President Donald Trump kicked off a weekend of celebrations for America's 250th birthday with a speech at Mount Rushmore on Friday night, ahead of which he posted a video depicting his face chiseled into the national memorial.

The video, shared on social media, featured a gilded Mount Rushmore with a 3D graphic of Trump emerging and rotating next to Abraham Lincoln. A voiceover in the video stated, "I will be the greatest president for many, many years to come." The event marked the beginning of a weekend of 250th Independence Day celebrations across the country.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that Trump's speech would strike an "optimistic, inspiring tone," aiming to answer "'What does it mean to be an American?'" Leavitt added that the speech would also serve as a "fierce rebuke to Communism and defend the ideas that make America the greatest country in the history of the world."

The White House had earlier suggested Trump could be an addition to the mountain, where the faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Theodore Roosevelt are already etched. White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers commented, "There would be no better addition to the iconic Mount Rushmore than the 45th and 47th President of the United States, Donald Trump."

Trump has previously expressed interest in having his likeness added to Mount Rushmore, calling it a "good idea" on social media in 2020. However, there has been no significant movement toward making this a reality during his current term.

The White House did not respond to inquiries regarding any concrete plans for adding the president's likeness to the monument or the potential capacity of such an addition.

Trump traveled to Keystone, South Dakota, for the event on a newly retrofitted Air Force One 747, a gift from the Qatari royal family. He had used the aircraft earlier in the week for a trip to North Dakota to attend the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library.

In his opening remarks at the memorial, Trump declared, "Tomorrow, we mark 250 years of glorious independence and 250 years of majestic American freedom. Nothing like it." He further stated, "The birth and survival of the American nation under God is, quite simply, the best and most incredible thing ever to happen on this planet by human hands. Ever. That is ever, ever, ever. No other country has done more good for this world than the United States of America."