WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge is weighing the future of a sprawling Washington park insisted this week she had no intention of becoming Amy Poehleractress who memorably spent seven seasons playing the head of a local parks and recreation department.
But the president Donald Trump may be interested in the role.
Right after The United States and Iran exchanged fire on Thursday, Trump took a quick stroll down the National Mall for it review the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool that he ordered a repaint in a color he describes as “American flag blue.”
The project has been on his mind lately. During an hour-long speech Monday to small business owners, Trump spent about nine minutes talking about the paint job, detailing the granite floor and boasting that he cut the cost of the renovation to $1.9 million from what he said was an initial estimate of $350 million.
Trump’s next project could be East Potomac Park, home to an affordable and accessible public golf course overlooking the Washington Monument.
The Republican president has talked about transforming it into a “US Open-caliber course.” Signs were posted this week warning of a disruption, and preservation lawyers took the government to court after debris was dumped there from the demolition of the White House’s East Wing. it was positive for lead.
Until late Friday, the non-profit organization that runs the course said it will continue to manage the space until the National Park Service begins a “historic restoration.”
Meanwhile, the White House told a planning agency it would costing taxpayers at least $7.5 million to follow Trump’s plan to paint the granite Eisenhower Executive Office Building white.
And that was just this week in the extreme change of Washington.
All projects of the president
Over the past year, Trump has bulldozed the East Wing to make way for a dance hall. His name was added to the facades American Institute of Peace AND Kennedy Centerwhich he plans to close for one two year renewal. His face adorns a banner in Department of Justice headquarters, among others. He’s pushing for one the triumphal arch near Arlington Cemetery and has closed parks, including Lafayette Square across from the White House, for rehabilitation.
Trump is guaranteeing himself a lasting footprint in a city where he won just 6.5% of the vote in 2024. He is flexing extraordinary executive power and offering new insight into how he spends his time, perhaps a president’s most valuable asset.
As Washington’s projects unfolded this week, the truce came Iran was in danger of disbanding, the AAA motor club said the average price of a gallon of gas topped $4.50, and the election provided new evidence of Democratic enthusiasm heading into the November election.
“This is not a zero-sum game, but obviously all presidents have limited amounts of capital they can use and limited amounts of attention they have to devote,” said presidential historian Julian Zelizer of Princeton University. “And he’s deciding, in a moment of war, a moment of economic instability, that this is a priority.”
Trump dismisses such concerns.
Asked at the Reflecting Pool why he was focused on the project given US military action in Iran, he said, “Our country is about beauty, cleanliness, safety, great people. Not a dirty capital.”
Political considerations for Republicans
For Republicans defending the slim majority in Congress, it’s not so simple. Many would rather talk about policy achievements, including tax cuts, than multimillion-dollar construction projects in Washington.
While few directly criticize Trump, there is an acknowledgment that the party must face economic realities.
“Many Americans are very concerned about the cost of living, and we need to address that,” Sen. John KennedyR-La recently said.
A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll conducted in late April found that 52% of Americans oppose Trump’s planned bow. This includes about 6 in 10 freelancers. About 51% of Republicans favor it.
Americans oppose the ballroom by a 2-to-1 margin, run mostly by Democrats and independents. About 2 in 10 Republicans oppose the bill, according to the poll. The poll found no discernible change in support for the ballroom after the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner last month. Trump has cited that incident in his push for a secure facility, something he didn’t mention when he first ordered the East Wing demolished.
Trump is showing no signs of backing down from either project. In a sign of GOP loyalty to him, Republican senators added $1 billion White House security upgrades for the ballroom in an unrelated bill this week. Trump initially said taxpayer money would not be needed.
A breakneck pace of change in Washington
In a city where historic preservation is often sacrosanct, the pace of change has been dizzying.
Rebecca Miller, the executive director of the DC Preservation League, has spent 23 years with the organization, which sued to stop the golf course from being taken and joined a coalition trying to force the Kennedy Center to comply with preservation laws. She said her organization has worked with administrations of both parties and called Trump’s moves “very unusual.”
“One of the problems we have now is an administration that seems to think it can move forward without any input,” she said. “These assets are owned by the people of the United States. They are not anyone’s personal portfolio.”
White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said Trump is “focused on reducing costs for working families, deporting illegal criminals, keeping our cities safe, beautifying our nation’s capital and protecting our national security while ensuring Iran never has a nuclear weapon.”
This is not the first time that a White House has taken an interest in the appearance of Washington.
Long Lyndon Johnson’s administration, First Lady Mrs. Bird Johnson oversaw beautification efforts that included the planting of trees and flowers throughout the District of Columbia.
Her efforts were sometimes derided as distractions from other pressing matters, such as The Vietnam War. But she implemented them in coordination with local officials.
“Lady Bird Johnson was trying to highlight the natural beauty of Washington,” said Mark Updegrove, chairman of the LBJ Foundation and a presidential historian. “Donald Trump is trying to remake the nation’s capital in his own image.”
Trump’s assertion of power over Washington, incl continued deployment of the National Guard troops, has animated the city’s Democratic primaries next month for key local offices, including mayor and congressional delegate.
The first question at a forum for mayoral candidates this week focused on how to protect themselves Home Rule Actthe 1973 law that gave the city limited self-government. The candidates said they would take on Trump as needed, though one contender, Vincent Orange, noted that national Democrats had also failed in the district.
“The two times we had a shot at statehood, it was the Democrats who let us down,” he said, referring to failed congressional efforts to make the city a full state.
In an interview, Janeese Lewis George, a D.C. Council member and front-runner in the mayoral race, said city officials need to do a better job of making their case to Congress for citizenship. She said Trump’s impact on the city is broader than the renovations, as she referred to troop deployments as a “federal invasion” and pointed to fallout from immigration enforcement activity and cuts to the federal workforce.
“The people of our city are afraid,” she said. “It’s the mayor’s job to really let the nation know that D.C. has been left uniquely vulnerable.”
Tom Davis, a Republican from Virginia who often supported city autonomy when he was a congressman, said the renovations provide an “opportunity to bring some money into the city and create things that you wouldn’t have had otherwise.”
“But this is difficult,” he said. “This is not a city that is in love with the president.”
By STEVEN SLOAN Associated Press
Associated Press writer Darlene Superville contributed to this report.
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