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Donald Trump has done many things this month that deserve condemnation: from abandoning Ukraine and making deals with Vladimir Putin, to running self-promotional TV ads illegally paid for by taxpayer dollars, to talking endlessly about Sen. Jon Husted’s “beautiful ass.”

But I’d like to tell you today about something else that has received little, if any, public attention: his plan to destroy Hains Point, Washington’s beautiful park jutting out into the Potomac with spectacular views of the Capitol and national monuments.

Why should we care? Because, once again, Trump aims to destroy a public treasure without any prior approval, against the law, and in defiance of the courts. He did it with the East Wing, the Reflecting Pool and the Kennedy Center. Now he’s doing it with Hains Point.

As much as anything he has done, Trump’s avowed destruction of Hains Point reveals what a mean, vindictive, greedy, uncaring, evil, egomaniacal man he is – and reminds us how important it is to stop him in his tracks on Nov. 3.

Hains Point is the latest chapter in Trump’s plan to destroy our nation’s capitol. He’s already torn down the East Wing of the White House, shut down the Kennedy Center, paved over the Rose Garden, fouled the Reflecting Pool, fenced off Lafayette Square and announced plans to build a huge memorial arch to himself at the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery.

All that is in official Washington, where people work. But now he’s moving his bulldozers into residential Washington, where people live and play. It’s the side of Washington that most tourists never see: a vibrant city with colorful neighborhoods, lively markets and restaurants, and beautiful parks. And, of all Washington’s parks, Hains Point is the crown jewel.

A strip of reclaimed land with the Potomac River on one side and the Washington Channel on the other, Hains Point was created by Congress in 1897 to be “forever held and used as a park for the recreation and pleasure of the people.” Which it still is today. It’s Washington’s favorite park, featuring tennis courts, picnic areas, cherry trees, a 4.1-mile loop used by cyclists, joggers and walkers, a miniature golf course, a driving range and three golf courses where anybody can afford to play: $22 for nine holes, $42 for 18.

Hains Point is the people’s park. I know it well. I learned to play golf there. I walk that loop around the park with a group of friends every Saturday morning. Even early in the morning, golfers have started their rounds, fishermen already line the banks of both river and channel, joggers and cyclists clog the roadway, and advance scouts are setting up tables, chairs and grills for family picnics later in the day.

Yet Donald Trump, who calls Hains Point “Trash Island,” has announced plans to tear it all down – tennis courts, picnic areas, playgrounds, cycling and jogging loop, fishing spots, the whole works – and replace it with another Trump-like, high-end, championship golf course, which is the last thing Washington, surrounded by a dozen such luxurious golf clubs, needs.

Aren’t there laws against that? Of course there are. But, as he did with the East Wing, Reflecting Pool and Kennedy Center, Trump just ignores them. He insists that, as president, he can do anything he wants, seeks no permits or approval required by law, then lies about what he’s doing.

Fortunately, Trump’s Hains Point plans have been challenged in court. Unfortunately, the courts are slow to act, while the bulldozers are fast. On his orders, the National Park Service cut down 430 trees this month, and Trump announced Hains Point will close on Nov. 15 so work on his new golf course can begin. Like the White House ballroom, with contractors working around the clock, construction may be over before the court decides whether he has the right to do it.

True, the vast majority of Americans have never been to Hains Point and never will, but what’s happening there should concern us all. Not only because it robs Washingtonians of their favorite park, but because it’s another test of whether a president is above the law and, when he breaks the law, whether the courts or Congress can stop him.

It also raises the question of why the president of the United States, who already owns 14 golf courses, should want another one. We know the answer to that: Because no matter what happens at Hains Point, Donald Trump will make money out of it.

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(Bill Press is host of The BillPressPod, and author of 10 books, including: “From the Left: My Life in the Crossfire.” His email address is: bill@billpress.com. Readers may also follow him on Twitter @billpresspod and on BlueSky @BillPress.bsky.social.)

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