When Donald Trump put his face on U.S. national parks passes, he was grabbing more than just another opportunity for self-aggrandizement.
It was the first step in another Corrupt Trump Cash Grab for self-aggrandizement.
The New York Times found that at least $67 million worth of national park entrance fees is going to Trump’s “beautification” projects in Washington, D.C. About $60 million is being used to repair nine fountains which, as far as I know do not (yet) have Trump’s name or face on them. But $7 million is being spent on his extravagant re-painting of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
That $7 million just happens to cover the cost of the $6.9 million no-bid contract Trump awarded to his “pool guy” for the work. What a coinky-dink!
Meanwhile, “National parks outside the capital have long maintenance backlogs, including repairs to deteriorating roads and water systems that threaten visitor safety,” The Times said. For example, some walls along a scenic drive at Shenandoah National Park in Virginia are crumbling. The main road at Crater Lake National Park in Oregon is “riddled with potholes” and park rangers don’t have funds to replace a 30-year-old fire truck and a 17-year-old ambulance. Utah’s Zion National Park has a failed sewer system that means port-a-potties, which stink in the summer, have replaced comfort stations.
“The spending is legal,” The Times found. But that hardly makes it right. I would bet that if you polled Americans, they’d want that $7 million spent on parks, not a no-bid contract to Trump’s “pool guy.”
