President Donald Trump's construction plans for the East Potomac Golf Course would carve sizable pieces out of East Potomac Park — a Potomac River peninsula administered by the National Park Service, just south of the National Mall — and the proposal has provoked a wave of fury from commentators, attorneys, and at least one member of Congress.

The redesign would shrink the course from 36 holes to 18, but its impact would extend well beyond golfers. “Trump’s plan shrinks the course from 36 holes to 18 but impacts more than golfers,” wrote Washington Post sports writer Rick Maese on X. “It eliminates Ohio Drive, historic mini golf and a grove of Japanese cherry trees — reshaping space used by thousands of cyclists, runners, anglers, bird-watchers and picnickers.” The stakes reach past the fairways: Washington’s Japanese cherry trees, rooted in a 1912 gift from the city of Tokyo, draw hundreds of thousands of visitors to the capital every spring, giving any grove slated for removal a resonance far beyond its footprint.

An attorney shared that outrage. “This is a travesty and unlawful,” wrote Brian McGrail, a lawyer and former Commerce Department employee, in a post on X. “Every Democratic presidential candidate should commit to reestablishing the public perimeter road if Trump somehow succeeds. That won’t bring back the cherry blossoms, though.”

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, argued that the design would inevitably eat into public parkland. “This design appears to completely eliminate the much-beloved loop road and public park at Hains Point, and cut down the cherry trees which line the road,” Reichlin-Melnick said on X. “The park is a public space used by tens of thousands of Washingtonians and heavily visited by tourists.”

Politicians soon weighed in as well. “The Trump Administration was clearly lying about the reasons for their mass felling of trees in East Potomac last weekend,” Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) wrote on X on Sunday.

He added: “They were lying to conceal from the American people that, at a time when our country is at war, and everyone is worried about the economy and high prices, the President simply doesn’t care—he’s focused on building an upscale golf course within walking distance of the White House. And on his fancy ballroom and his memorial arch to himself.”

Beyer continued: “The design he’s pursuing would block off roads and paths used by large numbers of local residents for cycling and walking, no doubt to make the area another exclusive hangout for Trump’s rich and powerful friends. And once again he’s doing all of that at great expense, on your dime.”

The golf course has long been a source of controversy. Last week, as Alternet reported, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes, who sits on the federal district court in Washington, rejected Trump’s arguments for having cut down hundreds of trees at East Potomac Golf Links. “The Court concludes, on this limited record, that government officials raced to undertake the [tree-management plan] because President Trump demands haste on his redesign, and not because of some newfound zeal to implement a small part of a seven-year-old,” Reyes wrote. Her “limited record” caveat left the broader questions around the redesign open rather than settled, making the case’s next court filings — and the administration’s next move on the parkland — the developments to watch.

The president’s relationship with golf itself has also drawn scrutiny. Sportswriter Rick Reilly has accused Trump of being an inveterate cheat, writing: “Among the many hilarious things about club championship #43 is that he lies so much about them he loses his place. We went from 26 to 36 overnight, then skipped 39, 40 and 41. Actual number: 0.”