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US president Donald Trump’s use of the National Guard has sparked ridicule before (back in August when instead of fighting a “crime emergency”, they were spotted litter picking), and now it’s being mocked again as he deployed troops to guard the Reflecting Pool amid algae and peeling sealant.
Trump lashed out at what he called “vandalism” at the Washington D.C. site on his Truth Social platform on Friday, writing that law enforcement were “actively investigating” the situation and that they will “hopefully have it resolved soon”.
A day later, he claimed in another post that the Reflecting Pool under the Trump administration “worked perfectly, including the mirror like finish, perfectly reflecting the two Great Monuments, which It never had before”.
He wrote: “What these terrible Vandals have done is a true affront to both Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and should be dealt with accordingly.
“We met with contractors today, will probably be forced to release and drain much of the water in order to do the necessary repairs, but will have them done as quickly as possible.”
Well now, the National Guard has been filmed keeping an eye on things at the pool. A former Olympic athlete from Maryland has claimed he was arrested for reaching into the pool to touch a piece of the failing sealant.
“I didn’t vandalize anything,” David Hearn, 67, told The Washington Post on Saturday. “I didn’t destroy or break or peel anything. By the time I realized what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs.”
And Americans have had a lot to say about the National Guard's deployment on X/Twitter.
“As you can see at the end of the clip, the algae is safe. Well done,” commented one account:
Another wrote: “So Trump can deploy the National Guard in minutes to protect the Reflecting Pool but not the Capitol building on J6? Interesting”:
“Your tax dollars at work,” tweeted Republicans Against Trump:
Political commentator Jamie Bonkiewicz said: “They’ve arrested more people for touching the peeling paint at the Reflecting Pool than they’ve arrested from the Epstein files”:
And Trump biographer Seth Abramson wrote: “There are simply no words anymore for how pathetic all this is”:
You could say this whole situation doesn’t reflect well on Trump (pun very much intended)…
Why not read…?
- Trump launches Truth Social poll - and apparently it's 'very important'
- Trump fighting Lincoln Memorial pool algae is a ‘perfect metaphor’
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