Mother Jones illustration; Freedom 250
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The Trump administration is ordering National Park Service employees to wear pins promoting Freedom 250, a semi-private group that the president has used to turn celebrations of the country’s 250th anniversary into what critics call a partisan party for himself. Several NPS employees told me that they were even threatened with professional reprimands if they refused to don the lapel pins at events celebrating the Declaration of Independence.
These orders were issued verbally by local supervisors at various Park Service offices in the last few weeks, according to emails reviewed by Mother Jones and accounts from NPS employees who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
“When I asked if I would receive any disciplinary action if I chose not to wear the pin, I was told, ‘Yes,’” one person said. “I chose not to continue the conversation after that.”
These mandates for Freedom 250 flair may seem reminiscent of the 1999 satire Office Space. But in the case of the Park Service, they are very real orders that come as part of Trump’s push for an anniversary celebration that appears to have a vanishing connection to the actual ideas behind the American Revolution.
Trump’s semiquincentennial events have included a massive military parade on his 79th birthday, followed by a crypto-sponsored UFC fight on the White House lawn for his 80th. The next day, Trump announced that the July 4 celebration on the National Mall, the marquee event of the 250th anniversary, would feature a “TRUMP RALLY.”
The July 4 bash is being organized by Freedom 250. Trump advisers created that group late last year to seize control of anniversary planning, after becoming frustrated with America250, a separate organization created by Congress a decade ago to plan anniversary commemorations. America250 is legally required to hold bipartisan events and report to a congressionally appointed commission, which includes Democrats. While America250 was pliant enough to organize Trump’s military parade, the organization raised objections when Trump insisted on increasingly partisan and garish events. Those disputes led the administration to launch Freedom 250—an alternative entity that Trump could effectively control—a person familiar with the decision told me.
The establishment of Freedom 250 has allowed Trump to more easily plan events that double as campaign rallies, to privately raise funds from corporations seeking influence with the administration, and to avoid disclosing exactly how much all this is costing US taxpayers. Consequently, NPS employees say that wearing Freedom 250 pins amounts to a partisan declaration, akin to donning a MAGA hat, or worse.
“Knowing the difference between the congressionally-mandated group and Trump/Project 2025’s personal, political grift-machine, the little lapel pin takes on the historical weight of a collaborator’s badge,” said one NPS employee. “Some within my division have taken to calling it the ‘Vichy Pin.’”
Critics also contend that mandating that pins be worn by feds, who are barred from engaging in partisan political activity while on the job, is illegal.
“Requiring NPS personnel, uniformed or not, to wear a pin displaying the trademarked logo of Freedom 250, LLC is unlawful, full stop.”
“Requiring NPS personnel, uniformed or not, to wear a pin displaying the trademarked logo of Freedom 250, LLC is unlawful, full stop,” said Tim Whitehouse, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a watchdog group. “In addition to violating the rights of the employees, any such requirement also likely lines the pockets of Trump-affiliated vendors who supply the Freedom 250 pins, with federal funds.”
Freedom 250 has a complex setup that has led Democrats to describe it as a dark money group. It’s a limited liability corporation operating under the National Park Foundation, a nonprofit partner of the National Park Service. Freedom 250 is spending taxpayer dollars, but it has not submitted to congressional oversight.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who oversees the Park Service, has eagerly supported Trump’s anniversary agenda. And despite recently claiming ignorance of how Freedom 250 came to operate under his department, Burgum has tasked the Park Service with supporting the group’s plans.
In January, administration officials began sidelining America250, including by redirecting funds appropriated to the group to Freedom 250 instead. At the same time, NPS instructed workers to start promoting the new group, exclusively.
The agency told its employees to replace “America250” references and logos displayed online with Freedom 250 insignia. “Freedom 250 was launched by President Donald J. Trump and is the Administration’s primary branding for the celebration of America’s 250th anniversary,” an Interior Department guidance document explained.
In an April 13 memo to National Park superintendents and senior agency officials, Charles Cuvelier, an NPS associate director, wrote that “all non-uniformed and administrative employees” in the agency “are highly encouraged” to wear Freedom 250 pins. The memo also “authorized” uniformed NPS employees to wear the pins—and instructed them on where to place them. “To maintain a professional and uniform appearance, the pin shall be worn centered and one-quarter inch above the name plate on the uniform shirt,” it explained.
“Wearing the pin serves as a mark of Esprit de Corps, demonstrating our collective pride and unity as we celebrate this semi-quincentennial anniversary,” Cuvelier wrote.
Although that memo stopped just short of demanding that NPS employees wear the pins, people who work at the agency said that many park superintendents and division chiefs have verbally ordered subordinates to put on the pins at anniversary-related events occurring at sites where they work. These officials said they were passing on orders from Washington, according to NPS sources.
This requirement does not seem to be wholly consistent across the agency. Some NPS staffers said they have not been ordered to wear the pins.
But elsewhere in the agency, supervisors told employees that refusal to wear the pins would result in an official reprimand, according to three NPS employees. For federal workers, written rebukes are part of an escalating scale of disciplinary actions that can lead to firing.
The Interior Department press office, which covers NPS, did not directly answer when asked if employees are required to wear Freedom 250 pins.
“Department of the Interior employees are excited to participate in our nation’s 250th,” a spokesperson said, adding: “It is bizarre that such a historic event celebrating our amazing country is being villainized by the liberal legacy media, but their TDS [Trump Derangement Syndrome] apparently forces them to try to divide the people of the greatest country in the world led by the greatest president in the history of our country.”
Oddly, the spokesperson also insisted that department employees were not being forced to purchase the pins with their own funds—something I had not asked about. “Any insinuation that employees were tasked with buying Freedom 250 pins is categorically false,” the spokesperson said. “These pins have been given to all Park employees free of charge to commemorate this landmark chapter in American history.”
The spokesperson did not say what the department had spent to provide the pins—versions of which sell online for $8 to $10 each—to its roughly 20,000 staffers.
But according to the NPS memo, those pins were provided by Ace Specialties. That’s a Louisiana-based company that touts its background selling Trump-campaign merchandise, “including the iconic MAGA hat.” The company bills itself as a premier provider of apparel “for Republicans.”
Ace’s CEO did not respond to questions about its business with the Park Service.
Another NPS missive notes that agency officials can contact Ace to purchase additional Freedom 250 pins for volunteers or employees. But they have to buy in bulk: “Orders must be placed in quantities of 100 or more.”
