The Corner

The president wants a championship course on public land at East Potomac Golf Links.

Donald Trump wants to turn a historic public golf course in Washington, D.C., into a championship venue capable of hosting major tournaments. But plans seen during a recent site tour show a redesign that could come at the expense of historic cherry trees, a popular riverside bike trail, mini golf, and other public recreation on Hains Point.

Trump toured the federally owned East Potomac Golf Links on June 28 with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, White House aides, and golf course architects Tom and Gavin Fazio. He later said the renovation would begin Sept. 1 and that the course could eventually host the U.S. Open, Ryder Cup, PGA Championship, and other major golf events.

The tournament pitch is only part of the story. The larger issue is what the redesign could remove from Hains Point.

What the Plans Show

Photos from Trump’s tour showed a far larger overhaul than federal officials have publicly released. The photographed drawings appear to stretch the redesigned golf course across nearly the entire East Potomac peninsula and omit several existing public amenities, including the riverside bike trail, the miniature golf course, and a historic grove of cherry trees.

If built as shown, the redesign would reduce East Potomac from its current three-course, 36-hole layout to a single 18-hole championship course. It would also expand golf into roughly 50 acres of parkland now used for picnicking, fishing, cycling, and other recreation.

What Will It Cost?

The administration has not released a firm public price tag for the East Potomac redesign. A May agreement said the renovation would be supported by private contributions, and court filings indicated Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum intended to raise as much as $150 million in charitable contributions for D.C.’s public golf courses.

That still leaves unanswered questions. Trump has said the project will be built through the Interior Department, and court filings indicate the National Park Service may manage and execute the East Potomac renovation under its own authority. The available record doesn’t clearly spell out how much public money, staff time, maintenance funding, environmental review, or park infrastructure spending would be tied to the project.

A Public Golf Course With a Public History

East Potomac is a public golf complex on federal land administered by the National Park Service. D.C.’s public golf courses were built in the early 20th century for people who could not afford private clubs. Crews built the first 18 holes at East Potomac from 1918 to 1923, from a design by Walter J. Travis. The course also played a role in efforts to desegregate the city’s public golf courses in 1941.

The East Potomac Park Mini Golf Course was built in 1931 and is one of the oldest continually operating miniature golf courses in the United States.

The Cherry Trees Have Their Own History

The cherry trees at East Potomac are part of D.C.’s cherry blossom history. The 1912 gift of cherry trees from Japan led to plantings around the Tidal Basin and East Potomac Park. From 1913 to 1920, workers planted Yoshino trees around the Tidal Basin and planted the remaining Yoshinos and 11 other varieties in East Potomac Park.

The first photo is from 1956. It shows a Black woman watching members of the Ku Klux Klan (a terrorist, racist, far-right organization focused on white supremacy) walking along a sidewalk in Montgomery, Alabama (USA). I couldn't find the photo's author, but most sources state that it was taken in 1956.

The second photo shows members of the Patriot Front group (a white supremacist and nationalist group, formed in 2017, that openly advocates what they call "American Fascism") traveling on the subway during the 250th anniversary of the U.S. independence in Washington D.C., while a Black woman watches them. The photo is by photographer Cheney Orr, taken on July 4, 2026, 70 years after the first photo.

the THB are literally prerolled characters. they’d DESIGNED to be stereotypical, so that’s how they start, and then by the fucking end, you have a cleric who only became one because he came from a religious background but doesn’t have any actual faith in it until that faith is earned over the course of a whole campaign. a cleric who was a shitty father and husband, who resists being the moral compass he’s supposed to be at every turn, who treats religion, the literal basis of his class, like a necessary inconvenience. and then by the end of balance, we’re rewarded with a better father, a kinder man, and someone who has the personal love and favor of his god cuz he fucking. earned it. THAT’S dope character shit, THAT’S unique, Clint is a goddamn master.

Republicans are evil. Thoroughly and completely evil.

I would say they should be ashamed of the comparisons to pirates and terrorists, but they are incapable of feeling shame for harming the children of non-white, non Christian people. They are proud and gleeful in their cruelty to others. This is not hyperbole.

Some nights even filling up the kettle and setting an empty mug out for my morning tea felt hard. But I was always thankful for it in the morning.

Other nights, one thing would lead to another, and I’d wake up in a clean house with everything ready to go.

And, on a rare few nights, the one thing that I could do to make my morning easier was going straight to bed and allowing myself to rest.