Right after Donald Trump was sworn in as president, he issued one of his first Executive Orders commanding the the National Park System restore “sanity” in telling the story of America. Many of the examples Trump and his aides cited were about the enslavement of African Americans, the displacement and killing of Native Americans, discrimination against women, and anti-immigrant violence. Last Spring, National Parks were instructed to post notices for visitors to report anything too “woke” at the park. 35,000 public comments were submitted in the second half 2025. Until June, these comments were hidden by the administration. A recent lawsuit has revealed what was said by the public in those comments.
A careful review found that most of the comments disparaged the Trump Administration for putting up the notice. One commenter said that the notice was “un-American.” The idea that visitors to the National Parks were being turned into snitches was particularly objectionable. According to the Associated Press, one person wrote in a comment at Theodore Roosevelt National Park “Hey Donald Trump Trying to erase history doesn’t mean it didn’t still happen!”
The Associated Press did a detailed analysis of the comments:
“A large chunk — more than half, not even accounting for duplicative submissions — was a backlash to the effort itself, according to an Associated Press analysis.
Some comments submitted in response to the administration’s solicitation flagged interpretive changes that officials might now seek to undo — and in dozens of cases already have, according to one group.
But considering that the National Park Service logged some 323 million visits at more than 400 sites last year, the 35,000 initial public comments received from June to January and released following a lawsuit was a tepid response.
An order by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum last year targeted “inappropriate content” including any signs and exhibits “negative about either past or living Americans or that fail to emphasize the beauty, grandeur, and abundance of landscapes and other natural features.
…The comments come to light as a result of a Sierra Club lawsuit seeking their release. Some commended the parks, including their staff and signage.
“We had a great time learning about the development of this site including the difficult parts of our American story,” wrote a visitor to Gateway Arch National Park in St. Louis. “We need those reminders to help us become even better in the future.”
Others veered into silliness: “Didn’t see any Bigfeets,” wrote a visitor to Washington’s North Cascades National Park.
A large portion, though, took aim at the administration.
“Trump’s idea of having Americans call in and snitch on each other … is straight out of the fascist playbook he’s literally acting like Hitler or Mussolini,” wrote one visitor.”
The president’s Executive Order says that some of the National Parks harm the “United States by casting its founding principles and historical milestones in a negative light.” The president says that proper history should “foster unity.” He writes that “Rather than fostering unity and a deeper understanding of our shared past, the widespread effort to rewrite history deepens societal divides and fosters a sense of national shame.”
Since the posting the notice at the parks, dozens of signs have come down. The removal of several historical signs at the President’s House in Philadelphia has attracted the most attention, and it was reversed by a Federal Judge. Just this week, news sources report that signs dealing with slavery and immigration will be stripped from the Bunker Hill monument near Boston after a complaint about an exhibit’s “wokeness.”
Disclosure: I have been involved in actions against this move by President Trump.
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