Golfers Reject Trump’s Claim D.C. Course Is a ‘Trash Island’

Cathal McNaughton / REUTERS Golfers have rejected Donald Trump’s assessment that their historic course in Washington, D.C., is a “trash island” that is “unsafe” to play on.

The president’s latest renovation obsession in the capital is to transform East Potomac Golf Links into an elite resort.

But he is being hindered by legal challenges and a judge’s ruling ordering that construction work not proceed until plans have been reviewed and approved.

The Trump administration got around the ruling from U.S.

District Judge Ana Reyes by simply ignoring it and felling hundreds of trees at the course over the holiday weekend.

Trump also shared dozens of photos on Truth Social showing abandoned equipment, piles of discarded logs and debris, and what he described as a “collapsing sea wall.” The posts were part of his attempt to highlight how much “Trash Island” needs to be renovated into a course capable of hosting events such as the U.S.

Open and the Ryder Cup.

But Gus Johnson, a regular at East Potomac who has played there for about 20 years, believes Trump has actually made the course worse by cutting down trees.

He added that, while the course could use a little work, the president hardly helped by dumping a huge dirt mound excavated from the White House during construction of the president’s $400 million ballroom.

“It’s disgusting.

It makes me sick,” Johnson, 67, told The Washington Post.

“He’s destroyed the course.” The part Trump calls “Trash Island” is a 21,000-square-yard patch largely out of sight of golfers.

Employees had called it “the Boneyard” because it was a secluded location where broken equipment and other disused items were dumped.

However, people familiar with course operations told the Post they had never heard anyone call it “Trash Island” until Trump started attacking it.