Everything is illegal......

President Trump targets Presidio Trust in executive order

By Matthew Tom

The Presidio Trust, one of the agencies tasked with overseeing the 1,500-acre San Francisco park, has become the latest target of the Trump administration in its quest to reduce "the scope of the federal bureaucracy."

An executive order signed by President Donald Trump on Wednesday evening calls for the elimination of all spending and personnel at the Presidio Trust that is not required by law. The order, titled "Commencing the Reduction of Federal Bureaucracy" on the White House website, also includes the Inter-American Foundation, the United States African Development Foundation, and the United States Institute of Peace.

The order requires "the head of each unnecessary governmental entity" to report to the director of the Office of Management and Budget within 14 days to confirm compliance with the order, which was signed Wednesday, putting the deadline at March 5.

State Sen. Scott Wiener, who represents San Francisco and is a former member of the Board of Supervisors, reacted to the news of the executive order on X: 

"Trump is now trying to kill off the Presidio Trust in SF — a national treasure that’s transformed the Presidio into a self-sustaining, world-class park," Wiener wrote. "Trump is so vile that he can’t tolerate success if it doesn’t benefit him personally.

"This move is illegal. We won’t go quietly."

The Presidio sits on the ancestral land of the indigenous Ohlone people. Beginning in 1776, it served as an outpost for the Spanish empire; Mexico later took control, and lastly the U.S. Army. Finally, in 1994, the Presidio officially became a part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Congress created the Presidio Trust to manage the park, along with the National Parks Service, in 1996.