He spent 15 million dollars to redo it as he wanted. Now the water is green because it's overrun with algae and the paint on the bottom is peeling off.
On June 6, Donald Trump announced that the renovation of the Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial was complete. Less than two weeks later, the paint on the bottom of the pool began to peel off and float inside and on the surface of the water, which in the meantime had turned green due to an algae bloom (for which the slogan “Make Algae Great Again” was specifically coined) instead of the intended dark blue. On Tuesday (June 16), workers had already started pouring hydrogen peroxide into the pool to combat the algae. By Thursday, the paint was still peeling off.
The renovation had been awarded through a no-bid contract worth $14.7 million to Atlantic Industrial Coatings, a Virginia-based company. Robert Dale, a visitor from Colorado, watched the scene and toldReuters: “I want my money back after seeing this. I think our resources could be used much better elsewhere. This reflecting pool was beautiful before, before all this attention.” The Reflecting Pool is one of the projects that falls under Trump’s broader plan to renew Washington, a program that includes demolishing the east wing of the White House to make way for a new ballroom and constructing an imposing arch near Arlington National Cemetery, which houses the nation’s war dead. Trump has expedited planning processes that typically safeguard the carefully designed appearance of the capital and rely on historical reviews, impact assessments, and bidding procedures. His administration has dismissed criticisms as partisan attacks, praising the design acumen typical of the great real estate entrepreneur demonstrated by the President. The no-bid contract for the pool is one of the results of this acumen: $14.7 million awarded directly, work completed, presidential announcement, algae and pieces of paint in the water.
In the same days that the paint was peeling from the Reflecting Pool, criticisms continued over Trump’s decision to accept a $400 million plane from Qatar to be put into service as Air Force One. Security experts warned that adapting the plane would require significant upgrades (such as communication systems protected from interception, missile defenses, structural updates) that would take considerable time and money. The thread connecting the pool to the plane is the method: accelerate, skip procedures, announce before results are verifiable, dismiss criticisms as political attacks. With the Reflecting Pool, the result is visible in two weeks and costs embarrassment, while with an Air Force One gifted by a Gulf state, the consequences are harder to see and more difficult to correct.
It is titled Beware of the dvce! and it is a tale of "the deeds of a few people, often alone and poorly organized but filled with anger, courage, and above all hope for a new world free from fascism."
