America is moving on from Trump. And he thoroughly hates it

Donald Trump is not short of things to do. Global prices of oil, petrol and diesel are all heightened by the war between Russia and Ukraine – which Trump promised to end on “day one” of his presidency, but hasn’t – and his own war with Iran. Domestic production has sheltered the US from the worst impacts of that, but a hurricane is expected to hit the Gulf Coast – where much of US production is concentrated – this weekend. Trump could be doing all he can to prepare for that. He could even dedicate himself to winning the midterms, given he claims to still believe he is far more popular than his terrible polling numbers suggest, regarding himself as crucial to avoiding a Republican wipeout at the ballot box in just a few weeks. Instead, though, Trump has retreated to his comfort zone, focusing on a possible renovation project, and claiming he’s doing it for America. Trump is already building a White House ballroom at astronomical public and private expense, without having bothered to get congressional permission before demolishing the historic East Wing. He is trying to build a triumphal arch – which he claims will double as ammunition storage – near Arlington National Cemetery. He asked Congress for more than $250m in public money to renovate the Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts, but is threatening to demolish it instead, because he can’t add his name to it. Now, the President suggests, Trump International Golf Club – one of his Florida golf courses – could serve as an alternative to Camp David, the rural retreat used by presidents since Franklin D Roosevelt for discreet diplomacy. “It’s only about two minutes away from the airport,” Trump told reporters. “They could spend the weekend there, like a retreat, like a sort of Camp David retreat.”As he often does, Trump is suggesting that the facility would be something of a “gift” to the nation, for which the golf business would bear the costs. Trump’s opponents might easily note that the President’s “gifts” for the nation often end up benefitting Trump himself or associates. In June, The Washington Post reported that, according to a government watchdog group, more than half of the publicly identified donors to Trump’s White House ballroom project had won new or expanded federal contracts worth more than $50bn during the past six months. Some might reasonably wonder whether Trump is merely seeing the chance to renovate one of his properties under the guise of a national project. The President also seems increasingly obsessed with the idea of a legacy. In his first year, he pursued the idea of a Nobel Peace Prize with an almost monomaniacal fixation, mentioning it publicly time and again. Now, seemingly having realised he is vanishingly unlikely to secure that prize, Trump has returned to brick and mortar. If he can build monuments or extensions to the White House, his name will endure beyond his presidency. But the idea of a future president using a golf course owned by Trump as a retreat seems a fanciful one, even by the standards of this president. The entire point of Camp David is that it is remote. It doesn’t appear on tourist maps (though its location within Catoctin Mountain Park in Maryland is, of course, no secret) and has no neighbours nearby. The media can be kept at a distance. A golf course two minutes from a major airport, well-connected by highways, and with an existing staff and membership is almost the exact opposite of that. Sheer practicality would suggest Trump International had little to offer any future president not named Trump. That’s before Trump’s deepening unpopularity is even taken into account. The President’s favourability ratings are now on a par with the lows of George W Bush at the end of his second term, after the war in Iraq had turned into a disaster no one could deny. No future president, even one of Trump’s own party, will want to tie themselves to that. Trump seems to see the idea of sharing one of his properties with the nation as a parallel to the use of Buckingham Palace or similar royal residencies in the UK – seemingly forgetting that it was opposition to the very idea of kings that birthed the nation he now leads. America has never wanted a king. Increasingly, it doesn’t want Donald Trump, either. And there is no renovation project, however grand, that is going to fix that for him.