Trump, 80, Unravels Over Botched Vanity Project in Morning Meltdown

[riversedge]

Source: daily beast


BREAKDOWN MODE
The president made unhinged claims that his disastrous $14 million pool renovation was targeted by vandals.

Sarah Ewall-Wice Jun. 22 2026 9:59AM EDT



President Donald Trump spent Monday morning freaking out about the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool after his renovations turned into a debacle with algae and peeling paint ahead of July 4 celebrations.

The president took to Truth Social to post unhinged threats and accusations after the massive pool on the National Mall has become a mess following his repeated bragging about how good he was at fixing pools...............





Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-80-unravels-over-botched-vanity-project-in-morning-meltdown/?utm_source=bsky_owned_snd&utm_medium=bsky&utm_campaign=owned_social

---

The president kicked off his Monday morning with unhinged claims that his disastrous million pool renovation was targeted by vandals.

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast.bsky.social) 2026-06-22T14:20:01.375Z

Trump never acknowledges his failures so others are to blame.

— (@gcm5.bsky.social) 2026-06-22T14:23:08.778Z

[riversedge]

1. This is one of Trumps tweets this Monday morning.........

Link to tweet

?s=20

[travelingthrulife]

3. That must have taken Kash a long, long time to carve '8647' over 300 feet.

Lunacy.

[Wiz Imp]

6. Lying again as always. There is NO gash!

A gash with a knife or other sharp object would not cause the paint/coating to come off in small irregular chunks like it has. Also, the only chemicals being poured in has been the hydrogen peroxide poured in by National Park Service employees.

https://www.npr.org/2026/06/21/nx-s1-5865636/trump-reflecting-pool-dc-vandals-drain-green

Trump claims vandals damaged D.C. Reflecting Pool, and says it will be drained again

President Trump has claimed that United States Park Police have made several arrests in connection with what he described as deliberate sabotage of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington D.C., which underwent a multimillion-dollar renovation earlier this year.

"The United States Park Police have arrested multiple individuals for vandalizing our Nations magnificent Reflecting Pool," Trump wrote on Truth Social late Saturday evening. "These are very serious crimes having to do with the destruction of National Monuments. Years in jail! Work will begin immediately on its repair."

In a second post on Saturday, Trump described the alleged damage in greater detail, saying more arrests had followed. He provided no evidence for any of his claims about the nature of the damage, and neither the Park Police nor any other law enforcement agency had publicly confirmed any arrests as of the time of publication.

The president connected the alleged vandalism to the recent green color of the pool — again, without evidence. The pool turned green last week after being refilled following its renovation, in which its floor was repainted in a shade Trump calls "American flag blue."

"They took some form of knife or blade, and put a 250 foot long gash into the beautiful facade of what took so much work, competence, and money to build and complete. They also poured corrosive and destructive chemicals into the Pool."

Aquatic ecologists and pool specialists told NPR the discoloration was caused by a natural bloom of algae from the genus Desmodesmus — a process scientists say is common in shallow, sun-exposed bodies of water, and one that may have been accelerated by the renovation disturbing the nutrient balance of the water. A George Mason University professor who took water samples confirmed the algae was not toxic.

[Botany]

2. He looks very ill.

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:xzlvsk4ty7ecwigbjpxah6yb/post/3mov3fcazh724?ref_src=embed&ref_url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.democraticunderground.com%252F10143682715

[riversedge]

4. Trump on the Reflecting Pool: "It's very strong. You couldn't, if you had a knife -- I don't want to give anybody ideas --

The Bulwark
@BulwarkOnline
·
Jun 20
Trump on the Reflecting Pool: "It's very strong. You couldn't, if you had a knife — I don't want to give anybody ideas — if you had a knife, you can't even cut it. So strong, so powerful."

Link to tweet

?s=20

[travelingthrulife]

5. Isn't it designed to 'leak'? I thought it was meant to trickle through the bottom

and water just added to the top, like a natural lake basin.

[Maeve]

12. That is how it was designed, BUT...he had it sealed. He is sure he knows more than the designers!!

[Botany]

13. Yes it designed and constructed to do just that and that water went a few feet down to the

water table which is the depth of the tidal basin. Pool guys build swimming pools where
the system is sealed but the water goes into plumbing then into, chemical treatments which
now are computer controlled, and then pumped back into the pool. Just like prior to Trump’s
Iranian war where he was told not to do it he was warned about the algae prior to this mess.

[electric_blue68]

7. Hmmm.... "Interesting" that that originally 250 ft gash (bc I posted about) suddenly "grew" another 50 ft to 300 ft!

🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔 🙄😑

[RB77]

8. I always thought -

That every inch of our Capital is on 24 hour video surveillance. These Antifa folks must be pretty slick. 😬

[evolves]

15. Haven't you heard of

Antifa Ninjas??🥷🏻

[Torchlight]

9. Mr. trump's result: another instance of flawed minds

interpreting assertions they pretend are data, and then spending more money finding someone to blame the obvious results on than the cost of the problem itself.

[slightlv]

10. Wait a minute...

didn't he order all the hydrogen peroxide to be put into the water? - in the vain attempt to kill algae! If he didn't order it, then he should find out who on his staff gave the order and go after them tooth and nail. The one thing he shouldn't do is drag some unsuspecting bystander trying to grab a souvenir floating paint glob or someone just "reflecting" on what had been done to the National Reflecting Pool and have them hauled off to jail in handcuffs. Especially while he's pardoning all the criminals who have the money needed to feed his addiction!

[twodogsbarking]

11. The President will henceforth be known as 'Eighty Year Old Donald Trump".

Our President is older than your president's father.

[FakeNoose]

14. The secret service vans drove down the entire length of the pool while the paint was still drying

There's your vandalism right there, Chump! No need to look any further.

[mwmisses4289]

16. So when do you and your collaborators get arrested and thrown in jail?

Last edited Mon Jun 22, 2026, 03:51 PM - Edit history (1)

[Mysterian]

17. Yeah, vandals caused a shitty epoxy paint job to peel away over acres of substrate.

Those sneaky libtards!!

[democratsruletheday]

18. just another asinine distraction while shit Gibbon and his buddies

grift and steal the day away. Fuck the 'reflecting pool' and his stupid ass.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

19. MaddowBlog-Scrambling to avoid blame for Reflecting Pool fiasco, Trump's defense turns farcical

The debacle has become a metaphor of sorts, but not the one the president had in mind.

For Trump, the Reflecting Pool was supposed to be a totemic success story, demonstrating that his unique approach to problem-solving is fundamentally superior to his predecessors’.

This one project would serve as a metaphor for how awesome his awesomeness is.

Oops.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-06-23T13:15:51.138Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-reflecting-pool-fiasco-defense

There is a degree of irony surrounding Donald Trump’s Reflecting Pool fiasco. For months, the president obsessed over the renovation project, framing it as a metaphor for how awesome his awesomeness is: The Republican would tackle a lingering problem that vexed previous administrations, while delivering impressive results quickly and cheaply.....

With this in mind, the president came to realize in recent days that he needed an excuse — or preferably villains who could shoulder the blame for his own failures.

To that end, he began assuring the public over the weekend that he had succeeded beautifully, but that “vandals” intervened and ruined his triumph. At an unrelated White House event on Monday afternoon, the president went further, alleging nefarious criminals — some armed with “probably a box cutter or a knife of some kind” — attacked the Reflecting Pool with fertilizer and “did something to create the algae.”

The administration said five people were arrested on charges of vandalism, though without more information, it’s nearly impossible to say whether these people actually did anything wrong or whether they were charged as part of an inherently political exercise.

As is usually the case with Trump’s more outlandish claims, he has provided no evidence. At his Oval Office event on Monday afternoon, the president suggested the evidence exists, but he’s not yet prepared to share it.

Trump: I can't help it if somebody goes in with a knife and starts hacking it up. Uh... and we also have pictures of it.

Q: Can you release the photos?

Trump: At the right time you'll see it. You'll see it in court.

— FactPost (@factpostnews.bsky.social) 2026-06-22T20:41:36.507704516Z

......For good measure, the president also decided to whine about Barack Obama as part of the same clumsy presentation, though it wasn’t altogether clear why.

O'KEEFE: You said the guy was gonna do the reflecting poll in a week for about a million dollars. It's been two months and .5 million


TRUMP: Are you ready? Barack Hussein Obama

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-06-22T20:26:19.660Z

Indeed, one of the most amazing things about this story is the number of familiar boxes it checks. Trump fails to deliver on bold promises? Check. He relies on no-bid contracts and a rushed process that fell apart? Check. He concocts weird theories about his perceived enemies? Check. He desperately spins a fantastical tale with evolving details in the hopes of avoiding blame for his own failure? Check. His aligned prosecutors scramble to help justify his dubious claims with equally dubious charges? Check.