David Axe

What happened today was a blitzkrieg on a public park. A cherished DMV space. If you are not livid about the circumstances that led up to this and what exactly the Federal government did in the past 24 hours I don’t know what to tell you. Let’s do a quick timeline: 1. Last night, a Friday before a long weekend, at 5PM, government lawyers filed a notice that tree cutting would begin in earnest today. The stated reason was a pretext - apparently fulfilling a 2019 Cultural Landscape Review on East Potomac. This was clearly an excuse to bring the gangs in. For months the government has stated there is no plan, nothing has been decided, going to follow the law. Ya, right. 2. At 5:30AM this morning, 3-4 dozen workers assembled at East Potomac Park. The blitzkrieg began shortly thereafter. They were given clear orders to fell as many trees as possible. 3. For hours, from 6AM until 4PM today, nothing but chainsaws. Healthy trees, old trees, all would come down. No clear estimate for the extent but at least 100 trees came down. The devastation is apparent. Entire groves cleared. Not a single animal on the peninsula. Not a sound aside from the roar of chainsaws. Earth ripped to pieces. Anybody that thinks it is acceptable to shred public lands to appeal to the vanity of the President of the United States needs their head examined. We have been sounding the alarm on this for months. For months we knew this day would come. Where the President would, under dubious legal pretexts, sic his goons on a beloved public space. This is not a local issue. This is fundamentally a question of if we the people own our public lands or the temporary resident of the White House does. @jamie_raskin @JaredHuffman @DonBeyerVA @glenniveymd @MarkWarner @AlsobrooksForMD @timkaine @ChrisVanHollen