Trump heads for Mount Rushmore as US turns 250

WASHINGTON, July 03 (AFP): President Donald Trump kicks off America's 250th birthday weekend on Friday with a trip to a landmark upon which many suspect he would like to see his own face carved in rock -- Mount Rushmore.

On the eve of Independence Day, Trump will give a speech beneath the giant granite heads of four of his legendary predecessors at the national monument in South Dakota.

It's a fitting image for a president who views himself as being one of the greats himself, and who has at every stage tried to turn the United States' big anniversary into a celebration of himself.

Republican Trump's supporters have even introduced legislation to have his likeness chiseled beside those of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt.