On Monday, President Trump issued one of his final executive orders that calls for the establishment of a "National Garden of American Heroes," what Business Insider describes as a collection of "statues of an eclectic range of candidates" that Trump first mentioned last summer. (By "eclectic," think Christopher Columbus set in a landscape alongside Whitney Houston, Kobe Bryant, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.) But as people have started to analyze the list of nearly 250 luminaries on Trump's list—which includes athletes, authors, TV and film stars, and historical figures, among others—the garden that's meant to "reflect the awesome splendor of our country's timeless exceptionalism" is receiving some criticism for its makeup. Specifically, Axios ran the stats and found that male candidates outnumber the women at a nearly 4-to-1 rate.
Most notably missing: female athletes, Mike Freeman notes for USA Today. Not a single one, though Muhammad Ali, Jackie Robinson, and Babe Ruth all get a nod, as well as 10 other male athletes and coaches. "An argument could be made that Serena Williams is the greatest athlete this country's ever produced," Freeman writes, also scratching his head over why Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, Simone Biles, Megan Rapinoe, and others weren't possibilities. Historian Michael Beschloss thinks the entire garden is a terrible idea, telling Axios: "No president of the United States or federal government has any business dictating [to] us citizens who our historical heroes should be." Where the statue garden would be located hasn't yet been mentioned, but NPR notes it may all be a moot point anyway, as it doesn't see the garden ever coming to fruition. Read the full list of candidates here. (More strange stuff stories.)
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