Trump advances East Potomac rebuild under court watch
By The Conservative Desk (/journals/conservative-desk)
On Oct. 18, President Donald Trump posted an artist’s rendering to Truth Social and said the Department of the Interior, under Secretary Doug Burgum and working with golf course architect Tom Fazio, had developed a plan to build a championship course on the site of East Potomac Golf Links in Washington, D.C.
The old course will close to play on Nov. 15. The new one is to open in about 15 months.
Trump wrote that he was “pleased to announce” the Interior plan “in conjunction with famed Golf Course Architect, Tom Fazio,” for “a World Class Championship Golf Course” that, when finished, “will be open to the Public while, at the same time, designed to the Highest Level of Golf and able to hold World Class Tournaments such as the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship, the Ryder Cup, and the Presidents Cup.” He said the project “will create many Jobs” and have “a tremendously positive Economic Development impact on Washington, D.C., and the surrounding area,” with “Millions of Dollars” flowing to the capital region. He added that the United States Golf Association, the PGA of America, and the PGA Tour “have already been notified that they will soon have one of the Best and Most Spectacular Golf Courses anywhere in the World to put on their list of great places to play, and hold Major Events.”
The condition of the existing links is the core of the administration’s case. “The current Course is old, broken, dilapidated, and of no further use or effect,” Trump wrote. “It is in very poor condition, with falling, dangerous, and disease infested trees and, importantly, a collapsing and hazardous seawall.” He said that when East Potomac “was originally built, it was famous for no trees, with views of Washington, D.C., for all to see, but now, it is completely overgrown, dysfunctional, and unsafe.” “Restoration work will begin on the Fazio Design on November 15th, when the old Course will be closed to play.”
That schedule collides with a federal lawsuit and a live injunction. The DC Preservation League and two D.C. residents and golfers, represented by Democracy Forward, sued to stop the overhaul of the 106-year-old National Park Service course, which sits about 2.3 miles from the White House. Over the Columbus Day weekend, crews cut roughly 430 trees after the court was told of plans to cut up to 529, with minimal notice. U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes had required three business days’ written notice before any irreparable modification. At an Oct. 12 emergency hearing she said the episode “cost the government all of its credibility,” and she temporarily barred further tree removal and landscaping until at least Oct. 26.
Fox News headlined the clash as “Trump unveils plan to transform historic DC golf course as judge tees off.” A golfer was photographed teeing off near freshly cut stumps. Katie Zacharia posted a photo showing a blurred renovation map on Trump’s desk.
Skye Perryman of Democracy Forward stated the other side’s claim in plain terms: the site is a national park and recreational facility meant for everyone. “Our litigation is intended to protect this community jewel for the people and communities it serves and we will continue to work with our plaintiffs to defend it from unlawful and harmful intrusion.” Opponents have argued that a championship redesign would change the character of a course long open to ordinary players and risk pricing them out. The record before the court, as National Park Service officials told Reyes, contained no formal plan beyond the public statements of Trump and Burgum; a Friday filing had described the rebuilding plan as still preliminary and said there was no final agency action. After the Sunday post, Reyes ordered the government to say by 8 p.m. whether that position had changed.
The conservative answer starts with the property itself. East Potomac is federal land run by the National Park Service. In December of last year the administration directed the NPS to end a 50-year lease with the National Links Trust, reclaiming direct control over a public asset the president now describes as unsafe and spent. A collapsing seawall, disease-infested and falling trees, and an overgrown layout that no longer matches the open course first built there are not abstract aesthetics; they are hazards and deferred maintenance on ground the United States already owns. Leaving a broken federal facility in place is not limited government. It is neglect. Restoring it under Interior, with a named architect, on a fixed 15-month clock, and with an explicit pledge that the finished course stays open to the public, is the ordinary work of executive stewardship.
The economic case is equally concrete. Trump’s post ties the Fazio design to jobs, capital-area revenue, and notice to the USGA, the PGA of America, and the PGA Tour that a championship venue is coming. Major events and a restored public course are free-enterprise uses of land already on the federal books. Taxpayers already carry the park. A course that can host serious competition while remaining public is a return on that carrying cost, not a gift to a private club.
History at the site cuts against any claim that excellence and public access cannot coexist. The National Park Service record shows the course was originally whites-only and was desegregated in 1941 by Interior Secretary Harold Ickes after Asa Williams, George Williams, and Cecil R. Shamwell played under police guard, a stand that led to the 1945 integration of all national park facilities. The fight then was to open a public federal course to every citizen. The fight now is whether that same public federal course may be repaired, cleared of hazardous timber, and brought back toward the open design it once had, without being frozen by process.
Rule of law binds both sides. Three business days’ written notice before irreparable change is a court order; blowing past it invited the credibility finding Reyes issued and the temporary bar through at least Oct. 26. The Justice Department has asked Reyes to recuse, citing alleged bias and what it called “egregious” conduct from the bench. She has ordered a Monday hearing at which the acting NPS director and the Interior chief of staff are to testify under oath, with Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward directed to attend. Plaintiffs have sought a longer injunction. How the court will treat the Nov. 15 closure remains pending.
Separate from the tree fight, the National Park Service has said debris from the demolished White House East Wing was dumped on the grounds and tested positive for lead, chromium, and other toxic metals—another mark of a site that has been used hard and not left pristine. Trump’s redesign does not erase that fact; it places the same ground under a published timeline, a named architect, and a public reopening.
The next decision is procedural and dated. Officials must appear Monday under oath. The temporary landscaping bar runs at least through Oct. 26. Trump has set Nov. 15 as the day the old East Potomac course closes for the Fazio restoration.