40K people got to see what we are fighting for today. And what are we fighting for? Access to space on public land. The desire to not see an entire multipurpose space converted to an upscale golf course. Real radical ideas… Let’s hope the MCM, and everyone else, can continue to use this park.

One of the saddest facts about the East Potomac situation is that it was being renovated - Trump’s problem is that it wasn’t being renovated by himself. The National Links Trust was raising private contributions, making much needed repairs, and had a world class golf architect lined up to do the upgrades for free. Those plans preserved the historic character, maintained affordability, and protected public access to the rest of the park. Would trees have come down? Yes. Would land be moved? Yes Would there be the uproar there is now? Absolutely not. If Trump had really cared about the people this impacted he would have worked with the NLT to expedite their plan. But he didn’t. And he doesn’t. This is not about giving the people a world class public course. It’s about giving himself a 17th.

This proposed plan is absolutely unacceptable. Here’s what the plan actually does: 36 holes of public golf cut to 18. No more mini golf. No more park. More running / cycling road. No more playground. No more introductory course. Nobody has said a word about the Cherry blossoms. Who is this actually for? Not the kid learning to golf. Not the family in a walk. Not the birders. This was never about the public. It’s for the elitists who want a private showcase, and one man’s ego.

There is something so disgusting and absurd about the President trying to steal a public park from all of us. It is a stain on the National Park Service and their supposed mission. Trump, who already owns 16 luxury golf clubs, sees nothing but opportunity with East Potomac. A place meant for the average Joe, being taken by a billionaire and frankensteined into something it was never meant to be to appease his own greed and avarice. Add to this the fact that he’s trying to do it in the most surreptitious and covert way possible, with willing disregard for the court system and the mandate of the National Park Service. Zacharia’s photo from last night is proof that this decision has (1) already been made and (2) goes all the way to the top. I will repeat myself if I wasn’t already clear: the president sees our public lands as his personal opportunity. To seize public lands and reshape them in a monument to his supposed glory. A park for “the recreation and pleasure of the people” for 129 years, all to be ripped away and stolen by a greedy and vain man.

East Potomac was never supposed to be a "championship course". That was the whole point. When it opened in 1921, golf in America was a rich man’s game, private clubs, high dues, closed doors. East Potomac was built to be the opposite: a muni course anyone could walk onto and play, designed by Walter Travis to challenge experts and welcome beginners on the same eighteen holes. That wasn’t an accident. It was the mission. A championship course built to chase the U.S. Open and the Ryder Cup isn’t a renovation of that mission. It’s a reversal of it. It takes a course built to open golf up to everyone and turns it into the exact kind of exclusive showcase East Potomac was created to stand against. Congress didn’t dedicate this land “for the recreation and pleasure of the people” so it could eventually become a luxury product. The irony isn’t incidental. It’s the whole fight.