Golfers take swing at Trump over ‘unlawful assault’ on public golf course

Two Washington-area golfers have launched a legal challenge against the Trump administration over its efforts to transform a public golf course into what one described as “yet another private playground for the privileged and powerful,” The Washington Post reported Saturday.

In December, the Trump administration terminated the lease of a nonprofit organization that managed Washington, D.C.’s public golf courses, including the well-known East Potomac Golf Links. Since then, President Donald Trump has suggested that plans are underway to transform the course into a “beautiful, world-class, U.S. Open-caliber course,” the Post reported.

However, the two aforementioned Washington-area golfers, Dave Roberts and Alex Dickson, have since filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration to halt those efforts, and were joined by several organizations in their legal challenge, including the DC Preservation League, Democracy Defenders Fund, and the Democracy Forward Foundation.

“East Potomac Golf Links is a testament to what’s possible with public land and why public spaces matter,” Roberts said, according to the Post. “It deserves better than becoming a dumping ground for waste and yet another private playground for the privileged and powerful.”

The Post reached out to the Trump administration for response, and was told that Trump was, in fact, hoping to “redevelop” Washington, D.C.’s public golf courses – which White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers called “decrepit” – in order to restore “glamour and prestige.”

Skye Perryman, president and chief executive of Democracy Forward, accused the Trump administration of waging an “unlawful assault” on Washington, D.C.’s public spaces, and vowed to fight alongside the two golfers in their legal challenge against Trump.

“We are acting to save this priceless part of our national park system from being another casualty of a reckless administration,” Perryman told the Post. “We are honored for the partnership of our plaintiffs in fighting back against this unlawful assault on our cherished public space.”