People are furious about a National Park selling Trump Wine — but they shouldn't be

pulse

November 22, 2017 7:02 PM

Outrage is brewing online over a Virginia national park selling wine from Trump Winery.

Trump Wine was spotted at a gift shop in Shenandoah National Park.
People were immediately convinced that Trump was using his position as president to boost sales at Trump Winery, which is run by his son.
However, the National Parks Service said that an independent company runs the park's gift shops.

Outrage is brewing online over a Virginia national park selling wine from Trump Winery.

While some are accusing Trump of using his presidency to enrich his family, it seems that the wine sales are separate from the national government.

Gift shops at the Shenandoah National Park were selling Trump Wine, E&E News reported on Tuesday.

"If this is the level of Trumpism at national parks, what other policy issues have that level of Trumpism?" Bill Snape, senior counsel at the Center for Biological Diversity, told E&E. "It just raises a number of disturbing and intriguing conflict-of-interest issues."

However, the National Parks Service provided a reasonable explanation for the wine.

A spokesperson told Business Insider that the wine in question was not sold by Shenandoah National Park, but instead by the park's concessioner, Delaware North Corporation.

"The concessioner has been selling wine from the distributor of this particular winery in Virginia for years," a spokesperson said in an email.

The spokesperson continued: "The National Park Service (NPS) authorizes concessioners to sell categories of retail goods and products like t-shirts, baseball hats, and in this case wine. However, the NPS does not specify what brands of these products should be sold."

Many people are still angry about the deal on social media.

Trump Winery, which is run by the president's son Eric, has received backlash following some of Trump's controversial political stances and actions. In February, there was a movement backed by a local chapter of the National Organization for Women to boycott Wegmans for selling Trump wine at Virginia locations.

In October, the NPS proposed a fee increase that would more than double how much it costs for people to enter Shenandoah and other popular national parks during busy times of the year. People visiting the park by car would have to pay $70 between June 1 and October 31, compared to the current price of $25.

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