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Fencing around Reflecting Pool in Washington DC
New York Post - Vertical / VideoElephant
US president Donald Trump has overseen a number of controversial renovation works since returning to the White House last year, from demolishing the East Wing of the presidential building to make way for a ballroom, to trying to upgrade the Reflecting Pool by the Lincoln Memorial – something which hasn’t gone all too swimmingly (sorry).
Per BBC News, renovations to the pool – to give it an “American flag blue” colour in time for the country’s 250th birthday celebrations on July 4 - began back in April, but the situation has gone from bad to worse.
Let’s give you a timeline…
June 3, 2026: The ‘third grade’ visual aid
Even the way Trump bragged about the Reflecting Pool sparked ridicule, as he held a press conference in the Oval Office at the start of the month which featured a bizarre chart comparing the size of a horizontal pool with vertical buildings.
Yes, really.
June 12, 2026: The algae
Despite the intention being that the pool would look blue, things soon ended up looking green, as algae was spotted lingering in the water.
June 19, 2026: The peeling paint
To combat the algae, workers were seen pumping chemicals into the pool, but that soon posed another problem, as the dark blue paint/sealant began to peel off the pool and float to the surface.
The Lincoln Project noted hydrogen peroxide – which outlets report is what was used to tackle the algae – is “used as paint remover”.
June 19, 2026: Trump accuses “Radical Left Lunatics” of Reflecting Pool “vandalism”
In a lengthy rant on Truth Social, Trump fumed that his administration has “had some real problems with Vandalism at the beautiful Reflecting Pool”.
He went on to say: “The algae is 75% gone, and the condition will soon be completely remedied, and the area that was vandalized, fortunately, is just a small area of damage, and will be fixed early next week.
“It’s a shame that the Radical Left Lunatics, most likely Dumocrats, who have spent their lives trying to ruin our Country, are free to do so.
“Law Enforcement is actively investigating this situation, and will hopefully have it resolved soon.”
June 20, 2026: Deploying the National Guard
After Trump claimed ‘vandals’ were responsible for the state of the Reflecting Pool, members of the National Guard were filmed patrolling the Washington, D.C. landmark.
The president even took to Truth Social to claim park police had “arrested multiple individuals for vandalizing our Nations magnificent Reflecting Poll [sic]”, and that “much of the water” may have to be drained from the pool to carry out repairs.
June 21, 2026: A duckling reportedly dies
As the algae situation continued to gain media attention, independent journalist Aaron Parnas shared an image of a dead duckling at the Reflecting Pool.
Critics responded by resharing past comments from Trump about windmills killing birds, and a tweet from the Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee depicting Trump cuddling a duck and a kitten with the text: “Protect our ducks and kittens in Ohio!”
June 22, 2026: Blaming Barack Obama
We’re not joking.
When one reporter pointed out to Trump that he said he “had a guy who was going to do [the renovations] in a week for about a million dollars”, only for it to take two months and cost $16.5 million, the president directed attention towards his predecessor.
“OK, ready? Barack Hussein Obama. Have you ever heard of him?
“He spent two years, and over $100 million dollars on trying to fix it. Do you know what happened to it? It never even opened,” Trump claimed, citing a figure that FactCheck.org reports is grossly exaggerated.
June 23, 2026: Fencing is erected
With all the increased attention the pool was getting, workers were then seen putting up fencing around the site.
The Department of the Interior told The Independent in a statement: “The Reflecting Pool was always set to be fenced off ahead of the 4th of July.
“As in years prior, one of the launch pads for the fireworks is around the pool so fencing is put up to ensure public safety. With the increase in vandalism by leftist activists, the fencing is going up earlier than originally planned to ensure no more damage is done to this historic site.”
June 28, 2026: Trump hits out at "criminally made algae"
In a recent and extremely lengthy rant on Truth Social, Trump said the “criminally made algae” is now gone, and people can’t move past the three-word term.
“The Reflecting Pool is now in full use after suffering great damage from Criminal, Radical Left Vandals, people that truly hate our Country … In the meantime, it is working well, the criminally made algae is gone,” Trump wrote in one part.
The farce continues…
Why not read…?
- Biden launches scathing attack on 'loser' Trump over Reflecting Pool
- Trump could be humiliated with one tiny change as petition grows
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