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The United States is celebrating its 250th year. And what better way to mark that anniversary than with an American summer staple — a trip to the nation’s capital.

But visitors to Washington will find that the city is undergoing tremendous change, courtesy of President Donald Trump’s takeover makeover.

Since returning to office 17 months ago, Trump has demonstrated a continuing fixation with the District of Columbia. The Republican president has slapped his image and name on buildings, torn down storied structures, altered others, started massive construction projects and deployed armed military personnel.

The traditional tourist sights remain. But with slight detours, an open mind and a critical eye, the ambitious walker can see all the ways the president has pushed to remake the capital.

On the eve of the United States’ birthday, take a trip with The Associated Press across a changing Washington.

A new study found that the National Guard in D.C. has had no effect on violent crime. News4’s Jackie Bensen unpacks it.

First stop: An indefinite National Guard deployment

We start our tour at Union Station and Metro Center, the city’s main transit hubs. Notice the Greco-Roman architecture of the former, the Brutalist design of the latter. Now see the ongoing, indefinite deployment of armed National Guard troops there and in many other parts of the city.

National Guard members from the district and several states have been in the city since August 2025, deployed under an emergency order issued by Trump in what he called a bid to fight crime. Trump has portrayed the deployment as a lifeline for the city. They will be here for most, if not all, of 2026 and are expected to number 5,000 this summer.

It’s not the first time the military has deployed to the capital. Troops were in Washington throughout the Civil War, to quell riots after Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1968 assassination and, famously, hours into the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

But in Trump’s Washington, Guardsmen at street corners and metro stations have become an increasingly normal part of the city’s scenery.

And no one knows when they will leave.

Second stop: Scars left by DOGE

Exit Union Station, take in the view of the Capitol and turn right down Pennsylvania Avenue. There sits a building now synonymous with the Department of Government Efficiency, the Trump administration’s effort to shrink the federal government.

The U.S. Agency for International Development was the first major federal agency targeted by then-DOGE leader Elon Musk in the remake of the federal government, when cost-cutting measures prompted the terminations of tens of thousands of workers. USAID spent billions on humanitarian aid worldwide and was credited with saving millions of lives over time.

By eliminating 90% of foreign aid contracts, the Trump administration effectively cut some $60 billion in funding.

After workers cleared their desks in February 2025, the USAID offices on Pennsylvania Avenue were repurposed for other government uses.

The shuttering of the agency also contributed to a massive increase in unemployment in the region where about one-fifth of the workforce lives.

Many workers still ask: When their lives were upended, what was saved?

Third stop: Trump’s image staring down

Walking south along any of the numbered streets leads to Constitution Avenue and the National Mall. Banners bearing Trump’s image have adorned the facades of several government buildings over the past 17 months — an uncommon practice for a sitting American president and a highly literal sign of his imprint upon the city.

At the Department of the Interior, his image has equal billing with George Washington on similar banners proclaiming “America’s First” and “America First.”

A mile away, Trump’s face glowers from the storied Department of Justice building, a physical display of Trump’s efforts to exert power over the law enforcement agency that once investigated him. It’s also a striking symbol of the erosion of the department’s tradition of independence from White House control, as the president pushes to prosecute his political adversaries.

Next up: The Reflecting Pool painted ‘American flag blue’

Westward toward the Lincoln Memorial sits the recently repainted Reflecting Pool.

The site has always been a must-see on any tourist’s checklist. But the Reflecting Pool, the scene of historic marches and protests, today also symbolizes Trump’s drive to change Washington.

Trump called the area “filthy” and had workers paint it in a color he has called “American flag blue.” A Washington-based nonprofit that tried to block the move said it undermined the somber tone of the area, which sits near the memorials to Lincoln and to the Vietnam and Korean wars.

Since the makeover, the pool has been fraught with problems, from runaway algae growth to dead ducks and a torn lining. Authorities say vandals have been responsible for some of the problems and arrests have been made. The National Park Service said the liner was intentionally cut with a sharp razor or knife.

Getty Images

Getty Images

A walk over the Memorial Bridge across the Potomac River leads directly to the proposed future site of Trump’s 20-story, gold-adorned triumphal arch. Although embroiled in a court battle, like a number of his projects, the arch has been approved by a key federal agency and survey work has begun at the site.

In a city meticulously planned and rich with the symbolism that defines the nation, new construction can unsettle the carefully crafted balance.

The arch, when built, will break up the intentionally designed symbolic sightline between Arlington House, once the home of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, and the Lincoln Memorial, which symbolized the reunification of a divided nation following the Civil War.

Just ahead: The Trump-Kennedy Center

Visible from the site is the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts — known for much of this year as the Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center.

Congress named the performing arts venue as a living memorial to Kennedy in 1964, the year after he was assassinated. A law explicitly prohibits its board of trustees from making the center into a memorial to anyone else, and from putting another person’s name on the building’s exterior.

A court decision eventually stripped the center of Trump’s name, but a tarp remains there, obscuring the change.

Getty Images

Getty Images

Trump also added his name to the U.S. Institute of Peace, part of a broader series of tributes that has been largely unprecedented for a sitting, living president.

In the middle of it all: A significantly changed White House

No tour would be complete without 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. — the White House. There, gazers can look at the construction site formerly known as the East Wing. It’s now the president’s ballroom-in-waiting as the courts and Congress battle over whether to build it.

The White House has said the $400 million cost would be paid by private donors, but public money — around $1 billion for the entire White House complex, including the ballroom — would be used for security measures. The proposed building has also expanded to a size larger than the rest of the White House. Trump argues the ballroom is necessary for security reasons, and amplified that assertion after the attack on the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in April.

Not viewable on the tour: the area formerly known as the Rose Garden. Planted by then-first lady Jackie Kennedy, it has been paved over into a patio.

Last stop: Black Lives Matter Plaza no more

Directly north, across Pennsylvania Avenue, is the area of town formerly known as Black Lives Matter Plaza. During Trump’s first term, a more defiant Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser ordered the painting and naming of the area as a remembrance of the death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police.

BLM Plaza became a magnet point for years of political activism. Hundreds of protests started, ended or rallied there.

The plaza came down in March 2025 at Bowser’s direction, spurred by threats from Congress to hold the city’s funding. The decision served as an acknowledgment of a major shift in tone under Trump.

That’s the tour, folks. Please enjoy your stay.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Before basketball became such a big part of AJ Dybantsa’s life, he was like any other kid — growing up as a fan of a fictional superhero.

When he was about five, his father bought him a Spider-Man basketball hoop that went on the back of his door.

“I loved Spider-Man growing up. So I just started shooting from my bed with this miniature ball. Then I started playing in the YMCA leagues … ended up falling in love with the game,” Dybantsa said. “So Spider-Man is the reason why I love basketball.”

The Washington Wizards are certainly glad Dybantsa took up the sport and committed himself to it. Two days after taking the 6-foot-9 star out of BYU with the top pick in the NBA draft, the team introduced him Thursday at a hotel overlooking the Potomac River, about 1 1/2 miles south from where the Wizards play their home games.

“Nothing comes easy, but I want to be a piece of the puzzle that is part of the rebuild,” he said. “Obviously, Wizards fans have been waiting for a long time.”

This was the first time the Wizards have picked first in the draft since 2010 when they took John Wall. Dybantsa joins a team that hasn’t won 50 games in a season since 1979 — and more recently managed only 50 victories over the past three seasons combined.

One issue of uncertainty was resolved at the news conference. Dybantsa wore No. 3 in college, but in Washington that belongs to Trae Young. Dybantsa will change to No. 4.

“Previously wore No. 3, but I was the No. 1 pick,” he said. “Wanted to add those up, and we got four.”

Dybantsa averaged 25.5 points per game in college, becoming the first freshman to lead the nation in scoring since his new teammate, Young, did it at Oklahoma in 2017-18.

Washington fans will have a chance soon enough to see what Dybantsa brings on the court, but Thursday’s event was an opportunity to see the type of person they’ll be investing so much hope in. Dybantsa was personable and confident, and he seemed eager to get down to business. That much was clear back at the combine before the draft.

“It was like a job. My dad was like, ‘This is your first job interview,’” he said. “So we decided to dress up. I went to a suit and tie in every single interview. Media availability, that was in a suit and tie. So I just wanted to treat it like a real job.”

That made quite an impression on Wizards general manager Will Dawkins.

“It was a pretty fun first introduction, just to learn the maturity that he brings,” Dawkins said. “We allow opportunities to ask questions. Sometimes you get the standard questions from guys. We didn’t get that from AJ. He’s just curious and mature and asked some really deep questions.”

Dybantsa said he intends to graduate college, finishing his studies online, and he has big plans for how he can make a difference away from basketball. The 19-year-old has already started a foundation aimed at empowering young people.

“My mom’s from Jamaica, my dad’s from Congo. We’re going to start off just sending 20 kids from there to different universities,” he said. “If that’s universities in the continent of Africa, if that’s different universities in Jamaica, if that’s universities in the States, we’re going to try that. But after those, we’re just going to expand all around the world. We just want to help kids all around the world.”