A Reflection of Failure
Trump couldn't even fix a pool
Video discussion for paid subscribers follows article. FYI: I’m in El Salvador this week, where my wife is from. Will do my best to keep up the videos and show you some beautiful pictures
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was never supposed to be about Donald Trump. It was built to reflect Abraham Lincoln’s memorial and the Washington Monument beyond it. A quiet, dignified space that invites Americans to contemplate the country’s highest ideals and its unfinished work. It exists as a backdrop to history. Yet somehow, in the year 2026, the Reflecting Pool has become a perfect symbol of the Trump presidency.
A few weeks ago, Donald Trump proudly unveiled his multimillion-dollar makeover of the iconic pool. He promised crystal-clear water. He promised beauty and efficiency. He painted the bottom what he called “American Flag Blue” and presented the project as proof that only he could solve a problem that had frustrated others for years.
Today, the water is green. The paint is peeling, and the excuses are flowing. This would be a funny story if it weren’t so familiar.
Trump’s renovation of the Reflecting Pool reportedly cost more than $14 million, and the cost is still rising. Within days of completion, algae blooms had returned, turning the water green. Workers were back on site trying to skim away algae and deploy chemical treatments. Meanwhile, large sections of the blue coating began flaking off the bottom of the pool. The grand unveiling quickly became an embarrassment.
When confronted with the obvious failure, Trump responded the way he always does: by blaming someone else. Instead of acknowledging that the project may have been poorly conceived or poorly executed, he claimed that vandals had sabotaged the pool. This morning CBS is reporting that several arrests have been made in connection to vandalism, but those detained are denying they had any involvement and have been swept up in the hunt for someone to blame. I am going to keep my powder dry on these charges, mostly because now there have been more arrests around the reflecting pool than in connection with the Epstein files.
This habit is one of the defining characteristics of Trump’s political career. Nothing is ever his fault. There is always a conspiracy, or a hidden enemy. There is always someone else to blame. The possibility that the project itself was flawed will never cross his mind.
That tendency helps explain why so many of Trump’s business ventures ended in failure. Casinos went bankrupt. Trump University collapsed in scandal. Various licensing ventures fizzled. Again and again, Trump sold himself as a master builder and genius executive. Again and again, reality begged to differ. The Reflecting Pool is simply the latest example. Rumor has it Trump’s next book will be called “The Art of The Peel.”
There is a deeper irony here. The Reflecting Pool was renovated because Trump wanted it to look better for America’s 250th birthday celebration. But what exactly was wrong with the old pool?
For more than a century, the Reflecting Pool has been a living part of Washington’s landscape. It has always presented maintenance challenges. The water occasionally develops algae. The structure leaks. Engineers and preservationists have wrestled with those problems for decades. The goal was never to create a giant swimming pool. The goal was to preserve a historic national monument.
Trump approached the challenge differently. He saw a cosmetic problem and reached for a cosmetic solution. Instead of respecting the character of the monument, he decided to transform it into something that looked more like one of his resorts. The result was a blue-bottomed pool that briefly resembled a luxury hotel water feature before reverting to green.
This brings to mind what William F. Buckley Jr. said about Trump more than a quarter-century ago: “When he looks at a glass, he is mesmerized by its reflection.”
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