WaPo: Historic Cherry Trees Are Coming Down by the Dozen Thanks to Trump

This editor is old enough to remember progressives freaking out over First Lady Melania Trump giving the Rose Garden a much-needed makeover. Jacqueline Kennedy's original 1962 design, much like the East Wing, was considered sacred ground. MSNBC analyst Howard Fineman called the result a "neo-fascist parade ground." Steve Schmidt declared Trump "the worst first lady in history." What was unforgivable to most was the cutting down of the cherry trees, which were actually crabapple trees. They were moved elsewhere on the White House grounds. Some people thought she trimmed the bushes to look like swastikas. "Does anyone else see how the small bushes spell KKK in rows?" asked one TDS sufferer.

In a VIP post back in July, this editor wrote about the latest controversy, after the ballroom and the Reflecting Pool. FactPost, an official DNC rapid response account run by the folks who used to run KamalaHQ, informed us that the administration was "planning to cut down DC's oldest cherry tree to make way for a new Trump golf course." It's not a new golf course — it's a municipal golf course that's been there for over 100 years.

Now, Rep. Don Beyer says it's "awful" that Trump is taking an axe to historic cherry trees to appease his massive ego.

Trump has wrecked many iconic D.C. sites, and now he’s taking an axe to trees in East Potomac Park, including historic cherry trees.

I’ve heard from so many locals who hate this, but all Trump's people care about is appeasing his massive ego. This is awful.…
— Rep. Don Beyer (@RepDonBeyer) August 28, 2026

Rick Maese reports for The Washington Post:

Tree removal is common in major golf course renovations, often to widen playing corridors, improve sight lines, and allow more sunlight and air to reach the turf. But the Interior Department characterized the activity as routine maintenance and did not connect it to the proposed redesign, nor did it answer questions about whether notice of the work had been provided to the federal court overseeing a legal challenge to the administration’s plans.
“Arborists are doing routine maintenance at East Potomac Park with selective removal of hazard trees, non-native invasive trees, and declining and dying trees that cannot be brought back to good health through any degree of intervention,” a department spokesperson said in a statement. “Trees throughout the park are regularly monitored for potential safety impacts to visitors, and when a tree is determined to be dying, declining, or hazardous our arborists may make the decision to remove it.”

Why don't you ask the arborist why it's coming down instead of making it another hit on Trump? The tree in the picture is old and diseased. Trees have lifespans, and often their number just comes up. You do know that Japan has donated new cherry trees for D.C. right?
— Patriot Zero (@HisShadow45) August 29, 2026

These are not the flowering cherry trees along the Potomac.
— Bet Sobon (@SobonBet) August 29, 2026

Hey DON... that tree is diseased. We take down diseased trees, not let them keep standing to infect other trees or fall onto some innocent bystander!! Quit trying to score political points from faux outrage!
— 🇺🇸Silence DoGood🇺🇸 (@Deplorable69er) August 29, 2026

People sure are attached to things like the East Wing and these rotting trees on a golf course. Just this week, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said they're going to have a formal ceremony and blow up the new ballroom. Ballroom Derangement Syndrome, Reflecting Pool Derangement Syndrome, Cherry Tree Derangement Syndrome — add them all to the DSM-5.

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Editor's Note: President Trump is leading America into the "Golden Age" as Democrats desperately try to stop it.

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