Donald Trump's Fragile Ego Prompts National Park Service To Declare War On Stickers
If you've ever thought that Donald Trump has shown his ego to be as fragile as he can, he'll manage to defy your expectations. Just look at what he's done with the annual resident pass for America's national parks for 2026. To start, he put his face on the $80 passes, right next to George Washington's. Trump used the official White House portrait that minimized any appearance of his wispy hair or the loose skin around his neck. Some National Park Pass holders weren't happy with seeing his face, so they started covering it with stickers. But now, if you do that, it could make your park pass invalid.
Visitors seemed to plan to cover Trump's image, which was set to start appearing on passes on January 1, despite legal challenges. https://t.co/4dP7d9suzh
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) January 7, 2026
SFGATE got hold of an internal email within the National Park Service, which told employees: "Defacing the pass in any way, including writing on it or adding stickers or other coverings, is a form of altering the pass. Altering a pass can cover up important information and required security features necessary to prevent fraud." The security features on the card don't seem to include the photo of Trump himself, though we could be wrong about that. But if his face is integral to the security of the card, it would be helpful for the Interior Department to confirm. Because without that confirmation, this update comes off as nothing more than a punitive, childish response to people not wanting to look at Trump's face.
Social media uproar over the protection of Trump's face on the National Park Pass
Of course, the Department of the Interior hasn't admitted that banning stickers on the National Park Passes has anything to do with the fact that Donald Trump's face is on them. They told SFGATE that the update was just "additional clarification," and National Park Service staff do have some freedom in deciding whether a sticker is problematic or not.
Despite what the Interior Department has said, people aren't buying it. One person on X (formerly Twitter) posted, "What a profoundly visible demonstration of how he degrades everything he touches." Another said, "Nothing screams 'preserving our natural wonders' like airbrushing your own scowl onto them." Others were just baffled. One questioned, "Why specifically is Trump pictured with [Washington]? George had nothing to do with national parks as far as I know, which of course weren't established till much later."
People have come up with other solutions that would get around the no sticker policy. That includes a clear sleeve, so the card itself remains undefaced. Artist and national park volunteer Jenny McCarty of Sage Leaf Studio in Boulder, Colorado is one person who's provided some workarounds for pass holders, including stickers to put on the plastic sleeves that fit with the style of the card. McCarty is donating the sticker proceeds to national park nonprofits, per Outside.
Trump's administration could be in legal trouble over the picture of his face
Typically, the image that's put on the National Park Pass is the winner of a photo contest. This year's winner was a picture of Glacier National Park; however, someone decided Donald Trump would be a better look. We wouldn't put it past it being Trump himself who made the call; after all, Trump's ego is so big that he tore down the East Wing to build a ballroom as a monument to himself. Interestingly, the non-resident annual pass as shown on Recreation.gov shows the winning Glacier National Park photo. Whether that's because the website hasn't been updated or if Trump's face really doesn't show on those, we're not 100% sure.
Trump's change to the park pass could potentially be illegal and The Center for Biological Diversity has filed a lawsuit. In it, they argue that adding Trump's face has "violated the [Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act's] requirements for public participation, along with its conservation, recreational, and educational purposes, by unlawfully turning the Annual America the Beautiful Pass into a partisan political platform for President Trump."
Trump on a National Park Pass seems at least a bit hypocritical given what his administration has done to the national parks. Trump has worked for cuts to national park funding. He's requested an update to signage that his admin thinks depicts America or certain historic figures in a bad light. And Trump has made his birthday a free day to enter the parks, but he also cut Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth as free days.