WASHINGTON (AP) — Washington's hottest club has everything — Cabinet secretaries, a new stone patio, food from the White House kitchen and even a playlist curated by President Donald Trump.
But good luck getting a spot on the guest list. So far, only some of the president's political allies, business executives and administration officials have been invited.
In Trump's remake of the White House, the Rose Garden is now the Rose Garden Club, with the iconic lawn outside the Oval Office transformed into a taxpayer-supported imitation of the patio at Mar-a-Lago, the president's private Florida resort.
Trump debuted the name during his first formal dinner there this month and has included it on his official public schedule, too. He hosted another event Wednesday evening with members of his Cabinet and senior staff, according to an official who wasn't authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The event went off despite rain earlier in the evening. It was closed to the press, but an aide posted video of the Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon performing on the South Lawn.
Presidents have always used invitations to the White House as a prestigious reward for friends and supporters, but Trump’s rebranding of an iconic area of the People’s House is unprecedented. It’s a fresh example of how the billionaire Republican is replicating the gilded and cloistered bubble of his private life inside the confines of the most famous government housing in the country.
In his first term, Trump had an eponymous hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue a few blocks away from the White House and would go there often for dinner. But the Trump family sold the property during President Joe Biden's administration, leaving him without a uniquely Trump establishment in the city in his second term.
Now he doesn’t need to go anywhere to enter his comfort zone and, in fact, has been spending less time at his home on his golf course in central New Jersey than he did in the first year of his first term.
To make the Rose Garden his own, Trump paved over the grass and set out tables and chairs, complete with yellow-and-white striped umbrellas that resemble the ones at Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida. He also installed a speaker system to play his favorite tunes as he does in Florida.
The project cost about $2 million and was paid for by private donations to the Trust for the National Mall, a nonprofit that works with the National Park Service.
The events on the new White House patio so far have been official in nature and are part of the long tradition of presidential entertaining at the Executive Mansion, with military social aides on hand to escort guests and the kitchen staff tasked to whip up the sustenance.
Trump, who rose to fame as a New York real estate executive, also ran casinos and hotels, and he still loves playing host. He frequently flatters his guests as brilliant and beautiful and relishes the ability to gather the country’s most powerful people.
All presidents invite family members and friends, lawmakers and political allies, donors and business leaders and others to the White House for reasons that range from bill signings and policy announcements to picnics and lavish state dinners.
Trump is expected to entertain on the white marble patio, in the shadow of the Washington Monument, as often as he can, the White House said.
Taxpayers pick up the tab for some of the social events hosted by a president, like the gathering for Republican lawmakers. Congress gives the White House money to pay for events like these since the Executive Mansion is also the president’s home.
Events of a more personal nature, like a birthday party or the funeral service Trump held at the White House in 2020 for his younger brother, Robert, would have to be paid for by the president since it is not considered government, or the people’s, business.
The official debut of the Rose Garden Club was supposed to be with tech titans such as Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, Google's Sundar Pichai and Microsoft's Satya Nadella. However, rain forced Trump to move the Sept. 4 event indoors to the ornate State Dining Room.
The honor of being first instead went to Republican lawmakers, who gathered around two dozen tables under a clear night sky on Sept. 5.
Holding a microphone, Trump welcomed his guests by saying “you are the first ones in this great place.” He described it as “a club” for “people that can bring peace and success to our country.”
Table settings featured white tablecloths and yellow roses, plus a place card that said, “The Rose Garden Club at the White House.”
Dinner started with a Rose Garden Salad that included tomatoes and iceberg lettuce, followed by steak or chicken, or pasta primavera for vegetarians. Chocolate cake was dessert.
Trump sat at a corner table with House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas and Sen. Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania. Other lawmakers circulated by Trump’s table for photos with the president. Some were posted online.
"It was a honor to be there,” wrote Rep. John McGuire of Virginia.
FILE - President Donald Trump, center, stands with Judge Amy Coney Barrett as they arrive for a news conference to announce Barrett as his nominee to the Supreme Court, Sept. 26, 2020 in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie watches from fourth row from front on far right. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Most American presidents aspire to the kind of greatness that prompts future generations to name important things in their honor.
Donald Trump isn't leaving it to future generations.
As the first year of his second term wraps up, his Republican administration and allies have put his name on the U.S. Institute of Peace, the Kennedy Center performing arts venue and a new class of battleships that's yet to be built.
That’s on top of the “Trump Accounts” for tax-deferred investments, the TrumpRx government website soon to offer direct sales of prescription drugs, the “Trump Gold Card” visa that costs at least $1 million and the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, a transit corridor included in a deal his administration brokered between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
On Friday, he attended a ceremony at his Florida home to mark the renaming of a 4-mile (6-kilometer) stretch of road from the airport to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach as President Donald J. Trump Boulevard.
“That’s a very important stretch," Trump said as he thanked local officials for the dedication.
“When people see that the beautiful sign is all lit up nice at night and it says ‘Donald J. Trump Boulevard,’ they’ll be filled with pride. Just pride," Trump said. “Not in me. Pride in our country.”
It’s unprecedented for a sitting president to embrace tributes of that number and scale, especially those proffered by members of his administration. And while past sitting presidents have typically been honored by local officials naming schools and roads after them, it's exceedingly rare for airports, federal buildings, warships or other government assets to be named for someone still in power.
“At no previous time in history have we consistently named things after a president who was still in office,” said Jeffrey Engel, the David Gergen Director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. “One might even extend that to say a president who is still alive. Those kind of memorializations are supposed to be just that — memorials to the passing hero.”
White House spokeswoman Liz Huston said the TrumpRx website linked to the president's deals to lower the price of some prescription drugs, along with “overdue upgrades of national landmarks, lasting peace deals, and wealth-creation accounts for children are historic initiatives that would not have been possible without President Trump’s bold leadership.”
"The Administration’s focus isn’t on smart branding, but delivering on President Trump’s goal of Making America Great Again," Huston said.
The White House pointed out that the nation's capital was named after President George Washington and the Hoover Dam was named after President Herbert Hoover while each was serving as president.
For Trump, it’s a continuation of the way he first etched his place onto the American consciousness, becoming famous as a real estate developer who affixed his name in big gold letters on luxury buildings and hotels, a casino and assorted products like neckties, wine and steaks.
As he ran for president in 2024, the candidate rolled out Trump-branded business ventures for watches, fragrances, Bibles and sneakers — including golden high tops priced at $799. After taking office again last year, Trump's businesses launched a Trump Mobile phone company, with plans to unveil a gold-colored smartphone and a cryptocurrency memecoin named $TRUMP.
That’s not to be confused with plans for a physical, government-issued Trump coin that U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach said the U.S. Mint is planning.
Trump has also reportedly told the owners of Washington’s NFL team that he would like his name on the Commanders’ new stadium. The team’s ownership group, which has the naming rights, has not commented on the idea. But a White House spokeswoman in November called the proposed name “beautiful” and said Trump made the rebuilding of the stadium possible.
The addition of Trump’s name to the Kennedy Center in December so outraged independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont that he introduced legislation this week to ban the naming or renaming of any federal building or land after a sitting president — a ban that would retroactively apply to the Kennedy Center and Institute of Peace.
“I think he is a narcissist who likes to see his name up there. If he owns a hotel, that’s his business,” Sanders said in an interview. “But he doesn’t own federal buildings.”
Sanders likened Trump's penchant for putting his name on government buildings and more to the actions of authoritarian leaders throughout history.
“If the American people want to name buildings after a president who is deceased, that’s fine. That’s what we do,” Sanders said. “But to use federal buildings to enhance your own position very much sounds like the ‘Great Leader’ mentality of North Korea, and that is not something that I think the American people want.”
Although some of the naming has been suggested by others, the president has made clear he’s pleased with the tributes.
Three months after the announcement of the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, a name the White House says was proposed by Armenian officials, the president gushed about it at a White House dinner.
“It’s such a beautiful thing, they named it after me. I really appreciate it. It’s actually a big deal,” he told a group of Central Asian leaders.
Engel, the presidential historian, said the practice can send a signal to people "that the easiest way to get access and favor from the president is to play to his ego and give him something or name something after him.”
Some of the proposals for honoring Trump include legislation in Congress from New York Republican Rep. Claudia Tenney that would designate June 14 as “Trump’s Birthday and Flag Day," placing the president with the likes of Martin Luther King Jr., George Washington and Jesus Christ, whose birthdays are recognized as national holidays.
Florida Republican Rep. Greg Steube has introduced legislation that calls for the Washington-area rapid transit system, known as the Metro, to be renamed the “Trump Train.” North Carolina Republican Rep. Addison McDowell has introduced legislation to rename Washington Dulles International Airport as Donald J. Trump International Airport.
McDowell said it makes sense to give Dulles a new name since Trump has already announced plans to revamp the airport, which currently is a tribute to former Secretary of State John Foster Dulles.
The congressman said he wanted to honor Trump because he feels the president has been a champion for combating the scourge of fentanyl, a personal issue for McDowell after his brother’s overdose death. But he also cited Trump’s efforts to strike peace deals all over the world and called him “one of the most consequential presidents ever.”
“I think that’s somebody that deserves to be honored, whether they’re still the president or whether they’re not," he said.
More efforts are underway in Florida, Trump’s adopted home.
Republican state lawmaker Meg Weinberger said she is working on an effort to rename Palm Beach International Airport as Donald J. Trump International Airport, a potential point of confusion with the Dulles effort.
The boulevard dedicated to Trump on Friday is not the first Florida asphalt to herald Trump upon his return to the White House.
In the south Florida city of Hialeah, officials in December 2024 renamed a street there as President Donald J. Trump Avenue.
Trump, speaking at a Miami business conference the next month, called it a “great honor” and said he loved the mayor for it.
“Anybody that names a boulevard after me, I like,” he said.
He added a few moments later: “A lot of people come back from Hialeah, they say, ‘They just named a road after you.' I say, ‘That’s OK.’ It’s a beginning, right? It’s a start.”
Supporters wave flags as President Donald Trump motorcades through West Palm Beach, Fla., along Southern Boulevard, the stretch of road being dedicated to him, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Attendees wait for President Donald Trump to arrive at a dedication ceremony for a portion of Southern Boulevard, which the Town of Palm Beach Council recently voted to rename,"President Donald J. Trump Boulevard," Friday, Jan. 16, 2026, at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
FILE - A sign for the Rose Garden is seen near the Presidential Walk of Fame on the Colonnade at the White House, Jan. 13, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
FILE - President Donald Trump speaks with reporters as a flag pole is installed on the South Lawn of the White House, June 18, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - Workers add President Donald Trump's name to the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, after a Trump-appointed board voted to rename the institution, in Washington, Dec. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
FILE - A poster showing the Trump Gold Card is seen as President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House, Sept. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, file)
