Doug Burgum’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week
Memorandum: Doug Burgum’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week
To: Interested Parties
From: Save Our Parks
Date: Friday, February 13, 2026
Contact: Jayson O’Neill, Save Our Parks Spokesperson
Burgum’s Censorship, Cronies, and Corruption Undermining America’s Parks and Public Finally Being Exposed
HELENA, MT – Doug Burgum, President Trump’s Secretary of the Interior, is finally getting some much deserved attention for his failures and corruption. After sailing under the radar – outshined by the likes of Pete Hegseth, RFK Jr., and Kristi Noem – his luck ran out this week as the scale of Burgum’s corruption, craven loyalty to Trump, and shameless pay-to-play favoritism for donors and corporations began to sink in.
To date, Burgum has been covered as a moderating influence in the Trump administration, one of the few normies, and a middle-of-the-road former governor from North Dakota, who even touted wind and solar energy development in the past. For those who have closely watched Burgum’s tenure, his carefully constructed image couldn’t be further from reality.
Burgum has orchestrated massive cuts to America’s national park and public lands. He has led an administration-wide program to censor and erase American history from parks, museums, historical and cultural sites, and public lands. He has canceled renewable energy projects amid rising electricity costs. He has been a spokesperson and champion for some of President Trump’s least popular proposals, from reviving expensive coal projects to the militarized occupations of American cities to the ridiculous plan to forcibly seize Greenland.
And, the majority of Burgum’s questionable and corrupt actions have occurred behind closed doors, without transparency. He is the least transparent Interior Secretary in modern history. As we speed towards a long holiday weekend, Save Our Parks compiled this week’s news coverage of Burgum’s very bad week:
The Hill, February 6, 2026 – MLK III accuses National Park Service of ‘sanitizing’ history
New York Times, February 8, 2026 – For $1 Million, Donors to U.S.A. Birthday Group Offered Access to Trump
ABC News, February 10, 2026 – Trump admin removes pride flag from Stonewall National Monument
Slate, February 11, 2026 – Making Coal Cute Again
E&E News, February 11, 2026 – Burgum: Interior will fight its offshore wind court losses
The Daily Show, February 12, 2026 – Trump Gets Made-Up “Champion of Coal” Award & Guts EPA Regulations
The Hill, February 12, 2026 – Democrats launch probe into organization leading White House efforts to celebrate nation’s 250th birthday
ABC News, February 12, 2026 – Sen. Schiff leads probe into Freedom250, the America birthday group offering access to Trump for donations
E&E News, February 12, 2026 – Burgum calls energy transition a ‘fantasy’ as EPA guts climate regulations
The American Prospect, February 13, 2026 – Doug Burgum, the Regime Toady of Our Time
The Nation, February 13, 2026 – The Antidemocratic Zealots Presiding Over Trump’s Makeover of US History
USA Today, February 13, 2026 – Critics: Trump’s Freedom250 is ‘pay-for-play,’ lacks transparency
SFGate, February 13, 2026 – Trump’s erasure of history is continuing at another famed national park
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