President Donald Trump has found another reason to go after a federal judge.
What should have been a straightforward safety concern has instead become another bitter confrontation with the federal judiciary. And once again, Trump appears determined to hold a judge responsible for thwarting his plans.
The threat has raised the stakes, turning an already tense dispute into a more serious confrontation.
This time, Trump’s fury involves a golf course, a flying object and a mysterious White House employee who allegedly took a painful hit.
The president unleashed a blistering late-night rant Wednesday, Oct. 28. He also claimed officials dangerously neglected a Washington, D.C., golf course.
His complaints quickly turned personal when he singled out the judge standing between him and his ambitious renovation plans.
Trump claimed a golf ball struck a White House staffer after escaping through damaged protective netting at East Potomac Golf Links.
Trump claimed a golf ball struck a White House staffer after escaping damaged protective netting.
He offered no name, date or information about the employee’s condition or what happened
“The gaping holes in the driving range’s ‘protective’ netting are highly hazardous,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Golf balls soar through the holes at high speed and hit unexpecting Golfers—including a White House staffer who was, sadly, hit violently in the chest.”
The alleged incident has not been independently verified.
However, Trump wasted little time turning the reported injury into ammunition against U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes.
“We will hold the judge, Ana C. Reyes, fully responsible for anybody who is hurt, or killed, on this very dangerous, dilapidated, and unsightly Golf Course,” he declared.
His rant follows Reyes blocking his administration’s overhaul of the 106-year-old course after preservationists and golfers sued.
The plaintiffs argue that the proposed redevelopment threatens historic parkland and recreational access.
The confrontation intensified after crews removed hundreds of trees despite ongoing legal objections. Reyes subsequently prohibited additional tree removal and other irreversible modifications while the dispute continues.
Trump, however, appears increasingly unwilling to accept the restrictions.
On X, one critic questioned his priorities ahead of the midterm elections.
“Nothing says ‘I feel the struggles of everyday Americans’ quite like a multi-paragraph rant about golf course maintenance and holding a judge responsible for holes in a net right before midterms,” the commenter wrote.
Another X user offered a shorter explanation: “Donald hates being told NO!”
Facebook users also slammed Trump.
“Next time someone almost hits me with a ball on the golf course, I will just blame it on a federal judge,” one joked. Another asked, “So is don going to make something happen because he didn’t get his way?… Capital Building anyone?…”
A third suggested the controversy had less to do with public safety than Trump’s desire for control: “Guess nobody gets hit at the fancy courses he plays. Any excuse to take over.”
Touching on the irony, another writes, “Funny how it was never a death trap until Trump wanted to make it into one of his exclusive, golf courses (and you know he will rename it the President Donald J Trump golf course or some such nonsense).”
This is hardly Trump’s first explosive confrontation with the judiciary.
In March 2026, Trump attacked Judge James Boasberg as a “Wacky, Nasty, Crooked, and totally Out of Control Judge” following a ruling blocking subpoenas targeting Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Chief Justice John Roberts subsequently warned that personally directed hostility toward judges was dangerous.
Months later, in June, brought another embarrassing courtroom setback when Judge Christopher Cooper ruled against Trump’s Kennedy Center plans. Trump responded with an extended posting spree, attacking the decision and threatening to abandon his involvement with the cultural institution.
Earlier this October, Reyes herself became the target of Trump’s anger when he called her a “crazed lunatic.”
He also insisted golf course renovations would proceed immediately.
The dispute subsequently produced a tense courtroom confrontation involving Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward. Reyes sharply questioned his representations about the project’s status.
The golf course’s future still tied up in court. Yet, Trump again casts the judge’s intervention as an obstacle to his vision for the course.
He insists he wants a safer, more affordable public course. But his latest outburst has left critics questioning why a damaged golf net has become another presidential battle with the federal judiciary.
