They claim to be running out of money, but just miles from the glitz of the Vegas Strip, a billboard styled like a vintage postcard from Death Valley delivers a grim message: “Heat deaths rise. Safety staff cut. Made possible by D.O.G.E.” The warning isn’t a gimmick—it’s part of a sweeping, multi-state campaign by More Perfect Union, a labor advocacy group aiming to sound the alarm over federal staffing cuts quietly hollowing out the National Park Service, reports NBC News.
The acronym D.O.G.E.—short for Department of Government Efficiency—refers to the agency behind a series of so-called “streamlining reforms” championed by the Trump administration and praised by fiscal conservatives. But in practical terms, the result has been the exit of 2,500 Park Service employees nationwide—13% of its workforce—via buyouts, early retirements, and resignations, according to the National Parks Conservation Association. The billboards, 300 in total, span battleground states like Arizona, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Nevada, where 19 are now visible in Las Vegas and Reno alone.
Targeting #DOGE, labor group puts up billboards warning of heat deaths at national parks https://t.co/qe4a0G3mWk pic.twitter.com/voSedRumA3
— WV Federation of Democratic Women (@WVFDW) June 2, 2025
The campaign arrives just as a punishing early heat wave sends temperatures soaring above 115°F in Death Valley, intensifying the dangers for tourists drawn to its otherworldly landscape. With fewer rangers on patrol, More Perfect Union founder Faiz Shakir warns that heat exhaustion could turn fatal. “Rangers are the ones who help if you’re overcome by heat,” Shakir said. “These cuts could put lives at risk.”
But More Perfect Union’s real target isn’t the Park Service—it’s the broader public philosophy behind DOGE: a vision of government that is smaller, leaner, and, critics say, less capable. By using national parks—a rare institution with 76% bipartisan favorability, according to Pew—as the focal point, the group hopes to put faces and consequences to what might otherwise sound like a budget line item.
With peak tourism season just weeks away, the billboards aren’t just provocative—they’re prescient. Whether they spark policy change or political backlash remains to be seen. But one thing is clear: the cuts are no longer invisible.
Liberals have become increasingly obsessed with claiming that any cut to the federal workforce will spell disaster. In response to the Trump administration’s push to streamline the federal government, Democrats in Congress have launched websites to collect complaints from federal workers and whistleblowers who claim to be harmed by recent policy changes.
More recently, New York Times writer David Brooks made the outlandish claim that the cuts, which have simultaneously been labeled minimal by Trump critics, has killed 300,000 people.
Once again, lunatics like NYT/PBS David Brooks don’t really believe the things they say. They say these ridiculous things because they want attention from their low-IQ, weak minded audience who actually do believe their rambling nonsense.
— Liberals Leaving 🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲 (@LiberalsLeaving) June 1, 2025
The number, of course, is not true, and USAID was caught funneling money to leftwing activist groups around the world, including the United States.
