President Donald Trump has not acknowledged Martin Luther King Jr. Day through any public statements, proclamations, or activities. It’s a departure from his first term and his predecessors.
National parks reduce free admission on MLK Day, add President Trump’s birthday
Americans will get free admission to national parks on President Donald Trump’s birthday, but will not be able to enter on Juneteenth Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
President Donald Trump has broken with the tradition of past presidents, including his own first term, to recognize January 19, 2026, as Martin Luther King Jr. Day through any public statement, proclamation, or activity.
The federal holiday honoring the slain civil rights leader’s anti-racism efforts falls on the third Monday in January.
Trump spent the day at his Mar-a-Lago residence. He is scheduled to play in the National College Football Championship in Miami tonight.
The White House did not immediately respond to a question on Jan. 19 asking if President Trump intended to recognize the day or recognize Dr. King’s accomplishments.
President Trump’s only social media post on the morning of January 19 called for voter ID requirements, a measure opposed by civil rights groups because racial minorities are less likely to have state-issued identification. After being contacted by USA TODAY, White House social media accounts posted about ICE and Trump’s accomplishments in his first year in office.
Congress established Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but only Congress can cancel its official observances. President Ronald Reagan signed the Royal Holiday Act on November 2, 1983, designating the third Monday in January as a federal holiday in honor of the civil rights leader.
President Trump is the first president to not issue a formal proclamation recognizing Martin Luther King Jr. Day since President Reagan made it a national holiday.
Most presidents, including Trump in his first term, also recognized the holiday through acts of service, memorial services, speeches and the laying of flowers at the King Memorial on the National Mall.
For example, in 2023, President Joe Biden gave a speech at Martin Luther King Jr.’s church. In 2008, then-President George W. Bush spoke at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, DC. In 2007, Bush volunteered for a day at a local high school.
President Trump’s return to the White House on January 20, 2025 was a historic coincidence as Inauguration Day coincided with Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Then-President Joe Biden signed the proclamation before leaving office.
President Trump has made rolling back diversity, equity, and inclusion programs a key priority of his second administration.
Last year, the Pentagon suspended its observance of Black History Month, and this year the Trump administration removed Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth Day from the National Park Service’s free day lineup (and added Trump’s birthday instead).
Trump celebrated the holiday during his first term. Before his inauguration in 2017, Trump called on Americans to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day and “celebrate all the great things that he represented” just before meeting Martin Luther King III at Trump Tower.
Although he signed an official declaration in 2018, he was criticized for not appearing in public.
President Trump subsequently signed the proclamation in 2019 and 2020, and on holidays he visited the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C., and laid flowers. He also signed a declaration before retiring in 2021.
President Trump’s latest proclamation, signed on January 16, recognizes Religious Freedom Day. This is the third declaration he has signed since the beginning of the year.
