It was early November in 1972, just days before the presidential election that would have Richard Nixon win in a landslide over George McGovern from South Dakota, despite widespread political unrest and the war in Vietnam still raging.
And for many Native Americans, the federal government wasn’t the solution to their problems, it was the root of their problems. This dissatisfaction resulted in the formation of the American Indian Movement (AIM), which occupied the Alcatraz penitentiary in San Francisco from November 1969 to June 1971.
AIM then organized a protest called the “Trail of Broken Treaties,” during which more than 500 Native Americans from across the country showed up at the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) building in Washington, D.C. and took over the offices. For six days, the building was occupied until supplies ran out, patience wore thin and the protestors exited the building, taking with them thousands of documents and a pledge from the government that it would consider the 20 items on their list of demands.
Ironically, Richard Nixon did more for Native Americans than any president before him. He was the first to return land to tribes, along with generous settlements. He appointed the first Native American to head the BIA—Mohawk citizen Louis Bruce—and doubled its budget. Most importantly, he ended the government’s “termination” plan, which was designed to dismantle Native government and eliminate reservations.
In subsequent years, the federal attitude toward Native Americans has ebbed and flowed depending upon the administrations. The Biden administration appointed the first Native American to head the entire Department of the Interior, Deb Haaland, a citizen of the Pueblo of Laguna of New Mexico.
So, since Donald Trump returned to power as a result of the 2024 elections, there have been conflicting views of what he might do to—and for—Indian Country.
Grants and Loans
Jana McKeag, president of Lowry Strategies
Transitions between administrations can often be uneven and uncomfortable. Jana McKeag, president of Lowry Strategies, and one of the original members of the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) in the early 1990s, along with Chairman Tony Hope and Joel Franks, has seen many such transitions.
“This transition is going to be different from other transitions,” she says, “because you usually don’t walk in and then fire people right away. You just don’t go in and slash and burn. The probationary people are low-hanging fruit, because they don’t have protections that permanent employees have. But you look at performance evaluations before you do that, and you do fire the people who are not doing their jobs.”
One of the first things the Trump administration did was to empower the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to go through the books in every department to determine where the money is going. To effectively identify wasteful spending, the administration froze all federal expenditures on grants and loans. Since tribal governments largely depend upon federal funding, this could be problematic for them depending upon how long the freeze lasts.
Mark Vargas, strategic communications and government affairs consultant
Mark Vargas is a strategic communications and government affairs adviser who works with tribes and organizations in Washington, D.C. He hopes the freeze won’t last long.
“American Indian tribal governments are working with the administration to unfreeze federal grant funding under the Office of Management and Budget memorandum rescinding the federal freeze,” he explains.
“National organizations like the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) and the Coalition of Large Tribes (COLT) are working with the Congress to document where grants may still be blocked. But the main message from Indian Country is to work with the administration and the Congress, and continue to highlight that Indian programs are based on the federal trust responsibility to Indian tribes, which in turn is based on Indian treaty rights and statutes.”
John Tahsuda is a principal with Navigators Global, an advisory firm in the nation’s capital, and former first deputy assistant secretary in the Office of Indian Affairs under the first Trump administration.
“A majority of tribal funding is self-governance funding,” he says. “That’s primarily contracts, so you can make some changes, but if the federal government goes too far, then you get liability. So I’m assuming that they’re going to treat that as contract services. And the majority of funding is really for basic services—police, fire, health and some other basic government functions. Hopefully, those will get cleared at some point. There will be a short-term impact, however.”
Naming Names
The appointments of North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum as secretary of the interior, and William “Billy” Kirkland III to serve as assistant secretary for Indian Affairs, were well received in Indian Country.
“Former Governor Burgum had a very good relationship with the tribes in his state,” says McKeag. “He understands tribal programs, tribal needs, tribal sovereignty and treaties. And Kirkland is a Navajo who understands how government works.”
Vargas says Burgum’s nomination was met with overwhelming enthusiasm from Indian Country governments, including the five tribes based in North Dakota.
“According to both Secretary Burgum and the five tribes, the relationship was an open-door and positive relationship particularly with respect to their gaming compact negotiations, which were successful,” he says.
John Tahsuda, principal with Navigators Global
Tahsuda confirms that Burgum was a popular choice among tribal leaders.
“My understanding is that he had well over 200 tribal support letters that were sent during his nomination journey,” he says. “That’s a huge number. That sounds like a lot of folks were positive and hopeful about his time as secretary.”
And he’s enthusiastic about Kirkland, who worked in the previous Trump administration.
“It’s great to have somebody that’s going to lead the Indian Affairs hallway who has his own connections to help bring support and attention to the priorities of Indian affairs,” says Tahsuda.
McKeag also believes both appointments are good for Indian Country but has other areas of concern.
“I don’t know from day to day what we can expect from this administration,” she says. “I do have some issues to consider, and one is the NIGC, because under Biden we had only two commissioners, no chairman. We haven’t had a chairman since Sequoia (Simermeyer) left. Jeannie Hovland was a Republican selection. (Acting Chair) Sharon Avery is a Democrat and the required tribal member. So that leaves one position open. They could select a white, non-Indian Republican. And God knows what that would do.”
Biden Bids
In the waning days of the Biden administration, the Interior Department OK’d three separate off-reservation land-into-trust rulings—the Coquille Indian Tribe, the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians, and the Koi Nation. The decisions were controversial because not only some of the local communities opposed them, but some neighboring tribes also disputed the idea that the lands were part of their former range.
McKeag believes the Trump administration will take another look.
“They’re clearly off reservation,” she admits, “but I understand why (former BIA head) Brian Newland made a lot of those kinds of decisions, just like Kevin Washburn did under the Obama administration. And those two gentlemen were very good assistant secretaries for Indian Affairs overall. But I think they opened up a bit of a can of worms. That’s a slippery slope to commercial gaming.”
Tahsuda agrees, but thinks it might be hard to reverse.
“In general, there are a lot of late decisions as an administration is winding down,” he says. “And when it comes to gaming land decisions, each of them really stands on its own. They have to be examined on their own merits, and the law that applies to them. I do think that, in the waning days of the last administration, they really were stretching the rules as applied even in prior Democratic administrations. But if the land already went into trust, then reversing those decisions becomes much more difficult.”
Vargas says it’s really too late to challenge.
“These decisions are final and will stand in the Trump administration,” he says. “The Trump Department of Justice is already defending in federal court challenges to the Coquille tribe and Koi Nation record of decisions.”
On the other hand, President Trump showed support during his campaign for the bid of the Lumbee tribe of South Carolina for federal recognition, a process that can take—and has taken—decades. The president issued an executive order for Secretary Burgum to come up with a plan to give the Lumbees that recognition.
Vargas believes the tribe has a good case.
“Each individual recognition case is unique, but the executive order for the North Carolina Lumbee tribe does indicate a friendly terrain for examining recognition petitions,” he says.
As for other tribes seeking recognition, Tahsuda doesn’t believe the Lumbee decision would affect their bids.
“There’s a relatively small group that has gone through the process over the years,” he says. “But where those decisions were made, they were very close. And recently there were changes in the regulations, so there’s no way for them to get reconsidered under the new, somewhat looser rules.
“It was actually the intent of Congress and of the department when the regulations for recognition were established, that when you had a close call, the agency could say maybe Congress should make this decision. So right now, probably the easiest thing is legislation. But if the president supports it, then that would be great.”
Engaging Energy
With the “drill, baby, drill” philosophy of the Trump team, tribes that have been handcuffed by environmental regulations in their attempts to access energy on reservation lands should be happy, says Vargas.
“There are a large number of energy-producing tribes that will welcome federal support to remove and streamline leasing barriers.”
McKeag agrees.
“One of the priorities of the Trump administration is energy, and he’s trying to move away from clean energy,” she explains. “This isn’t a gaming-related issue, but it’s been more difficult for tribes to dig and market their natural resources, particularly if there happens to be an energy company in a facility close to a reservation. There have been so many obstacles. That would be beneficial to a lot of them, because many of them happen to be the less fortunate tribes in remote locations.”
Tahsuda believes that the energy-related tribes will welcome the new administration.
“The focus on energy is great,” he says. “That’s something that we did in the first Trump administration. It seems pretty clear that would be a huge benefit to Indian Country. Those tribes that have energy resources were really just put on the sidelines for the last four years. So I think helping them out will help a lot of tribes, and tribes that don’t have gaming really depend on those resources.
Cause for Concern?
While the Trump administration has ramped up very quickly in many areas, it’s still somewhat unclear how the second Trump term will impact tribes.
McKeag is taking a wait-and-see approach.
“I think it’s going to be a mixed bag,” she says. “But we still have powerful tribal advocates on the Hill, people like Senator Tom Cole and Congressman Ken Calvert. So I think we’ll be all right.
Tahsuda reflects on his time with Interior in the first term.
“In the first administration I thought we were received very well,” he says. “When you also consider the White House Intergovernmental Office, they actually welcomed the tribes coming directly to them.”
Vargas doesn’t see any reason to worry, but believes there is a lot of hard work ahead.
“Given the federal government’s long history of mistreatment of tribal nations over decades, tribal nations are wise to build strong relationships with every new administration,” he recommends.
“The best opportunities for tribes will be to link and maximize their goals of economic development, improved health care and energy development with the goals of the Trump administration. Additionally, the Coalition of Large Tribes enthusiastically supported both Secretary Burgum and Secretary Kennedy’s confirmations, indicating a new level of enthusiasm with this new administration.”
