A Guardian journalist has reported on the glories of Donald J. Trump State Park in New York state. There are some lovely state parks in New York; Donald J. Trump State Park is apparently not one of them.
It's actually just a couple of tracts of muddy, overgrown wasteland, about an hour or so north of New York City, straddling Putnam and Westchester counties. It's not easy to find - signage disappears after one on Taconic State Parkway - and, if you do find it, there's not much there, other than an empty gravel patch that serves as a parking lot, and a noticeboard warning against ticks. There is not even a bench or a trash can. A half-hearted attempt to develop it as a dog park was abandoned some years ago after asbestos was found in the decaying structures on the land. I guess it never did turn into "one of the most beautiful parks anywhere in the world" as Trump predicted back in 2006, when he donated the land to New York state.
Because this was surplus land that Trump couldn't make any money out of. His initial plans to build a golf course foundered when permission was refused on environmental grounds. So, Trump donated it to the state so that they could get the maintemamce bills and he could get the tax write-offs. He did, of course, specify that the land should always bear his glorious name. And now New York is stuck with it, although they are too embarrassed to actually list it along with their other state parks.
You can see it as an ironic statement on the state of Trump's America. Or you can see it as a piece of polluted wasteland. Luckily, you will probably never be able to find it anyway, so you may not have to see it.
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