Former U.S. president Donald Trump at a La Crosse, WI campaign stop on Aug. 29, 2024. (Mark Hoffman/The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, via USA Today.)

Donald Trump has the chance to alter sports debates and shows forever, by adding his face to Mount Rushmore.

The cast of FS1’s Speak recently celebrated Independence Day by giving their Mount Rushmores of American athletes. Currently, there are four faces on Mount Rushmore, which meant Joy Taylor, Paul Pierce and Keyshawn Johnson had to narrow their lists of best American athletes down to just four. That’s hard to do! But as Taylor noted, Trump is trying to make it a little bit easier.


“The real Mount Rushmore would need to be bigger,” Taylor said. “Trump’s trying to expand it so eventually we’ll have five. We can chisel another face on there. Will they spray paint it orange?”

At the end of the segment, Keyshawn Johnson joked about being eager to see the backlash to their Mount Rushmore lists, predicting calls for Michael Phelps or LeBron James to be added.

“When Trump puts the fifth one in, we’ll add Michael [Phelps] on there,” Taylor told Johnson and Pierce with a chuckle.

The Mount Rushmore of American athletes, the Mount Rushmore of quarterbacks, the Mount Rushmore of Super Bowl teams, the Mount Rushmore of NBA players, of pitchers or power hitters. Mount Rushmore has graced sports radio and debate shows with endless hours of lazy, mindless content. But for years, those debates have been based off lists of four. What if Trump really does grab a chisel and start carving his bust into that South Dakota rock?

Taylor and Trump don’t agree on much. But they appear to at least agree that there are benefits to expanding Mount Rushmore. Their motives might be different, with Trump likely seeing benefits in feeding his ego, while Taylor sees benefits from a sports debate sense. But there are benefits, nonetheless.

One president added to Mount Rushmore, however, won’t help Dan Orlovsky, who already expanded his top quarterbacks list to five and still managed to snub Joe Montana. But with summer sports content clamoring for a reason to revisit Mount Rushmore debates, Trump is trying to make it happen.

About Brandon Contes

Brandon Contes is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He previously helped carve the sports vertical for Mediaite and spent more than three years with Barrett Sports Media. Send tips/comments/complaints to bcontes@thecomeback.com