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The Only Thing Trump's Pool Reflects Is His Total Failure As President

The fact that the Reflecting Pool has been turned into a dark, algae-filled mess reflects the many and comprehensive failures of Donald Trump's second administration.

Sarah Jones & Jason Easley's avatar
Sarah Jones & Jason Easley
Jun 22, 2026
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2026 is not the first year that there have been algae in the Reflecting Pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

The current version of algae in the Reflecting Pool strikes a different chord because of how it was done and what it more broadly represents and says about the state of our country today.

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The Reflecting Pool looks horrible because Donald Trump made it that way. Trump put the attention on himself by bragging about the Reflecting Pool renovation project, which he then botched through a combination of hubris, corruption, and incompetence.

Barack Obama wasn’t criticized for algae in the pool because Obama didn’t give no-bid contracts to a couple of felon buddies while bragging about how great the whole thing was going to look when it was done.

Donald Trump is trying to blame vandals and vandalism because he is so detached from reality that it is impossible for him to acknowledge his responsibility for the situation.

Watch Sarah Jones talk about how the Reflecting Pool is a symbol of Trump’s failure:

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