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Even with the Iran War back in full swing, the Greenwater Scandal seems inescapable.
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool became richly verdant with algae. The lining was falling apart.
Donald Trump has blamed “vandals,” despite ample evidence that the hasty no-bid work would always have had a result like this.
Following a series of bizarre arrests, he’s doubling down, insisting that “country-hating sleezebags” are to blame.
‘Damage that was done by the vandals’
Late on Monday, July 13, Trump took to his personal social media platform to post an update on the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
“We drained the beautiful ‘Reflecting Pool’ today,” he announced.
He claimed that this was “in order to fix the scars and damage that was done by the Vandals two weeks ago.”
(We have not altered Trump’s distinct brand of nonsensical capitalization in sharing his message, as you can see in the screenshot below.
“We wanted to wait until after the July 4th Weekend,” Trump then explained.
“The slashes were 300 yards long,” Trump claimed without proof.
“And,” he alleged without substantiation, “the floor of the pool was cut and then pulled upward, with great force, by these thugs.”
As he continued, Trump added: “The Parks Department had to empty the water in order to fix the water tight basin. It will be refilled and put back into service soon.”
He insisted: “These Country hating sleazebags should pay a big price for the damage done.”
In all caps, Trump concluded: “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! President DJT.”
MacFarlane: Welcome back to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which has retained its very swampy, green-like color. It’s still fenced off. It’s still inaccessible. It’s still not in its best shape. It is reflecting again, but it’s almost like it’s quarantined in its green-like state.
— Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) July 9, 2026 at 9:41 PM
‘These Country hating sleazebags’
It would be easy to say that the Greenwater scandal — where Trump gave a sweetheart multimillion dollar deal to an absurd-looking donor to “fix” the Reflecting Pool, only for the result to be as disastrous as anyone would imagine — is downright funny.
And, in many ways, it is funny. Not the part where ducks land the water only to die, but the algae is a clear visual metaphor of the Trump regime’s corruption and incompetence.
But Trump has had several people arrested for simply touching or appearing to touch the Reflecting Pool when they stopped by to marvel at the “Ninja Turtles slime” transformation of a national monument.
Just for the record, Trump had the Presidential Motorcade drive over the pool before it was filled.
If there’s a long cut in the material, would it not simply be caused by that?
The Reflecting Pool, now drained.
You decide who the ‘vandals’ might have been.— 🌹WeegieFromWA 🍀 (@onefussyone.bsky.social) July 13, 2026 at 7:48 PM
To be clear, if there is any “evidence” that the peeling of the Reflecting Pool’s silly blue lining or the presence of algae are the result of vandalism, it remains well hidden from the public.
In reality, what happened is simple: this was a rushed job on a no-bid contract, because Trump wants to remake the image of major American landmarks and institutions — from the White House to the Kennedy Center to the Reflecting Pool — to glorify himself.
Painting the Reflecting Pool bottom a dark blue means means that the pool absorbs more heat from the sun, heating the water, promoting the growth of algae.
Rushing through a job based upon weird optics instead of wanting to do something right is seldom a recipe for success.
Hopefully, the evidence — or lack thereof — will prevail and those arrested because Trump feels embarrassed will go free. But this is a reminder that we live in a frightening time, where the truth doesn’t seem to matter as much as one cantankerous old man’s ego.
