‘What Happened to It?’: Trump’s Reflecting Pool Disaster Takes Another Wild Turn as Eagle-Eyed Viewers Spot One Major Detail Has Vanished
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has become one of Washington’s nightmares thanks to President Donald Trump.
Trump ordered crews to paint the 2,028-foot Reflecting Pool floor “American flag blue.”
The project was expected to cost $1.5 million to $2 million. It has since ballooned past $14 million and federal officials awarded no-bid contracts to companies with financial ties to Trump.
And it keeps getting worse.
Since the initial renovation ended in June, the Reflecting Pool has turned into an embarrassing debacle.
Large chunks of the blue lining began peeling off the concrete basin and resurfaced to the top of the water, leaving visitors in shock.
Not to mention, a massive algae bloom turned the pool’s water green, which turned people’s stomachs even more.
During a meltdown, Trump accused vandals of causing the damage by slicing a huge gash into the pool floor. However, the president has yet to provide any evidence of the damage.
Eventually, the administration had fences put up to encircle the site during the Freedom 250 celebrations on Independence Day, claiming the move was a precaution for the scheduled fireworks display.
Beginning on July 10, 6.5 million gallons of water were completely emptied from the Reflecting Pool again, so the contractors could make further repairs.
In a July 13 Truth Social post, Trump claimed crews drained the Reflecting Pool after vandals left 300-yard slashes that scarred and cut its floor.
Days later, on July 17th, he said, “The Reflecting Pool, so badly damaged by Deranged Vandals, has been emptied as the massive slash gets repaired. We got it through the great July Fourth Weekend. What kind of animals would do such a thing?”
Trump continued, “We are looking for a Vandal Proof material, but such a thing should not have been necessary. The Scum in Court will hopefully be prosecuted to the MAX. President DJT.”
Workers cleared most of the debris visible earlier this week after draining the pool. But Trump’s response seems like an excuse for the viral image of surveyors working on the bare pool
A July 15 image shows the fenced-off pool, where the bottom Trump said vandals cut now looks gray, not blue.
“Is it just me or is all the blue paint gone?” a Threads user wondered about the barren, gray-colored bottom.
View on Threads
No one could identify the so-called “300 yard” gash Trump spoke about. But many people believe the damage came from his mistakes with this renovation.
“I heard the color change is soot from the 850,000 fireworks,” said one person, referring to the Fourth of July ceremony.
“It looks like it’s there, but covered with thick layer of dried-up algae,” pointed out another person.
Those responses just fueled more concern. “Yeah, that concerns me. Where did all the water with all that hydrogen peroxide in it get drained to?” asked one skeptic. Another said, “Yes, it’s gone so what happened to it?“
The Washington Post did an extensive analysis of the installation of the pool’s lining, and four waterproofing materials experts suggested that the application process caused the errors.
“There were no missteps during the initial repairs to the pool,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told the outlet. “Unfortunately, deranged individuals made several gashes in the side of the pool and destroyed over 300 feet of the pool’s siding.”
An Interior Department spokesperson insisted the Pool is “leak-proof” after a consultation with the Army Corps of Engineers’ Engineering Research and Design Center.
CNN anchor Jake Tapper interviewed a WaPo representative about the publication’s findings that the Reflecting Pool mishaps were the result of an application failure.
“So it wasn’t vandals. Another Trump lie,” one X user expressed in reaction to a clip from the cable news broadcast.
A second poster tweeted, “Hiring incompetent contractors has consequences.” A third gleefully predicted, “Trump will not be happy with this assessment!”
Virginia-based Atlantic Industrial Coatings reportedly received more than $14 million to paint the Reflecting Pool floor in Trump’s preferred “American flag blue” shade.
The Interior Department also awarded Ohio-based Green Water Solutions $1.7 million. The company will install a “Nano Bubble” water purification system to kill algae.
Previously, Atlantic Industrial Coatings performed work on swimming pools at the Trump National Golf Club in Virginia. Furthermore, Green Water Solutions CEO John J. Cafaro donated $250,000 to the Trump Victory fundraising committee in 2020.