He built a ballroom for billionaires and sold off the Arctic.

It is day 41 of Trump and Republicans’ government shutdown.

Families are waiting for paychecks. SNAP nutrition assistance has been cut off. Health care costs are just getting higher.

And while millions of Americans scrape by, Trump is doing what he does best: taking care of himself and his billionaire buddies and using the Republican shutdown to fast-track favors for his biggest donors.

So far, his main priority has been building a $300 million gilded ballroom for himself, funded by corporations with federal contracts and crypto firms tied to his allies – the same people cashing in while the rest of the country waits for the government to reopen.

His newest priority: selling off the Arctic.

In just a matter of weeks, Trump greenlit vast drilling and road construction across one of the last untouched and pristine wildernesses on Earth, sacrificing critical ecosystems for Big Oil to plunder and threatening the Alaska Native communities that have defended these lands for generations.

In Trump’s America, The Arctic is For Sale

In Donald Trump’s mind, the Arctic belongs to him, not America. Trump has declared open season on Alaska’s public lands. Two weeks ago, the administration announced a plan to allow oil and gas drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, one of the largest remaining areas of pristine wilderness in the United States, despite the public’s outcries. The Department of Interior said it would hold oil and gas lease sales in 1.56 million acres of the Arctic Refuge’s Coastal Plain as soon as winter.

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge spans 19 million acres of mountains, rivers, and tundra at the top of the world. It’s one of the last places on the planet still ruled by nature – a landscape where polar bears den, caribou roam hundreds of miles, and migratory birds from every continent return each year. The 1.56-million-acre coastal plain is the heart of this ecosystem and one of the most ecologically sensitive places on Earth.

For the Gwich’in and Iñupiat peoples, this place is home. Their life and culture depend on the delicate balance of its wildlife and waters. And when that is threatened by the roar of drilling rigs, the rumble of trucks barreling down new ice highways, and the unnatural glow of floodlights across the tundra, their survival and traditions are too.

Trump’s decision to sacrifice the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for his Big Oil donors is nothing new. Time and time again, this administration has dismantled environmental protections and ignored tribal sovereignty to line the pockets of polluters.

And here’s the kicker: oil companies don’t even value it. The inconvenient truth is that oil and gas leases in the Arctic Refuge’s Coastal Plain have been outright rejected by major oil companies due to the economic, logistical, legal, and reputational challenges of drilling in remote, protected wilderness. A mandated sale in 2025 received no bidders, while major banks, insurers, and oil companies like ExxonMobil and Chevron have repeatedly refused to finance exploration and development in the Refuge. The result? These invaluable lands are going to be sold off for pennies on the dollar.

Trump and Republicans have made it clear they don’t care who gets hurt, as long as their donors benefit.

Trump’s Offensive Extends Across the Arctic

Across the Arctic, public lands are under attack by the Trump administration. During this shutdown alone, the Trump administration has:

• Reissued permits for the 211-mile Ambler Road. When constructed, it will carve through Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, a vast protected area home to fragile ecosystems and one of the largest caribou migrations on Earth.

• Advanced plans to open nearly all U.S. coasts, including in in the Arctic Ocean and northern Bering Sea off Alaska, to new offshore drilling.

• Conveyed nearly 23,600 acres near the Ambler corridor to the State of Alaska and announced a $35.6 million federal giveaway for a 10 percent stake in Trilogy Metals, a Canadian company with mining interests in the region.

• Finalized a land exchange with the King Cove Corporation to allow construction of a road through Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, one of North America’s most critical migratory bird habitats.

• Issued a call for nominations for a new oil and gas lease sale in the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska (NPR-A)—the first since 2019—covering at least 4 million acres as required by the Republican-passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

What Natural Resources Democrats are Doing

Trump’s Arctic crusade is a full-scale assault on some of the most ecologically sensitive and culturally important lands on Earth. One fueled by corporate greed and a President that could not care less about the history, science, ecosystems, and cultures that have shaped these lands and waters.

At a time when Indigenous peoples in Alaska are facing increasingly severe climate impacts, he continues to disregard the sovereignty and subsistence rights of Alaska Native communities who have defended these places since time immemorial.

While Trump continues to build his ballroom for billionaires, Democrats are fighting to keep food on the table, healthcare affordable, and America’s wild places protected for generations to come.