Dan Little, the husband of Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, paid a visit recently to Mt. Hood National Forest Sno-Park southeast of Portland. The deluge of trash he encountered in the park’s bathroom, thanks to Donald Trump’s federal government shutdown, didn’t seem to jibe with that whole claim about “Making America Great Again.”
So, Little decided to clean up the mess and send Trump the bill.
The governor posted photos of the effort on her Twitter account, along with an invoice for $28 addressed to “President Trump” for “Trash Removal.”
“This is just one of the many reasons I love my husband, Dan,” Brown wrote. “He visited Mt. Hood National Forest Sno-Park, and like many national parks across the country, found it a mess due to the partial government shutdown. He cleaned the bathrooms—and sent the bill to President Trump.”
The shutdown, now in its fourth week, affects about a quarter of the U.S. government, according to USA Today. As a result, national park rangers have been furloughed, but the Trump administration decided to keep national parks open, unlike past administrations. Among the consequences of that decision are national parks being cluttered with garbage and human waste.
As Splinter’s Jack Crosbie described it, “people are entering the parks, leaving trash everywhere, overflowing the public toilets and fighting over campsites while the few beleaguered federal employees that are still on duty try to keep everything together.”
Brian Kahn, at our sister site Earther, wrote about the grave damage currently occurring at Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California. That damage includes the cutting of chains and locks, the cutting down of Joshua trees for off-road vehicles, the illegal creation of new roads, and illegal camping, among other issues.
Other parks are reporting similar problems. As KGW8 reported, no word yet about whether Trump received Little’s bill. But it’s not like he would pay it anyway.