far-left fascism that demands absolute allegiance. If you do not speak its language, perform its rituals, recite its mantras, and follow its commandments, then you will be censored, banished, blacklisted, persecuted and punished.”
“Make no mistake, this left-wing Cultural Revolution is designed to overthrow the American Revolution.”
“We want free and open debate, not speech codes and cancel culture, we embrace tolerance, not prejudice.”
In response to this pushback against the cancel culture idiocy, the New York Times has reprised “dark” as a descriptor of anything most of us would consider an inspirational rejoinder to the left’s war on things we hold dearest:
Scott Adams@ScottAdamsSays
“Dark” is back.
The New York Times@nytimes
Breaking News: President Trump delivered a dark and divisive speech at Mount Rushmore, leaning into the culture wars and barely mentioning the pandemic.
https://nyti.ms/2NWjYLo
His speech extolled the presidents memorialized on the Mount, noting each of the men represents a different era of American accomplishment. Washington, the nation’s founding, Jefferson its expansion, Lincoln, its preservation, and Theodore Roosevelt its development. He condemned those who seek to erase this wonderful shared heritage, asserting they do not want to improve the country, but to end the American we cherish. He also named and praised a number of outstanding, nonpolitical, American figures who improved the country and are inspirational.
He noted how badly educated our children are about our heritage and how this must change in order to preserve it. To this end he announced he had signed an Executive Order creating a National Garden of monuments to such heroic people.
His order says the garden shall include “lifelike or realistic representations of the persons they represent, not abstract or modernistic representations.”
Among those he wishes to memorialize are these:
...John Adams, Susan B. Anthony, Clara Barton, Daniel Boone, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, Henry Clay, Davy Crockett, Frederick Douglass, Amelia Earhart, Benjamin Franklin, Billy Graham, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, Martin Luther King, Jr., Abraham Lincoln, Douglas MacArthur, Dolly Madison, James Madison, Christa McAuliffe, Audie Murphy, George S. Patton, Jr., Ronald Reagan, Jackie Robinson, Betsy Ross, Antonin Scalia, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harriet Tubman, Booker T. Washington, George Washington, and Orville and Wilbur Wright.
(ii) The National Garden should be opened for public access prior to the 250th anniversary of the proclamation of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 2026.
(iii) Statues should depict historically significant Americans, as that term is defined in section 7 of this order, who have contributed positively to America throughout our history. Examples include: the Founding Fathers, those who fought for the abolition of slavery or participated in the underground railroad, heroes of the United States Armed Forces, recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor or Presidential Medal of Freedom, scientists and inventors, entrepreneurs, civil rights leaders, missionaries and religious leaders, pioneers and explorers, police officers and firefighters killed or injured in the line of duty, labor leaders, advocates for the poor and disadvantaged, opponents of national socialism or international socialism, former Presidents of the United States and other elected officials, judges and justices, astronauts, authors, intellectuals, artists, and teachers. None will have lived perfect lives, but all will be worth honoring, remembering, and studying.
If you’ve never watched the videos of interviews with college students, you may not realize how completely ignorant they are about American history, public figures, and the Constitution, an ignorance which represents a huge danger to our Republic. (So many video interviews of college students illustrate this; here are just a few examples.)
In an effort to do what our generously funded educational establishment has failed to, he added in the Order, this:
Sec. 5. Educational Programming. The Chairperson of the NEH shall prioritize the allocation of funding to programs and projects that educate Americans about the founding documents and founding ideals of the United States, as appropriate and to the extent consistent with applicable law, including section 956 of title 20, United States Code. The founding documents include the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Federalist Papers. The founding ideals include equality under the law, respect for inalienable individual rights, and representative self-government. Within 90 days of the conclusion of each Fiscal Year from 2021 through 2026, the Chairperson shall submit a report to the President through the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy that identifies funding allocated to programs and projects pursuant to this section.
To those of us steaming as we watch Democrat governors and mayors, media, major corporations, and educational institutions fold in the face of the regressive psychology of these mobs, it is cheering to see a president standing firm. These mobs and their Democrat and media supporters and enablers are about to burn out.
The bells rang at Mt. Rushmore. The witches’ sabbath is coming to an end soon.
