It was not par for the course. Word started to spread when golfers in D.C. noticed trees being taken down at a beloved public golf course, East Potomac Golf Links—especially a distinctive and much admired cherry tree on the 14th hole.
Cherry trees are iconic in the nation’s capital. When a number of them had to be removed two years ago from the nearby Tidal Basin, a scraggly survivor, dubbed Stumpy, won the nation’s hearts, to the point where its cuttings were used to grow genetic clones.
Two large sycamores were also reported downed at the fourth hole, and things “snowballed” on social media, says Rebecca Miller, executive director of the DC Preservation League, the group that is suing to stop President Trump’s takeover of the golf course—which he wants to renovate for his rich friends’ championship tournaments. The president had already consulted with a well-known golf course architect, Tom Fazio, and was seen waving his plans around as he toured the course, rhapsodizing about how great it would be after his renovation.
The Washington Post has reported that more than 60 trees had been taken down. Golfers and other course lovers are on alert to detect activity that is more than routine.
“We’re asking the public, if they see something, to say something,” Miller told the Daily Beast. And they are. Videos show a bulldozer on the course in possible violation of a federal judge’s order that no equipment larger than a sedan be allowed on the property, and that no more than ten trees could be taken down while there is litigation.
A hearing on Thursday is a “status conference” to address possible violations; Judge Ana C. Reyes, who is skeptical of the government’s intentions to secure the necessary approvals, will want clarity on contracts that may have already been signed—and has previously said she does not want to “wait for the bulldozers” to see what Trump was planning. DOJ lawyers are ready with the same flimflam they’ve offered on other projects when Trump barrels ahead despite restrictions that should curtail him.
Trump’s government said there’s nothing to see here. It’s simply “routine maintenance.” A statement issued by the Park Service goes on to say: “Trees throughout the park are regularly monitored for potential safety impacts to visitors, and when a tree is determined to be dying, declining, or hazardous, our arborists may make the decision to remove it.”
There is widespread disbelief—and certainly distrust—in anything the government says about what is happening with any of Trump’s legacy projects. And this has, in particular, touched a nerve. (Remember, there were news alerts that Trump had taken down the willow trees that lined the Kennedy Center last year.) Several hundred people assembled at East Potomac Park on Saturday with signs that said, “Putt Putt, not King Tut” and “Fore the People not the president.”
“When I first learned of the removal of cherry trees, I felt sick to my stomach,” Myrna Sislen, a supporter and donor to the DC Preservation League, told the Daily Beast. “It’s emblematic of everything he’s allowed to do… Every part of this is corrupt, and yes, it’s allowed to go forward. We are all complicit.”
A lifelong Washingtonian, Sislen at age 80 regularly rides her bike to a popular 3-mile loop at Hains Point that would be endangered by Trump’s grand plans. She also plays the golf course—and if Trump really wants to help, she says he could fix the sidewalks along the course that flood when it rains. Beyond that, Sislen draws a hard line: “They’re going to bulldoze over my fat ass. I will be there and stop it as much as one old lady can stop it.”
This week’s SCOTUS ruling that allows construction of the big, beautiful ballroom that will replace the White House’s now-demolished East Wing to go ahead, despite the chief justice siding with the minority that it is “likely illegal,” was decided on whether the plaintiff, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, had “standing,” meaning they could show harm from the president’s actions.
The DC Preservation League’s lawsuit over the golf course will likely face the same level of scrutiny, but the group is not alone. Two golfers, residents in the area, have joined the lawsuit to show harm if Trump’s takeover is allowed—therefore they should have standing, or so we shall see. The High Court is not consistent.
So then, if past is prologue, this looks like another case of Trump, long notorious for cheating on the links, plunging ahead, and relying on SCOTUS to sign off on his dirty work. George Washington is remembered for hacking a cherry tree with an ax as a boy and, when confronted, confessing his act because, “I cannot tell a lie.” Whether or not that happened, and it likely didn’t, our first president was a man of good character. The same cannot be said of the 47th.
