Donald Trump flew to North Dakota on Wednesday to cut the ribbon on the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, celebrating a president whose defining legacy was protecting America's land and wildlife. His administration has spent the past several months dismantling that exact legacy across more than 86 million acres of public land. The audacity is genuinely breathtaking.
The Man, The Myth, The Photo Op
Here is what Theodore Roosevelt actually did. From 1901 to 1909, he established five national parks, passed legislation allowing presidents to designate national monuments, and conserved nearly 230 million acres of public land. He believed, in his own words, that preserving America's natural heritage was a sacred obligation.
Here is what Trump is doing. According to an analysis by the Center for American Progress published this week, his administration has moved to lift protections from more than 86 million acres of public lands. When you add in his first term rollbacks, the running total tops 100 million acres. That is land equivalent in size to more than 70 Grand Canyons. Or, if you prefer the more pointed comparison, 38 Yellowstone National Parks.
Trump's Freedom 250 tour, the series of events marking America's 250th anniversary of which this library opening is a part, has already drawn fire for its corporate sponsorships. Adding a Theodore Roosevelt tribute to the itinerary is a choice so brazenly cynical it almost loops back around to being impressive.
What Burgum Is Actually Doing Out There
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has been busy. According to The Guardian, he has rolled back safeguards under the Endangered Species Act, weakened protections for migratory birds, and stripped protections from swaths of federal waters. All of this is happening while his boss prepares to stand in front of cameras and celebrate the godfather of American conservation.
"Roosevelt believed that preserving America's natural heritage and outdoors birthright was a sacred obligation," Jayson O'Neill, spokesperson for conservation campaign Save Our Parks, told The Guardian. "Doug Burgum is destroying that heritage for Trump's whims, allies, and political donors."
The Guardian reports it contacted both the Interior Department and the White House for comment. Shockingly, neither had anything to say.
The 86 Million Acres Nobody Is Talking About
The Center for American Progress report, released this week, is worth sitting with for a moment. Eighty-six million acres. Those are not abstract numbers on a spreadsheet. The CAP analysis found the removed safeguards will open untouched forests to development, expose habitat-rich Alaskan landscapes to oil drilling, and put places like Minnesota's Boundary Waters at risk of contamination.
"As millions of Americans celebrate the nation's 250th anniversary this summer by visiting national parks, forests, and monuments, the country's rich conservation legacy is being erased," said Sam Zeno, senior policy analyst for Conservation Policy at CAP and co-author of the report. "Despite overwhelming public support for conserving the nation's shared resources, President Trump is putting these lands and waters at risk."
Overwhelming public support. That part is not contested. Poll after poll shows Americans across party lines want public lands protected. This is one of the few genuinely bipartisan positions left in American life, which makes it all the more remarkable that the administration keeps grinding away at it anyway.
One Mile Away, a National Park Is Getting Gutted
Here is the detail that really sticks the landing. Theodore Roosevelt National Park sits one mile from the new library Trump is attending. One mile. And that park, per The Guardian, is currently facing staffing cuts driven by the same administration hosting the ribbon cutting.
This is not subtle. This is a president standing at a memorial to a conservation hero while the conservation hero's namesake park deteriorates within walking distance. It would be almost poetic if it were not so destructive.
"No photo op will change the damage Trump and Burgum are doing to the wildlife, lands, and parks Roosevelt fought to protect for all Americans," O'Neill said. Hard to argue with that framing.
The Dingo Take
Let's be honest about what this event actually is. It is a political costume. Trump is wearing the Theodore Roosevelt brand for a day because it polls well during a patriotic summer tour, and because nobody in his orbit apparently sees anything wrong with standing at the legacy of one of history's great conservationists while your interior secretary is shredding the Endangered Species Act in the next room. The cognitive dissonance required to pull this off without flinching is genuinely staggering.
The Center for American Progress found Trump has now rolled back protections on more than 100 million acres across both terms. Roosevelt conserved 230 million. So Trump is essentially working through roughly half of Roosevelt's life's work with a chain saw, then flying out to North Dakota to take a selfie with the man's statue. If you tried to write this as satire, an editor would send it back and tell you it was too on the nose.
The parks, the birds, the Boundary Waters, the Alaskan wilderness sitting on top of oil someone wants to drill. None of that shows up in the ribbon-cutting photos. It just disappears, acre by acre, while the administration figures out what historic American icon to stand in front of next.
