Topline
The newest step in President Donald Trump’s “beautification” plan for the nation’s capital includes an aggressive push to cut down dozens of trees on federal land, and what started as a dispute over the administration’s ambitious redesign of the East Potomac golf course has evolved into a broader battle over public space and preservation.
Elbert Tse plays golf at the East Potomac Golf Links on May 3, 2026.
The Washington Post via Getty Images
Key Facts
The Washington Post this weekend reported more than 60 trees have been cut down at the East Potomac Golf Links in recent weeks, in some cases seriously impacting views from the historic public course.
A cherry tree near the 14th hole, two large sycamores on the fourth and dozens of others have been removed and stumps sit in their places, per the Post, part of a controversial plan by Trump to turn the course into a world-class, tournament-level venue.
Preservationists and environmental watchdogs have argued the tree removal violates standard federal review procedures, but they aren’t the first trees Trump has had chopped down in his second term.
Mature trees along the North and South Lawns of the White House have been cleared or heavily trimmed to make room for security perimeter expansions and Trump’s new ballroom.
Sources in July told the Post that renovation plans for Lafayette Square, a 7-acre park near the White House, show he wants the park to be home to 47 maple trees (his favorite tree symbolizing his role as the 47th president) but early work has already removed some existing trees and it’s unclear how many would ultimately need to come down.
On the grounds of the White House, critics have slammed Trump’s decision to pave over the 112-year-old Rose Garden, replacing dense flower beds and shade trees with a patio.
NEWS PEG
The removal of roughly 40 weeping willows on the upper terrace of the Kennedy Center started to go viral Tuesday. Critics called the trees “iconic” and Trump “pathetic” for removing them, but the trees were actually removed in October and have been replaced periodically (roughly every 10 to 15 years) throughout the Kennedy Center’s history. The trees are planted in shallow beds built over concrete decks, which give them a short lifespan and make them prone to decay and instability. Before the removal, one tree had fallen down during a storm and others were visibly dying.
WHAT IS TRUMP DOING TO THE EAST POTOMAC GOLF COURSE?
East Potomac Golf Links sits on Hains Point, a scenic peninsula in the Potomac River, and has been operating for more than 100 years as an affordable “golf course for the people.” It now has 36 holes across three courses (Blue, White and Red), a driving range and a historic mini-golf course. The Trump administration last May released plans to redesign the municipal course and make it an upscale, “championship-level” facility capable of hosting major PGA Tour events, the U.S. Open or the Ryder Cup. The White House frames the redesign as a way to “restore glamour and prestige” to D.C.’s waterfront, but critics have said it violates an 1897 Act of Congress requiring the park be strictly for the “recreation and pleasure of the general public.” They’ve also said the plan, which has been bundled with a $600 million National Park Service project to rebuild Hains Point’s crumbling seawall, ignores federal oversight and environmental rules. Recreational golfers and the D.C. Preservation League have sued the Trump administration over the plans.
BIG NUMBER
$48. That’s how much it costs to play the Blue Course, the primary 18-hole regulation course, at East Potomac during peak hours. That’s about on par with municipal courses across the country, but significantly less than what it costs to play at a members-only club, where monthly dues range from $1,200 to more than $2,500 per month after initiation fees that can reach into the hundreds of thousands.
Key background
Trump launched a broad campaign to reshape the visual landscape of D.C. through a March 2025 executive order titled “Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful.” High-profile initiatives span from the course overhaul to the expansion of the White House complex to include a new, $600 million ballroom. Other endeavors include lining the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool blue, constructing a proposed 250-foot “Independence Arch” at Memorial Circle and repainting or restoring federal fountains and bronze statues across the capital. While early statements claimed many of these efforts would rely strictly on private donations, updated federal disclosures reveal taxpayer costs across all D.C. makeover projects now top $1.2 billion. Substantial funding has been redirected directly from the National Park Service’s maintenance budgets and national park entrance fees, including a no-bid $13.1 million contract for the Reflecting Pool coating alone. The sweeping changes have sparked intense legal and public pushback, with federal lawsuits filed to halt almost all of them at one point or another.
Leave a comment