Gasps as Trump's birthday bash leaves White House grounds in 'terrible' condition

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Raw Story

June 20, 2026 8:56AM ET



An aerial view shows crews deconstructing the UFC fighting venue on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 19, 2026 REUTERS/Aaron Schwartz

President Donald Trump marked his 80th birthday last Sunday with an unprecedented Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event on White House grounds, but by Friday onlookers were stunned when photos emerged showing the damage left behind on the Ellipse, often referred to as President's Park South.

“The UFC event has destroyed the grass on the Ellipse in front of the White House,” bluntly noted John Jackson, a podcaster, writer and U.S. veteran of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, in a social media post Friday evening.

Captured by Reuters' Aaron Schwartz on Friday, an aerial photograph shows the once-green Ellipse – a 52-acre park just south of the White House South Lawn – with slivers and patches of green grass amid a sea of brown. The White House’s South Lawn also suffered damage, with a White House spokesperson telling USA Today that $1 million will be spent restoring its grass.

“In the 250th year anniversary of USA the White House and [its] surroundings look so terrible,” wrote José Andrés, founder of World Central Kitchen, the disaster-relief food nonprofit organization, in a social media post on X to his more than 1 million followers. “Is so sad to see.”

Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/white-house-2677068520/?utm_source=superhead

[jmbar2]

1. I'm confused...

I can see the arches in the distance, right in front of the WH. Then there is this huge circle of destruction in the foreground of the photo. What happened here?

[yardwork]

3. That's where the bleachers were erected for the spectators.

Trump wanted a "county fair" and that's what is left. An empty fairground after the carnies pack up and move on.

What a metaphor for the way Trump is leaving this country.

[Srkdqltr]

6. Spectators for what? What did they have there? There was never anything on the news except the jumping bikes?

and there wasn't much of that. What a waste 🗑

[BumRushDaShow]

20. They had jumbotrons there too

so the peons not in the invite-only seats could watch the spectacle. I.e. the "watch party" venue.

[Bluetus]

35. It looks like the overflow lot for Nazis with net worth less than $1 billion

[Aviation Pro]

40. What a collection of incel losers

Who will never, fortunately for us, ever breed.

[sop]

51. Really, that image says it all.

Behold the Trump Manosphere...a bunch of geeky young boys who couldn't get a girl if they had hundred dollar bills sticking out of their pockets, along with someone's bored-looking Mom in the lower left corner.

[EarthAbides]

55. One woman

I only see one woman in the picture of the crowd....

[BumRushDaShow]

56. My first thought too and that is probably why the photographer took that shot

I bet it took a long time to find a grouping that had any.

[jmbar2]

7. Thanks - I missed that part of it

ETTD x 100

[reACTIONary]

16. That's the ellipse in front of the white house grounds....

.... My understanding, I did not watch, is that that is where they set up large screen tvs for the proletariat, who were not invited to the ring side event, to watch the proceedings.

[ALBliberal]

27. lol proletariat. Funny not funny as it is true.

[sop]

52. The Lumpenproletariat...

"In Marxist theory, the proletariat is the working class that generates wealth through legitimate labor and can unite to spark revolution. Conversely, the lumpenproletariat consists of society's most marginalized underclass—such as beggars, criminals, and the chronically unemployed—who lack class consciousness and can sometimes be manipulated by opposing political forces."

[electric_blue68]

31. Oh! I missed that, too ...

Ugh, that lovely green oval. 😑

[twodogsbarking]

2. A million dollars to fix the grass. Figures.

[Bengus81]

5. Yep...once all that UFC crap is taken down that grass will be fucking toast

Now that it's hot as hell you can't re-sod. Both areas will cost a fortune to fix and will have to wait until Sept. That million $$ to fix is nonsense. I figure just the sod for the ellipse will be $1.25M,they you'll have the South Lawn.

Now figure labor to tear all that up and re-sod 60-70 acres.

[quakerboy]

34. Why bother?

Just throw down some astroturf.

[erronis]

38. Definitely don't bother until the asshole is gone.

[Galraedia]

37. Same thing with his fascist birthday parade last year where they had to fix the road

because public streets aren't meant for tanks.

[Hugin]

4. I haven't heard anything about actual physical attendance at the event.

Anyone?

[underpants]

44. There were large screen watch parties.

Link to tweet

?s=46

[Floyd R. Turbo]

8. Left wing radical vandals!😏

[Ford_Prefect]

9. A spoiled child leaves his toys where they fall.

[PatSeg]

12. And THIS child

expects everyone to clean up after him time and time again.

[FakeNoose]

10. Map of the White House grounds (aerial view)

This shows that the White House is on the top (north) of the map, looking south to the UFC stage. The attendees were all around the stage, but I can't understand why the Ellipse is torn up? This doesn't make sense. It's a huge area and it's not fenced in to keep out the gate-crashers. I don't think UFC attendees were allowed in the Ellipse. Something else is going on here.

[PatSeg]

11. Yeah, hard to see why they tore up the ellipse as well

He's running out of things to destroy.

[onenote]

13. The area in front of the stage was for limited attendance The Ellipse is where several thousand others watched it from.

[FakeNoose]

15. I don't think they saw much from that far away

The Ellipse is 52 acres of land, and there are trees surrounding it.

[reACTIONary]

18. They set jumbotrons or large screen tvs.

[underpants]

43. Yes the had watch parties

Link to tweet

?s=46

[AZJonnie]

19. Big TV screens?

I dunno either way but seems that's the only thing that makes any sense

[onenote]

21. The ellipse was the location of the "watch party". The original plans were for 10 jumbotrons and several smaller screens

Don't know if that's what they ended up with, but it probably was something along those lines

[Bengus81]

17. Do you remember seeing the motorcycles flying through the air

and doing flips? It was a trashy carnival on the Ellipse

[Sneederbunk]

14. The bare Ellipse just screams for a tarp.

[MissouriDem47]

22. Another Example

Everything Trump touches dies.

[Scrivener7]

23. He'll be moving in the old refrigerators and the abandoned trucks on cinder blocks soon.

And a porch for the washing machine you have to give a good kick when it starts jumping around.

[efhmc]

24. "Gasps?" Should be screams of horror.

[ananda]

25. What did people expect?

Sheesh

[not a texan]

26. Quick. somebody get a tarp!

I know where one still is.

[relogic]

28. Let white trash

take over your well-manicured property for an undetermined, interminable span of time while they bring their boy toys, bulldozers and boisterous yelps of insecure manhood and this is exactly what you’ll get.

The permissive stink of these diaper-filled toddlers is run amuck in every maga hamlet and newley-restored interior walls, carpet and podiums of our Capital Building.

[wcmagumba]

29. The whole thing was ugly inappropriate trash and guess what, we are paying for the cleanup...

Trump is going to bankrupt the country the way things are headed...

[erronis]

39. Thus "mission accomplished"

[efhmc]

30. Everything he does/touches is left in horrible condition.

[popsdenver]

58. Everything he does is for Putin

He is under orders from Putin, to destroy some part of America, or our Capitol, each and every day.
Putin must check everyday for pictures of some part of our beloved country, to be obliterated and destroyed.
And why not start with Washington DC, our Capitol...........
Neither Trump or Putin need Viagara, they just watch replays of the J6th insurrection...............
Either that, or video's of ICE shooting/murdering innocent, non-violent protestors.......

[Bo Zarts]

32. Idiopathic Idiocracy

Like the war against Iran, THIS did not have to happen.

[Dave Id]

33. Trump's MAGAts came to his birthday bash..

and bashed the shit out of the grassy area. Safe bet there wasn't any "Keep of the grass" signs.

[Galraedia]

36. Watch that $1 million go to $10 million and then be given to a Trump donor in a no bid contract.

Seriously, Donnie DoKids is a fucking professional at wasting tax dollars on stupid shit. I never want to hear a Republican complain about spending under a Democrat ever again.

[cab67]

41. Wouldn't it have been cheaper and easier to set this up in Capitol One Arena? Or maybe Nationals Park?

[GenThePerservering]

46. That wasn't the point

[cab67]

47. I know.

[Traildogbob]

42. Just wait until after the WH grounds NASCAR event.

[aeromanKC]

45. Trump Murica is Idiocracy.

[Pas-de-Calais]

48. EVERYTHING he involves himself in, DIES

[Bayard]

49. Looks like a plague of locusts moved in......

Probably not too far off the mark. Millions more tax dollars wasted.

[RetiredParatrooper]

50. Needs MOAR Brawndo!

[Doc_Technical]

53. I think the UFC cage and the ballroom hole in the ground

should be left as they are, indefinitely, as a reminder and a warning of the
obscene abuse of power by the executive branch made possible by
the cowardly subservience of the legislative branch controlled by the majority party
that is in power

[delisen]

54. The destruction is deliberate. Trump hates America, our government and us

He is determined to destroy us. He would rather dominate a wasteland and inflict pain than have only limited power over a success

[Buddyzbuddy]

57. F*ck that! Get his kids out there to clean that yard.