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| - A rumor that U.S. President Donald Trump raised the price of admission to national parks on Martin Luther King Day and Juneteenth — two holidays that celebrate Black history in the U.S. — circulated online in December 2025. For example, an X user posted the claim on Dec. 9 (archived):
(X user @TheRealThelmaJ1)
The post shared a statement designed to look as if it came from the White House. It read:
THE WHITE HOUSE
PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP
For too long Americans have had to suffer with the made up holidays known as "Martin Luther King Day" and "Juneteenth." That's why President Trump has removed these as "free admission" days from the National Park Calendar and he has directed the Park Service to raise the "usual rate" by five dollars on those dates. The money will be used to help put the 10 Commandments in schools where they belong!
Delivering for America!
The same graphic circulated widely, with one X user sharing it and calling the decision "evil."
Some readers seemed to interpret the rumor as a factual recounting of real-life events, but there was no evidence Trump had decided to increase the price of admission to national parks on those days.
It is true that the Department of the Interior announced a list of "resident-only patriotic fee-free days for 2026" for no-cost access to national parks. Unlike previous years, this list did not include Martin Luther King Day on Jan. 19 and Juneteenth on June 19. Instead, the list included June 14, which is both Flag Day and Trump's birthday. Both Martin Luther King Day and Juneteenth are federal holidays, while Flag Day is not. Still, nothing indicated the price would be higher than the usual price of admission on those days.
Instead, this was a satirical rumor. It originated with @TheRealThelmaJ1 — an X account that describes its output as humorous or satirical. Its bio states: "My son says I'm a parody."
The Phoenix New Times, an independent news outlet, named @TheRealThelmaJ1 the "Best Political Parody Twitter" in 2023 (Twitter is the former name of X). Many of the account's other posts appeared to be satirical.
Snopes has addressed similar satirical claims from this social media account in the past, including the assertion that Trump proposed a 15-year car loan and another that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said babies absorb Tylenol residue from the esophagus.
For background, here is why we alert readers to rumors created by sources that call their output humorous or satirical.
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