'Rush Project at Request of POTUS'

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: The Atlantic

'Rush Project at Request of POTUS'
Money once used for crucial national park repairs is now financing Trump's redecorating projects.

By Michael Scherer


White House columns on the left in black and white; water buffalo and three birds on the right
Illustration by The Atlantic. Sources: Andrew Harnik / Getty; Mario Tama / Getty.

June 26, 2026, 12:26 PM ET

The pathway that connects the White House residence to the Oval Office has long been paved in Tennessee flagstone. Every president since Harry Truman made the 45-second commute, and made it without complaint, until Donald Trump. The dun rock would not do. Instead, Trump wanted polished African granite, carved in Italy, with a flamed-finish stripe--slightly raised, to prevent slips--running down the middle. As workers tore up the flagstone in March, a reporter asked Trump who was paying for the enhancements. "Paid for by me," he replied.

But that wasn't true. Budget documents from the National Park Service that I obtained show that the walkway replacement cost taxpayers $689,232, and is part of a $1.3 million project that included repairing adjacent stone and masonry and providing new hardware for nearby doors. A year earlier, in a separate "Rush project at request of POTUS," the Park Service spent $347,503 to remove and replace the stucco on the colonnade wall, a project that cleared the way for Trump to affix gold frames and plaques mocking some of his predecessors.

This previously undisclosed spending is part of an enormous shift of taxpayer cash away from national parks around the country and into the Washington area. In order to pay for the president's projects, the parks have had to cancel needed repairs, slash their budgets, and operate with fewer employees. Taxpayer spending on projects in the National Capital Region has increased 92 percent over the past year, according to the budget documents. The windfall draws on revolving maintenance accounts and more than $100 million in fees collected almost entirely from national parks elsewhere. Trump has ordered the refurbishment of fountains, the lining of the Reflecting Pool, and a $1.6 million Fourth of July fireworks display on the National Mall. He has requested billions more from lawmakers, who thus far have refused. "I'm so proud of Washington, D.C.," Trump said Wednesday during a meeting in the Oval Office with the secretary-general of NATO. "It's become one of the hottest cities in the world."

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Read more: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/06/national-parks-trump-white-house-renovations/687700/

---

I seem to recall this story from the Washington Post or the New York Times about a month ago, but there must be some new angle here.

Reposted by Chris Geidner
https://bsky.app/profile/chrisgeidner.bsky.social

*******
Adrienne LaFrance
‪@adriennelaf.bsky.social‬

GREAT SCOOP from @michaelscherer.bsky.social:

National Park Service projects are now being defunded to cover President Trump's Washington renovation spree.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/06/national-parks-trump-white-house-renovations/687700/

A White House Makeover, Brought to You by Struggling National Parks
Park projects are being defunded to cover President Trump's Washington renovation spree.
www.theatlantic.com
12:32 PM · Jun 26, 2026
******"

GREAT SCOOP from @michaelscherer.bsky.social:

National Park Service projects are now being defunded to cover President Trump’s Washington renovation spree.

www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

— Adrienne LaFrance (@adriennelaf.bsky.social) 2026-06-26T16:32:05.629Z

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. And here is that earlier story:

Wed May 27, 2026: National Park Entrance Fees Are Funding Trump's D.C. Projects

Times Exclusive
[link:https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/27/climate/park-service-fees-washington-trump.html
|National Park Entrance Fees Are Funding Trump’s D.C. Projects]

The administration is spending at least $67 million worth of fees paid by visitors to national parks on fixing D.C. fountains and the Reflecting Pool.

By Maxine Joselow and Andrea Fuller
Maxine Joselow reported from Washington, and Andrea Fuller from New York.

May 27, 2026

The National Park Service is using at least $67 million worth of park entrance fees to help fund President Trump’s beautification projects in Washington, according to a New York Times analysis of federal records.

Nearly $60 million in fees paid by visitors to national parks across the country is funding repairs to nine of the capital’s ornamental fountains, the analysis found. The government is putting another $7 million worth of entrance fees toward the renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which costs $13.1 million overall, according to an internal Park Service document reviewed by The Times.

The analysis was based on a federal contracting database. The $7 million for the Reflecting Pool has not previously been reported.

Mr. Trump has proposed a host of initiatives to remake Washington in his own style and wants these projects completed by July 4, the 250th anniversary of American independence.

{snip}

[BumRushDaShow]

2. Here is a gift link (yup I sub to them and they allow subs to send unlimited gift articles)

No paywall (gift)

[tanyev]

3. Hottest city in the world.

Post by @janesb6

View on Threads

😒

[FakeNoose]

4. We need a nation-wide taxpayer revolt - STAT!

Let's celebrate the 4th of July by throwing him out on his ass.

[Kali]

5. weird caption

that is an American bison, not a water buffalo.

[Figarosmom]

6. I think he thinks that's his house

And his kids will inherit it. He's not planning on leaving unless in a coffin. I even think he's going to decree that his body is kept there in a air proof glass coffin till his library (hotel) is ready.

[slightlv]

10. I doubt he leaves even then...

he'll want the same treatment as Lenin...

[Roxi]

7. When he's gone for good...

… I want his estate to pay for a completely new White House. He’s sullied our building beyond recognition and destroyed so much of it that we might as well tear it down and create something new.

I want a replacement rose garden while we’re at it.

Make the White House beautiful again.

[Botany]

9. I am a Landscaper and do design

I went to a talk once about Jackie's Rose
Garden and after 50 + years it was given as anexample of a landscape that really worked. Away from the White House was a green area with some simple furniture and Jackie's goal was to have an area where the White House people and visitors could sit, decompress, and talk and that is exactly what it did and the walk from the living area of the White House on a winter afternoon with the low sun and the shadows of the crab trees and colums was
exquisite but Trump fucked them up.

[Roxi]

14. I wish I could have seen it

I’ve always loved roses, and that garden would have been wonderful to visit.

I foolishly thought it would always be there. After all, it’s survived quite a few administrations over the decades, and who would ever want to destroy such a beautiful garden?

[Botany]

15. It was called Jackie's Rose Garden but she had expert help in putting it together.

A woman named Sears was the L.A. and the head of construction went onto run the
Brooklyn Botanical Garden. The iconic images of the walkway from the living quarters
of the White House under via the west Colonnade on a winter’s afternoon and with the
shadows from the trees in the Rose Garden were exquisite. Now gone forever.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/White_House_ballroom_after_completion.svg

As is this work in the East Wing is gone too.





Hand split granite cobbles.

Trump is deliberately trying to fuck things up.

[mopinko]

8. those r some mighty big numbers for some pretty small jobs.

$350k to wreck and replace a section of wall how long?
almost $700k for a granite path?
c’mon man.

[slightlv]

11. Just remember the real purpose or all these outlandish

projects and hijack-style invoices is to devalue the dollar and bankrupt the country at the earliest possible time... before either he or putin die or get kicked out of office. Saw earlier this morning where the EURO is overtaking the dollar as the currency of choice world-wide. We'll be damned lucky if ANYONE (in country or in the world) trusts us ever again for anything! I hope Magas are happy, because they're leaving a pitiful future for their kids and grandkids. I used to always think they at least, like us, value the world they leave to their descendents. I no longer think like that. They just don't care, as long as they can get all they can from anyone and anywhere quickly into their pockets... just like their god, trump.

[Karasu]

12. These fascists are doing everything in their power to kill off our national parks.

[Bayard]

13. The man has taken selfishness up 10 new levels.....