The most pro-American stance a leader can take is to defend our best ideas.
asserted
leader → take → ideas
From President Theodore Roosevelt dramatically expanding public lands protections to President Richard Nixon signing the Clean Air Act, our best days have come when protecting the environment was led by leaders on both sides of the aisle.
asserted
protecting → expand → aisle
The current administration is not honoring that shared American value.
asserted
administration → honor → value
Nearly two years into President Donald Trump’s second term, his administration is failing the American people on the environment, on our national parks, and on the public lands that are supposed to unite us.
asserted
that → fail → us
Plenty of people in the environmental movement would’ve opposed anything pro-environment this president did on mere partisan principle.
asserted
president → oppose → principle
I’m not one of them.
asserted
I → ’m → them
Early last year I worked closely with the president’s team and several cabinet officials to help shape a well-intentioned and potentially powerful executive order: “Make America Beautiful Again.”
asserted
America → work → order
This initiative called on his cabinet to secure a historic investment in our public lands, our forests, our water, and outdoor recreation.
asserted
initiative → call → lands
I firmly believed in the concept, and I still believe in its potential, but we’ve gotten the opposite of what was promised.
asserted
what → believe → opposite
This president labels his policies “America first,” but on public lands and national parks he’s simply put America last.
asserted
he → label → America
As someone who was in those rooms making the case, I could not be more disappointed.
uncertain
I → make → case
And it doesn’t need to be this way.
asserted
it → need → ?
Thus far, the Trump Administration has gutted national park staff, opposed by around 86% of Americans.
asserted
Administration → gutte → Americans
They’ve proposed sell-offs of public land, which is opposed by nearly 90% of voters in Western states, where these spaces are concentrated.
asserted
spaces → propose → states
They’ve prioritized rollbacks to policies like the Endangered Species Act, which is opposed by 85% of Americans.
asserted
which → prioritize → Americans
They’ve stripped protections for clean water, clean air, national forests, and more, also opposed by the vast majority of Americans.
asserted
They → strip → Americans
On issue after issue, this administration has landed on the wrong side of the American people on the environment.
asserted
administration → land → environment
Public blowback has stopped a few of these decisions, but a new threat to the great American outdoors seems to surface almost every week.
asserted
threat → stop → outdoors
I’ve sat across from dozens of White House officials, and I can tell you there are people who care deeply about conservation.
asserted
who → sit → conservation
My sense is that their voices are being drowned out by those who primarily act in opposition to the Democratic Party, many of whom have never spent real time in America’s grandeur and do not understand what it means to the rest of us.
asserted
it → drown → us
They are doing the president a disservice.
asserted
They → do → disservice
His single most popular act in his first term was arguably signing the immensely bipartisan Great American Outdoors Act, the largest investment in our national parks in history.
asserted
act → sign → history
Now, on an issue that could unify the country and win him support from every walk of life, he and his team are deliberately walking the other way.
uncertain
he → unify → life
The President and his team could defend any one of these choices on its own, justified by claiming they’re making the government more efficient, that local management of our land is better, or that they are unleashing economic growth.
uncertain
they → defend → growth
Yet, taken together, their actions add up to a plain refusal to treat our environment and our public lands as a priority in any real sense.
asserted
actions → take → sense
It’s backwards, and it cuts against the American voter and against our national character.
asserted
it → ’ → character
Two things can exist simultaneously.
asserted
things → exist → ?
But it does not have to come at the cost of shrinking or dismantling the country’s natural resources and beauty.
asserted
it → have → resources
Smart, limited government does not require slashing America's grandest idea.
asserted
government → require → idea
It does not mean choosing polluters over citizens.
asserted
It → mean → citizens
It does not mean railroading projects through communities that never asked for them.
asserted
that → mean → them
It does not mean overriding the will of the people.
asserted
It → mean → people
Nearly a third of all land in the United States is publicly owned and managed by the federal government.
asserted
third → own → government
The current approach compounds decades of these lands being mismanaged and desperately underfunded.
asserted
lands → compound → decades
Our air quality and water quality are worsening, invasive species are spreading at alarming rates, soil health is degrading, and much more.
asserted
health → worsen → rates
How we care for these resources should not be a partisan policy fight.
asserted
care → care → resources
It should be a productive dialogue that shapes the American landscape itself and improves the lives of families in every corner of the country.
asserted
that → shape → country
Our national parks aren’t political; they’re American.
asserted
they → ’re → ?
I am often told by friends on the political left that Trump will never make conservation a priority, that Republicans simply hate the environment.
asserted
Republicans → tell → environment
I understand the cynicism.
asserted
I → understand → cynicism
…and 19 more, not listed.
