A member of South Dakota’s House of Representatives is absurdly claiming that Mount Rushmore is a "freemason shrine" used by demonic entities to enter the country and spread communism.

“If you go back and do some history on Mount Rushmore, it actually is a Freemason shrine," Joe Donnell, a Republican, said in an episode of the Now Is the Time podcast. “What the Lord has revealed to me is that Mount Rushmore has a direct ley line to Washington, D.C."

Donnell, claiming his revelation came directly from "the Lord," referred to the historic landmark and Native American sacred ground as an "altar that acts as a portal for other demonic things."

"What we’re really dealing with in that portal is communism," he continued. "That witchcraft, altar, those things that are happening in the Black Hills, what we’re dealing with is communism. It’s the ideology and all the demonic entities and spirits behind that.”

Donnell was first elected in 2022, and is reportedly a member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate tribe. Mount Rushmore is sacred to the Lakota Sioux tribe, who refer to the area as “Paha Sapa,” or “the heart of everything that is.”

The Mount Rushmore National Memorial has said it will not respond to Donnell's comments.

Donnell was featured on the podcast episode, titled “State Representative Joe Donnell From South Dakota Sharing Vital Info About Heavens Opening," to promote the “Open the Heavens: Let God Arise” event in Rapid City, for which he is a guest speaker.

Meri Crouley, host of the podcast, is also an organizer of the conference. She has been criticized for spreading incorrect information surrounding the effectiveness of the Covid-19 vaccine, as well as false claims that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election.

The state's Democratic Party Chair, Jennifer Slaight-Hansen, has written a letter to South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, asking she renounce Donnell's unfounded conspiracy theories.

“I have two questions: 1) is Governor Noem in agreement with Rep. Donnell’s statement that Mt. Rushmore is a portal that is spreading communism throughout America, and 2) if not, will she publicly repudiate him?" she wrote in a letter obtained by KELO.

As Noem recently signed an executive proclamation that declared June 3, 2023, as “Open the Heavens Day," a denunciation seems unlikely.