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The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is now full of green algae and its newly blue painted bottom is peeling off. President Donald Trump is blaming vandals, not the unqualified contractors that his administration overpaid, for the damage. He is even having people arrested for this supposed vandalism.
The reflecting pool has become a metaphor for the Trump presidency.
In short, the president claims to fix something that was not broken. Rather than follow government protocols for bids to ensure the work is done by actual professionals, Trump gives the job to unqualified people, costing taxpayers precious dollars for inferior — and unnecessary — work. When things go wrong, he refuses any blame, instead making up fantastical stories and even punishing people who had nothing to do with the shoddy work.
In this case, experts agree that the paint job on the reflecting pool failed because it wasn’t done properly, not because of vandalism. It also probably didn’t help that a Trump motorcade drove over the painted bottom before the pool was refilled with water, and that workers poured peroxide into the water to try to eliminate the algae growth.
But, instead of accepting responsibility, Trump is blaming the damage on vandals. Several people, including an American Olympian, were arrested for touching pieces of the paint floating in the now green pool.
On his Truth Social platform, Trump threatened people who vandalize national monuments with “years in jail.” In another post, he referenced a 10-year prison sentence for such damage.
Does this same standard apply to people who actually damaged the U.S. Capitol and assaulted Capitol Police? No, Trump pardoned them. How about the guy who had the East Wing of the White House torn down without a permit? A federal court ruled recently that the East Wing was improperly torn down without congressional approval to make way for a ballroom that Trump has long touted. The construction site now remains an eyesore next to the White House. Ditto the South Lawn, which was torn up by a UFC fighting venue for Trump’s birthday earlier this month.
On a much larger, and more dangerous scale, the agreement to end Trump’s war with Iran follows the same pattern. Ending the bombings and killings in the Middle East is a big positive, but it remains unclear if anything was gained in what the U.S. called Operation Epic Fury. Last week’s memorandum of understanding, which is to be followed with a more formal agreement in 60 days, essentially returns things to the way they were before Trump launched the war, and he criticizes those who point this out.
The Strait of Hormuz will be open, as it was before the war.
Details of restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program have yet to be worked out and it is unclear if Iran will agree to limits on its nuclear capabilities. Under the multinational agreement reached by former President Barack Obama in 2015, Iran agreed to curtail its nuclear enrichment program and allowed inspections of its nuclear facilities. That agreement was unilaterally ended by Trump during his first term as president.
Iran’s assets are likely to be unfrozen, freeing up much more money that the Obama agreement did.
A major difference is that the United States has agreed to help set up a $300 billion fund to rebuild the country from the damage done by U.S. and Israeli airstrikes. It is unclear where this money will come from and lawmakers from both parties are concerned that some of it could be U.S. taxpayer dollars.
Thousands of Iranians, including more than 150 school children, were killed. Thirteen American service members died in Operation Epic Fury.
All for an agreement that so far is, by most measures, worse than the one that Trump nullified.
“This unnecessary war is Trump’s worst foreign policy mistake,” Former U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul said on Facebook. He was responding to comments from Vice President JD Vance that the agreement was a good one, largely because it reopened the Straits of Hormuz, a major shipping lane for oil from the Middle East.
“The strait was open before your war. Your war closed it,” McFaul posted. “And then you had to pledge billions and billions to these autocrats to reopen it.”
It may be a quaint notion, but a return to a time when America’s leadership was competent, followed the rule of law and did not demonize — and punish — its critics would be welcome as the United States approaches its 250th anniversary.
