National Park Visitors Are Not Impressed With Trump’s Revisionism
“Honest History Matters!” Protesters lining up
Donald Trump’s EO entitled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” was issued on March 27th, taking aim at the Smithsonian Institution and the National Park Service for daring to try to tell the whole story of American History, and not just the parts that validate the White America version that Trump believes.
Section 1. Purpose and Policy. Over the past decade, Americans have witnessed a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth. This revisionist movement seeks to undermine the remarkable achievements of the United States by casting its founding principles and historical milestones in a negative light. Under this historical revision, our Nation’s unparalleled legacy of advancing liberty, individual rights, and human happiness is reconstructed as inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed.
Kind of hard to read those words the day after the Juneteenth holiday, in the midst of Pride month, and after Trump’s budget slashing the funding of tribal colleges and universities by 90% went up to Congress, but I guess Trump’s gotta Trump.
Fast forward a couple of months, and we can see how the Department of the Interior is looking to implement Trump’s EO. From NPR, June 9, 2025:
The Department of the Interior is requiring the National Park Service (NPS) to post signage at all sites across the country by June 13, asking visitors to offer feedback on any information that they feel portrays American history and landscapes in a negative light.
The June 9 memo sent to regional directors by National Park Service comptroller Jessica Bowron and leaked to NPR states the instructions come in response to President Trump’s March “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” executive order and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s follow-up order last month requesting its implementation. Trump’s original order included a clause ordering Burgum to remove content from sites that “inappropriately disparages Americans past or living and instead focuses on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people.”
I can just see Burgum rubbing his hands together with glee. “MAGA’s gonna love this. It’s DIY DOGE-ing the liberals while they visit the parks!” Similarly, I can hear Stephen Miller’s reply of “Excellent” in his best Mr. Burns voice.
Well fellas, you asked, and National Park visitors answered. Spoiler alert: Burgum and Miller will not be happy. From Government Executive yesterday:
In the responses submitted by visitors to National Park Service sites, however, which were obtained by Government Executive, no single submission pointed to any such examples [of inappropriate signage and language]. Instead, in the nearly 200 submissions NPS received in the first days since the solicitations were posted, visitors implored the administration not to erase U.S. history and praised agency staff for improving their experiences.
[snip]
So far, NPS is not getting the help it was hoping for from those scanning the QR codes now posted around park sites soliciting assistance in identifying language in violation of Trump and Burgum’s orders. Instead, visitors accused the Trump administration of seeking to erase the nation’s history.
What? Unpossible! What did those pesky park visitors say? GovExec goes on:
“There shouldn’t be signs about history that whitewash and erase the centuries of discrimination against the people who have cared for this land for generations,” a visitor to Indian Dunes National Park said.
A visitor to Independence Hall in Philadelphia called the new signs “censorship dressed up as customer service.”
“What upset me the most about the museum—more than anything in the actual exhibits—were the signs telling people to report anything they thought was negative about Americans,” the visitor said. “That isn’t just frustrating, it’s outrageous. It felt like an open invitation to police and attack historians for simply doing their jobs: telling the truth.”
Several visitors to the Stonewall National Monument in New York lamented changes there the park’s website that removed mention of transgender individuals in the Stonewall Uprising.
“Put them back,” the visitor said. “Honor them. There would be no Stonewall without trans people.”
More truth-telling at the link.
Some protesters wave signs as they march in the streets. Others scan QR codes and write comments.
These aren’t comments on lefty websites. These are official public comments to government requests for input from the public – input some poor soul has to read and summarize for Burgum and Miller. Can you picture the cold sweat breaking out on that civil servant’s brow, realizing he or she might be facing their own firing as the bearer of bad news? Sure you can.
Meanwhile, lots of folks are planning their next visit to a national park. By all means, go check them out, and don’t forget to click that QR code. Especially if you visit the Stonewall National Monument.
Last weekend, it was millions of loud voices shouting “No Kings!” This weekend, let it be millions of quiet thumbs and fingers tapping their phones.
Let the Good Trouble Making go on!
OMG he is SUCH a whiny little bitch. If you tell the truth you are “attacking America’s principles.” Just like when a reporter asks him a question he doesn’t like he says “Why can’t you ask me a positive question?”
Nothing says “American principles” like drilling for oil in our national parks or renaming our military bases after Confederate traitors.
I lack the vocabulary to express my hatred and contempt for this “human.”
How do you tell the story of Angel Island without talking about the Chinese Exclusion Act?
How do you tell the story of the Trail of Tears without talking about forcible removal and death?
How do you tell the story of Dred Scott without talking about Roger Taney’s ruling that makes some people into UnPeople?
How do you tell the story of the Underground Railroad without talking about WHY folks were so desperate to get out of state-sanctioned slavery?
How do you tell the story of Japanese Internment Camps without talking about taking away rights based only on a suspicion of possible disloyalty based on no actual evidence at all?
But that’s what Trump wants to do.
How do you tell the story of Stonewall without Marsha Johnson?
You don’t tell the story. That’s the whole point.
And like you, Matt, I hate these people more than I ever thought I could.
Trump knows more about America’s history than anybody. Believe me. Just see his River of Blood plaque.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/donald-trump-civil-war-monument/
Statement from the Japanese-American National Museum:
The Japanese American National Museum (JANM) denounces the signs at the Manzanar and Minidoka National Historic Sites, as well as at the national historic sites and parks, that encourage guests to report any information that is deemed critical of American history.
This new directive originates from the administration’s executive order, Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History, followed by a memorandum issued by the Secretary of the US Department of the Interior on May 20, 2025, and subsequent instructions from the National Park Service comptroller on June 9, 2025. These directives require park superintendents to identify and flag signs, exhibits, films, and other public-facing content that are deemed to disparage US history. Collectively, they form part of the administration’s broader, ongoing campaign to dismantle foundational principles of diversity and democracy, suppress historical narratives that challenge their preferred version of events, and erase the contributions of people of color, women, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and other marginalized communities from the American story.
“JANM is deeply disturbed by this new directive, especially at historical sites like Manzanar and Minidoka where Japanese Americans were unjustly incarcerated during World War II. The Museum reiterates that the widespread dismantling of federal agencies that support our work and the attempts at the wholesale erasure of history will not help us achieve a more just America. The implications stretch far beyond America’s historical sites and parks, which is why we must continue to challenge revisionist history and other threats to democracy immediately. As JANM has said before, history does not yield to censorship or political ideologies. It demands honest, transparent conversations and a commitment to having an evolving understanding of how the past shapes the present and the future. JANM will continue to embody our mission, ensure that history is told fully and truthfully, and carry the lessons of history forward,” said Ann Burroughs, JANM President and CEO.
“…history does not yield to censorship or political ideologies. It demands honest, transparent conversations and a commitment to having an evolving understanding of how the past shapes the present and the future.”
Thankyou, Ann Burroughs, JANM President and CEO for this clear statement. The truth matters.
[Welcome back to emptywheel. SECOND REQUEST: Please use the SAME USERNAME and email address each time you comment so that community members get to know you. You attempted to publish this comment as “Dorian M” omitting the period, triggering auto-moderation; it has been edited to reflect your established username. Please check your browser’s cache and autofill; future comments may not publish if username does not match. /~Rayne]
MAGA version:
During WWII the Government assisted Japanese Americans in moving to New Beautiful homes, all free of charge. Rather than saying “Thank You” these UNGRATEFUL and NASTY (ILLEGAL?) so-called Americans demanded reparations.
I’ve heard and read too much about that to do more than hope that MAGAs will care.
Got a link for this, Matt?
Seems to be only on JANM’s Facebook page and I didn’t want to link to FB here. I searched for it on their website (https://www.janm.org) and didn’t find this particular statement but I did find a link to a similar one from 3 weeks ago also authored by Ann Burroughs, speaking more generally against Trump admin implementation of immigration policies and how it affects their museum:
https://www.aam-us.org/2025/05/27/staying-true-to-mission-why-janm-spoke-out/
If you want the link to this particular statement from FB, let me know and I’ll provide a broken link to it here.
Down at the very bottom of their homepage is a link to “About” then “Press”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – June 18, 2025
JANM Decries Historical Erasure at Manzanar, Minidoka, and other National Parks https://www.janm.org/press/release/janm-decries-historical-erasure-manzanar-minidoka-and-other-national-parks
Re: harpie @ 5:37
Wow, Harpie, great detective work! I poked around their website a bit but didn’t think to look under the About link…
No; it’s my Trump impression. Realistic, eh?
Sorry – I meant Matt___B
From the JANM statement: “… why we must continue to challenge revisionist history and other threats to democracy immediately.” (Thank you, Matt, for providing the statement.)
I completely agree. Yet here we get to the umpteenth example of Trump’s “arguing” by projection. He calls history that doesn’t tell what he wants to be told “revisionist” — see EO as quoted above in Peterr’s post.
I’m sorry I wasn’t careful enough with the two Matts contributing to this thread. I, too, meant Matt___B.
In addition to drilling, mining minerals, and logging, it seems the National Parks might be repurposed for the billionaire techbros to build out their Network States. Here’s a particularly creepy video angling for Alameda Point, California, which is a couple of miles from San Francisco.
https:// youtu.be/YYqk2hfG1jE
They’ve also been trying to get the Presidio, which is part of the Golden Gate national rec Area, and has a lot of visitors, as wells as having a long history (which the techbro billionaires don’t know or care about).
Years ago, when privatization of the Presidio was under consideration, I was chatting with a tailor in Seoul while getting fitted for a suit. He had actually been “in tech” in the Bay Area before returning to Korea and when I mentioned the possibility of privatization, he stopped, looked at me, and said “That would be an outrage!” I agreed.
I just happened to see that Heather Cox Richardson RePosted
the following link just after I read your comment here, LaMissy!
https://bsky.app/profile/jillianelliott.bsky.social/post/3ls2eaz4stc2y
June 20, 2025 at 11:31 AM
Links to:
Heather Cox Richardson, American Conversations: Technology Reporter Gil Duran [VIDEO] [That section begins at 15:06]
If they’re billionaires, they can damned well BUY the land they’re proposing to use.
I wouldn’t call that that video particularly creepy – it’s more of a fever dream and a pitch for the marks.
Alameda Point isn’t a National Park, and it sure as hell isn’t anywhere near Silicon Valley. It is a former Naval Air Station on the island of Alameda, closed in the 1990s under a Congressional round of military base closures. The City of Alameda is now in charge of it, and has established a City Hall Annex in the old Base Headquarters building. Development of the Point has moved in fits and starts, largely because of the environmental cleanup necessary in the non-residential parts of the old base as well as general economic conditions.
For most non-Bay Area folks, Alameda Point is most famous as the site of many large-scale tests run by the Mythbusters, as well as for filming used in a bunch of movies, including The Matrix.
Billionaires might lust over owning it for its views of SF, but this video is a joke.
That guy in the video looks like realistic AI — with the exception of his hand gestures. What’s up with that?
This is exactly the response that makes you proud to be an American. We are the shining city on the hill; trying to reach it is the goal, not reaching a cheap facsimile of the city.
These idiots punk themselves. “Restoring Truth and Sanity” is an almost verbatim ripoff of the name of that amorphously conceived event Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert staged (years ago now) with speeches, music, and attempted comedy. Watching it, I couldn’t deduce the point; Stewart seemed painfully earnest but without focus, while Colbert–never earnest about anything–kept trying to make it funny. It all felt off.
So Trump and Miller borrow the banner of a failed event staged by liberal icons. And make it fail in brand new ways! That’s a perverse kind of triumph for you boys.
I can fill in some details.
That npr story on Burgum’s order truncates the final sentence. It continues: “or, with respect to natural features, the beauty, abundance, and grandeur of the American landscape.” Possibly challenging for Cuyahoga Valley National Park or Big Thicket: a major story of both is the crappy condition they were in when they became NPS.
https://www.doi.gov/document-library/secretary-order/so-3431-restoring-truth-and-sanity-american-history
Mistakes were made, or at leasts things weren’t thought through when decreeing the snitch signs. :
The alleged process is that all submissions to that qr code, except those with profanity, are put into a simple data table (PowerBI) visible to everyone in NPS, and each park is supposed to stay on top of comments about their park several times each week, and add in what they will do in response. That then goes up up the chain via regional offices then Washington Office, and presumably to DOI, with the park and regional layers allowing for preemptive obedience and self-censorship without political appointees leaving direct fingerprints.
Currently NPS staff can only see ~240 of the comments (the app indicated there were over 600), and nothing from the last few days. The comments we can see are overwhelmingly in support of parks and staff and historical facts, and even adding _more_ to the indigenous peoples side of the stories in both cultural (historical forts) and large scenic parks. Many are against the snitch sign process, or against the administration’s proposal to drastically cut the park service, sometimes tied in with calls for more funding because a restroom or facility needed repairs. The major exception are a bunch of very similar comments that appear to be generated by AI: 3 paragraphs, a long dash in the 2nd or 3rd sentence of the first paragraph, a statement that something seemed wrong to them or made them feel uncomfortable, but no specifics on what sign or program or statement triggered them. Petersburg National Battlefield got maybe 20 of those, but with no specifics, the park can’t take any actions.
My idea for “good trouble” would be for members of local tribes to submit complaints about the 3 National Monuments & Memorials to conquistadors: Cabrillo, Coronado, & DeSoto. They were killers and enslavers, not heroes. To me the key is that the indigenous people were the only “Americans” in those stories, the conquistadors were Spanish, not American. Political appointees can argue for glorifying the army and minimizing the massacres and broken treaties for the 1800s parks, but that doesn’t hold for the conquistador parks, and such comments could be used by some at those parks in support of their efforts to greatly improve the narratives they tell.
Related to the JANM statement: there are at least 5 very different NPS units related to WWII internment camps: Manzanar, Minidoka, Tule Lake, Amache, and Honouliuli. They tell stories of different experiences: the neighbors of the Japanese-Americans living on Bainbridge Island took care of their properties then returned them, so most returned from Minidoka. That didn’t happen in Southern California, where internees had nothing to return to so few came back. Individuals (community leaders), not entire families and communities, were interned in Hawai’i, plus Japanese POWs were also housed at Honouliuli (I believe separately, but similar conditions). Tule Lake was where the “trouble makers” were transferred from other camps; it also housed Japanese and German POWs. Amache and Honouliuli are very new and still developing facilities and interpretation programs. I saw no negative comments about any of those parks.
[Moderator’s note: a typo in your email address triggered auto-moderation; you added the character “!” in your email address which I have now fixed. Check your comment including username/email address fields before submitting your comment to reduce the chances of auto-moderation. /~Rayne]
This, 1000x this.
The problem, though, is that for White America, these Spaniards are seen as forerunners of Americans. Yes, ordinary folks can offer their comments to support keeping these stories honest, but the voices of indigenous folks are more critical.