May 23, 2025 10:11 AM UTC

Happy Memorial Day! Trump Is Now Thought Policing Your National Parks

•  
• by: Colorado Pols

Denver7’s Shannon Ogden has a story that will kick your Memorial Day weekend off right–and by right, we mean with a healthy fresh dose of cynicism and dismay over the latest manifestation of MAGA “cultural revolution” brought to you by the Trump administration:

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has ordered all national parks to post signs asking visitors to report any information that tells a negative story about the site or its history…

Burgum’s order implements President Donald Trump’s executive order called “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” which aims to remove any stories or information that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living (including persons living in colonial times)” from national parks and monuments.

The parks in question include many historic locations central to slavery, Civil War battles, the imprisonment of Japanese Americans, and other ugly chapters of American history.

Although it may seem petty to a lot of people, what we’re dealing with here is a significant cultural divide with major implications for how history is interpreted to future generations. We would argue that the “ugly chapters of American history” include some of the most important lessons that every child should learn, and a proper understanding of historical mistakes made in our history does not necessarily lead to a loss of patriotism. It is possible to love America while acknowledging our nation’s past errors. Which is good, because we don’t know how anyone could possibly come up with a positive narrative for Camp Amache or the Sand Creek massacre–but that’s what Interior Secretary Doug Burgum seems to want.

Whatever you call this, and there are some applicable terms, it’s not history.

Needless to say, supporters of an accurate historical record are more than a little troubled by this new pro-revisionist policy:

Denver7 reached out to the National Parks Conservation Association, the 100-year-old nonprofit created to protect America’s national park system. President and CEO Theresa Pierno called Secretary Burgum’s order “outrageous” and “frightening.”

“A lot of our history is difficult to hear, but these are the places where people are educated about many issues in our past, and it’s so important,” said Pierno. “How do you tell that story accurately, but you can’t describe anything that might negatively impact the history? History is full of good and bad, and mistakes were made. And we try to understand that history so we don’t repeat those mistakes.”

Most of us do. Just not the current occupant of the White House, who doesn’t want to hear about our slaveholding Founding Fathers or why internment of Japanese-Americans was wrong. Trump doesn’t just want to whitewash American history, he wants to plate it in gold. And apparently that leaves no room for critical thinking.

Whatever you want to call that, and again there are some applicable terms, it’s not patriotism.