Trump hits with new legal battle after bid to rewrite history fails miserably

President Donald Trump is facing a new legal challenge after his high-profile attempt to reshape the historic record failed.

The Trump administration lost a legal battle Monday over an executive order titled “Truth and Sanity to American History” to remove nine enslaved people by George Washington from Philadelphia’s Independence National Historical Park.

The order directed the Interior Department to ensure that the nation’s museums, parks and landmarks do not display anything that “inappropriately disparages the American past or the living.”

On Monday, Bush-appointed U.S. District Judge Cynthia Ruffe ruled that the display should be reinstated during the trial, citing George Orwell. 1984, Writing, “George Orwell’s 1984 Ministry of Truth now exists, whose motto is ‘Ignorance is power,'” this Court is now being asked to determine whether the federal government has the power it claims — to dissect and dissect historical truths when it has some domain over historical facts.

“No,” she said.

The Interior Department said Tuesday it would appeal the court’s decision, while White House spokesman Taylor Rogers called the case premature and based on “false and inaccurate information.”

Now, a new lawsuit has been filed against the administration by a coalition of conservation and historical organizations, which argue that National Park Service policies have robbed America’s national parks of both history and science.

The orders from Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Bergum claimed to target demonstrations covering slavery, civil rights, tribal history, and climate change, among other “key elements of the American experience.”

Examples include signs describing how settlers displaced native tribes in Grand Canyon National Park, and descriptions of the effects of climate change on the park’s glaciers in Glacier National Park.

On the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail, about 80 items have been flagged for removal, while a permanent exhibit in Brown v. Education National Historic Park was cited for using the word “equity.”

Separately, LGBTQ+ advocates and historic preservationists have sued the National Park Service over the removal of the rainbow Pride flag from New York’s Stonewall National Monument. Installed in 2022 as the first permanent pride banner on federal land, the flag was removed under a memo limiting display to domestic and POW/MIA flags despite the exception of historical context.

The lawsuit claims the removal is “the latest example in a long line of efforts by the Trump administration to target the LGBTQ+ community for discrimination and humiliation.”

New York officials raised a replacement flag at the site on Tuesday.

The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.

Alan Spears, senior director of cultural resources for the Parks Conservation Association, told The Associated Press that removing science and historical materials from national parks undermines their main goals. He argued that the parks are “living classrooms” meant to present the nation’s full story — including its achievements and its painful chapters — adding, “We can handle the truth.”

“Censoring science and erasing America’s history in national parks is a direct threat to these amazing places and everything our country stands for,” he said.

“National parks serve as living classrooms for our country, where science and history come to life for visitors. As Americans, we deserve national parks that tell our country’s stories of triumph and heartbreak alike. We can handle the truth.”

Kristen Brenzel, senior vice president of government affairs for the National Park Conservation Association, told the Washington Post that the White House’s efforts “should offend every American.”

“We deserve to hear about our tragedies and our triumphs, and this systematic erasure should concern everyone in our country.”