Trump’s Race for the 100 Day Record, and National Parks Conservation
This will briefly cover the multi-pronged race for the “Ego Prize? of 100 days” by Donald Trump. This will undoubtedly, in Trump’s thinking, be celebrated for all ages everywhere in the world as the greatest achievement in government ever.
The new tax plan, the new health bill, and the attempt to rescind the Antiquities Act, and the Congressional briefings on North Korea. Trump has managed to establish so many 100 days actions by using Executive Orders – 37 of them, a new record. That of course short circuits his lack of following in the Congress, and of building up an administration that can draft real laws. Bragging about his executive orders is of course in shameless conflict with the Republicans and Trumps complaining through the last six years that President Obama was using executive orders when he couldn’t get any cooperation with a Republican Congress.
The Public will suffer from this because the hurried schedule cuts the Congressional and Public review, and not able to be fully informed of the debts the public will incur, and see that all of these bill will be directed to make the rich richer, at and at public expense.
In particular, Trumps attack today at the 111-years-old Antiquities Act is quite illogical. As a senior, I hate to see older people taken for granted, and unduly penalized, as Trump has done in the new healthcare acts. What is wrong with an old act? The Constitution, so well praised and backed by the Republicans, and which the President swore on two bibles to withhold, is about 230 years old. Yes, it has been amended, but only by an involved and super majority basis.
Teddy Roosevelt established the conservation of our Great American Landscapes and National Resources, which he traveled around the country to see. In the Antiquities Act of 1906, Presidents have the power to establish National Monuments on their own. Trump’s executive order is to review the declaration of National Monuments since 1966, when Lydon B. Johnson was President. There are 24 National Monuments of over 100,000 acres that will be reviewed.
Roosevelt created the first National Monument at Devil’s Tower in Wyoming in 1906 (where the aliens landed). He established 18. Lots of the monuments were created to safeguard Indian sites and artifacts. There are 128 now. Only Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush did not create any. President Obama created or enlarged 34. Does Trump’s order mean that he will get Congress to cancel many of them? Or just Obama’s? Or give him guidance to create the Greatest Ever Monuments?
There are a couple of ironies of what has happened here. First of all, Trump could have just asked the Secretary of the Interior, who was standing right behind him to do a review, without having to add another executive order to his pre-100-day record. The second, is that he used a Presidential Executive Order to do the review, similar to the abuse of power that he fears a President uses when creating a national monument. Finally, for the Zinger, Donald Trump was using every means he could think of to pressure Congress to fund his $20 billion “beautiful wall” along the Mexican border, of 2,200 mile in length. For much of it he is going to have to use eminent domain, and cutting off parts of border ranches from their owners. Some of the length of the wall will be along National Monument worthy sections of the Rio Grande River.
The fact that the Act has lasted a hundred and ten years may show more that it has been supported by the Public, across the country, and across all of the ages (something that must make Trump very jealous). That should have made it even more respected, rather than being disrespected by Trump just because it is old, and respected.
In many of the States which have the most scenic Monuments and National Parks, or heritage National Forests, have tourist and recreation businesses and income associated with this. Even within those states there must be rivalries between these business and resource exploitive businesses. Since we are talking about federal lands, these lands are of National values, and should be protected for all of the Americans in the nation, and not run just by states, or the narrow local resource exploitation companies.
We know Trump’s record, as a developer, to fighting any nearby beneficial environmental developments. We know that he is strongly in favor of takeover of lands by public laws. We know that his administration is almost exclusively manned by resource exploiters. This executive order and future laws following its to exploit federal resources, are conflicts of interest with all of these Cabinet and administrations. Clearly all members of Congress who vote for these bills will be heavily lobbied and contributed to by local or national resource exploiters.
There is another contradiction in Trump’s local gift that involves Trump’s own properties. Trump exploits the local cities of New York and West Palm Beach to provide budget busting police protection when he and his family are living at Trump Tower, New York City, and at Mar-a-Lago. While criticizing Presidents from keeping farmers and grazers from National Monuments, Trump is doing the same by extracting the cost of police support from local communities for his private protection. Is this Trump Revenge against NY City for voting Democratic, like Chris Christy does?
I maintain that the Public supports taking care of our National Resources, and this is another case where Trump and the Republicans are representing only their resource exploiters, and not the Public.
