Upset over President Donald Trump’s picture on the 2026 “America The Beautiful” national park passes, some users have put stickers over Trump’s face.
The federal government says that renders the passes void.
So, some Trump detractors have turned to making plastic covers for the roughly credit-card-sized passes, which hide Trump’s face without altering the passes themselves.
The passes, which feature Trump’s photo next to an image of first president George Washington, commemorate the nation’s 250th anniversary and were controversial before they were even issued on Jan. 1.
An environmental group, the Center for Biological Diversity, filed a lawsuit over it in December, SFGATE reported.
Partisan Reactions
Republican and Democratic Wyomingites had mixed reactions to the dust-up over Trump’s image on the passes.
Putting the current president’s face on the passes is indicative of Trump’s “megalomania,” Wyoming Democratic Party Chairman Lucas Fralick of Gillette told Cowboy State Daily.
Park County GOP Chairman Vince Vanata of Cody told Cowboy State Daily that Trump detractors should “suck it up” and accept the park passes as they are; a fitting tribute to America’s 250th birthday, coming July 4.
“The 250th anniversary of our country only comes once. This pass is showing the first president of the United States and the current president of the United States,” he said.
Stickers Render Them Invalid
The Department of the Interior, which oversees the National Park Service, recently clarified that if people protest Trump’s image by putting stickers over it, their park passes will be no good.
In anticipation of sticker protests, the department updated its “Void if Altered” rules for 2026, SFGATE reported.
The new rules explicitly state that stickers and other coverings directly placed over Trump’s image count as “alterations” that could render the passes invalid.
Meanwhile, the Center for Biological Diversity’s lawsuit argues that putting Trump’s face on the passes violates federal law governing how artwork for federal items is usually selected.
The group claims that the Interior Department bypassed the required public process for selecting graphics and artwork and essentially turned the passes into a political platform.
‘What A Neat Memento’
Vanata said that he doesn’t see a valid point to the environmental group’s lawsuit.
People who donate money to the Center for Biological Diversity should expect it to go toward saving wildlife and the environment, not a swipe at the president, he said.
As he sees it, the lawsuit seems driven by a “severe case of TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome),” rather than genuine concern for the environment, Vanata said.
“It’s a shame that the Center for Biological Diversity is choosing to use their donors’ dollars to pursue a frivolous lawsuit over an annual pass commemorating the 250th anniversary of our county. I believe that they should be better stewards of their donor dollars,” he said.
Vanata already has a lifetime park pass, but said he’d still like to have a 2026 America the Beautiful pass.
“I would love one of these passes just to say I have one. What a neat memento,” he said.
All About Trump’s Ego?
Fralick said that as he sees it, Trump’s picture on the passes is just another example of the president’s inflated ego.
He likened it to the recent move to rename the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as the Trump Kennedy Center.
“I really have no issue with the image of a president being on these passes. But they usually do such things posthumously,” he said.
Putting the face of a “living, sitting president” on the passes seems like self-aggrandizement on Trump’s part, he said.
Numerous recent social media posts show people coming up with ways to cover Trump’s image without altering the passes or sticking anything directly to them.
Those included some people offering plastic sleeves for the passes for sale.
Fralick said he usually purchases annual park passes and plans to get one for 2026.
Although he’s not happy about Trump’s picture, he doesn’t think he’ll buy a sleeve to cover it.
“I’m not a fan of the current president, but I don’t know if I’d go out of my way to get something like that,” he said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
