> Is there a single person who things Trump gives a single damn about the birds? It is obviously just a pretext.

This can be seen by the changes to the interpretation of the 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) his administration made in 2017 during his first term.

Briefly, they said it only prohibited intentional killing of birds. So say I wanted to pave over some wetlands that are a crucial nesting grounds for some birds that are covered by the MBTA to build a parking lot.

Before, the near universal interpretation of the MBTA by nearly everyone in any of the countries that are a party to the treaty (US, Canada, Mexico, Japan, and Russia) was that I can't put my parking lot there.

Under the Trump interpretation as long as I'm not building my parking lot there to intentionally kill the birds I can do it.

This was overturned in court in 2020. Just before leaving office in 2021 they tried to again make that the interpretation.