A Trump order asked national park visitors to flag 'negative' historical info. They had other ideas

The Trump administration last year issued a plea to visitors at U.S. national parks: Report any displays or exhibits saying “negative” things about Americans living in the past or present.

But most people who responded instead weighed in to criticize the effort itself, according to an Associated Press analysis of 35,000 public comments submitted in the second half 2025 and recently made public through a lawsuit.

One visitor to a park in North Carolina called the administration’s efforts “un-American.” Another derided the idea of “having Americans call in and snitch on each other.”

“Hey Donald Trump!” wrote a person in North Dakota’s Theodore Roosevelt National Park, “Trying to erase history doesn’t mean it didn’t still happen!”

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.

https://apnews.com/article/national-park-service-doug-burgum-donald-trump-c58eb3278c9ce787afacf37f6845ff4c