(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



Trump cares about a tree, but not about you [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-03-31

Trump has been talking a lot about Andrew Jackson since he took office. People also have been wondering if Trump is out of his tree. The answer is yes in two ways. He is looney tunes, but there a little arbor problem at the White House. A tree supposedly planted by Andrew Jackson at the entrance to the White House needs to be taken down.

Trump is heartbroken that the tree, attributed to what seems to be his favorite president, Andrew Jackson, has to be taken down due to safety reasons because the tree is in bad shape and could either fall over or drop branches.

There's another magnolia on the right side of the entrance that also was grown from seeds Jackson brought from his home in Tennessee.

1994 Cessna crash.

Damage that may have started the tree's problems may have happened in 1994 when a stolen Cessna crashed into the tree and the White House in 1994.

1994 Cessna crash.

The pilot, drunken and high, cut the engines and glided in silently and Secret Service agents barely got out of the way as the plane slid across the lawn, hit the tree and rested against the wall of the White House. The pilot was killed.

That may have been the start of its demise.

But, there are some things in Trump's announcement that need clarification.

"... we are making tremendous enhancements to the White House, thereby preserving and protecting History!"

Rose Garden.

Last we heard, Trump plans to pave over the Rose Garden created by Jackie Kennedy with some sort of hard surface. Trump wants a patio like at Mar-a-Lago. Trump is going to wipe out history this time instead of simply rewriting it. I don't call that preserving and protecting history. Joni Mitchell sang, "They paved paradise, and put up a parking lot," ​​​in "Big YellowTaxi." "They took out all the trees and put 'em in a tree museum."

Trump isn't doing quite that, because he's going to replace the tree with another one. But the wood from the tree being taken down is another thing. He could do something like Queen Victoria did with the wood from the HMS Resolute, making the Resolute desk that normally is in the Oval Office.

"The Historic wood from the tree will be preserved by the White House Staff, and may be used for other high and noble purposes!!!"

You got carpenters on Staff?

"... high and noble purposes!!!" Sounds like royalty to me. High noble. Maybe a throne, Donnie?

The other problem with Trump showing affection about a tree is that DOGE just terminated a $75 million grant by the U.S. Forest Service to the Arbor Day Foundation. That pulled the funding for 105 environmental projects designed to help low-income communities across the country to plant trees.

As ever, Trump is just mouthing words that mean nothing.

The Forest Service budget is under attack, as is all funding considered "non-essential." So is the Bureau of Land Management. The Department of the Interior and Doug Burgam will get what it needs, after a 40% budget cut, to let oil companies rape public lands.

The Forest Service is run by the Department of Agriculture. The Secretary of USDA is Brooke Rollins. She was not a good pick, and appears more interested in promoting fossil fuels than in food and agriculture. What this portends for the future of the Forest Service is now unknown thanks to Trump's cabinet pick.

Trump cares for a tree, but not for all the people's lives he's destroyed in such a small amount of time. You can put up with some pain so he can give those billionaires and corporations tax cuts, right?

He may claim admiration for Jackson's contribution to the White House grounds, but Trump literally can't see the forest for the trees.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/3/31/2313539/-Trump-cares-about-a-tree-but-not-about-you?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/