Outside the Beltway

Why the Reflecting Pool Matters

An OTB Cinematic Universe event!

Steven L. Taylor · Monday, June 22, 2026 · 18 comments

In browsing social media the other day, I noticed Ian Bremmer, a person whom I take seriously, tweeted the following.

On the one hand, I get that. If we just take Iran and Ukraine as two prominent examples of majorly important events that deserve our time and attention, the water in the reflecting pool on the DC mall is small potatoes. Indeed, as I often note, there is just so much going on that any given story that bubbles up to the surface like a piece of blue reflecting bottom coating is frequently far less important than any number of other things.

Still, I think that the reflecting pool is an important story that can help some people gain some insight into this administration. People who don’t have long attention spans and otherwise might have a hard time understanding the geopolitical significance of the Strait of Hormuz or why something called the JCPOA is central to evaluating the “deal” we are negotiating with Iran can understand this story. Moreover, as I will note below, it hits a lot of areas of concern about this administration.

And please hear me out: I am not saying that the reflecting pool is going to change MAGA’s mind. I am talking about low-information voters who might be persuaded by a straightforward example of failure that maybe, just maybe, voting for Trump in 2024 wasn’t such a hot idea after all.

No, when it comes to MAGA, or just any strongly partisan Republican, the reflecting pool story will help illustrate the power of partisan rationalization that I frequently write about here at OTB. That is a social sciencey bonus to the overall tale, but it does provide another reason why the story is important in and of itself.

At the risk of sounding flippant, this story is an amazing convergence of a number of ongoing series here at the site. It is a perfect illustration of things happening in front of our noses that we might be tempted, like Bremmer, to dismiss because it seems trivial or because it just seems almost normal for the Trump era. But it is neither trivial nor should we let things like this be easily dismissed.

It also feels like an example of the dumbest timeline. Using emergency powers so as to avoid the bidding process to hire what was initially described as the guy who worked on pools at Trump’s hotels. Trump asserted that he knew what to do because of all the pools he had had built over the years. Here’s how the story was reported back in April via The Independent: Trump hires his ‘pool guy’ to redo historic Lincoln Memorial icon: ‘I’ve probably built more than 100 swimming pools.’ Trump also wanted it painted “American flag blue.” I am willing to even say that the self-important treatment of public property sounds more than a bit like you could fit this story into the “Meanwhile, in North Korea” series.

I cannot stress enough: this is a public asset that does not belong to this or any other president. But his ongoing treatment of objects that belong to all of us (see also, the East Wing and the south lawn of the White House, the Rose Garden, and so forth) is authoritarian in tone and action.

There was also a bit of dumbness and North Koreaosity in this story, via PBS: Trump drives across Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to inspect blue coating he’s adding. Because, sure, why not take heavily armored vehicles on top of a 104-year-old reflecting pool with known leak problems? What could go wrong?

Here’s an official White House photo of the visit:

There is also no doubt that, from the beginning, it was more than likely, if not certain, that hiring someone with no expertise to do this work was going to end poorly. Granted, the failure was quicker and more spectacular than I expected, but still, all of this easily fits into the new “who could have predicted it?” series.

As an added bonus, there is a guest appearance from another running title, the “You Can’t Make This Stuff Up File,” because the company that did some of the work is called, wait for it, Greenwater Services (other places it is called Green Water Solutions). Further, the owner looks like he is a villain in a new Dick Tracy reboot. (An updated bit that I forgot to initially include: the dude was also convicted for conspiracy to bribe former US Representative James Traficant. That is as much ‘you can’t make this stuff up’ as it gets–IYKYK.)

So, this story is like the Avengers of OTB memes!

But aside from the narrative of obvious failure (the visuals go a long way to help explain the story to low-information types), let me make a list of how this story actually very much matters and is about as easy an illustration of the problems of the Trump administration as you are going to get.

Note the following elements:

Flaunting the law.

Trump bypassed the bidding process in the same way he has engaged in a lot of actions this term: he ignores the law and acts in a dictatorial fashion. While it is always possible that a court might later find he violated the law, the action has already been undertaken. I mean, maybe it was, in fact, illegal to tear down the East Wing, but no court order can turn back time and take the property back to the status quo ante.

Likewise, the work on the reflecting pool has been done, regardless of the likely illegality.

As per the NYT:

By law, federal agencies are generally supposed to let vendors compete for contracts, obtaining multiple bids to find the one that could do the best work for the least cost. There are exceptions, including urgent situations where time is so short and the stakes so high that any delay would produce serious injury to the government.

Experts said that exception is not meant for cases where the government is merely behind schedule.

“The government cannot create its own urgency,” said Jessica Tillipman, a professor who studies contracting law at George Washington University.

Before Mr. Trump’s second term, the Park Service had rarely invoked that kind of exemption. A Times analysis previously found that less than 1 percent of the agency’s contract spending over the last decade had relied on claims of urgency.

Last month, The Times reported that the Park Service used a similar urgency exemption to give a secret, no-bid contract now worth $17.4 million to the same firm that Mr. Trump chose to build his White House ballroom. The contract was for a seemingly mundane job: fixing the ornamental fountains in Lafayette Park, across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House.

This spring, it said the Reflecting Pool repairs were also too urgent to take time gathering other bids.

Corruption

In addition to flaunting the law, there is clear corruption going on here. The work for the filtration system that was supposed to keep the water clean was given to a Trump neighbor and donor. As per CBS News: Company owned by Trump donor won $1.7 million no-bid Reflecting Pool cleaning contract.

Cafaro has donated to several GOP candidates and conservative causes in recent years. He has donated extensively to Mr. Trump’s campaign and to Trump-linked groups, giving $250,000 to the Trump Victory fundraising committee at one point in 2020. FEC records show he also made donations to Democrats at various points. 

[…]

Cafaro and his wife own a home in Palm Beach, Florida, less than a mile from the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

A donor/neighbor who calls Trump a “friend” (in the link above) gets a no-bid contract. That’s corruption.

Ignoring Expertise

Not only is a no-bid contract a gateway into easy corruption, but this whole business also reeks of Trump’s ongoing unwillingness to use experts to accomplish goals (see also the Iran war). When buffoons who don’t understand what they are doing try to engage in complex tasks, it is hardly a surprise that the results are poor. The reflecting pool debacle illustrates this reality in spades.

These are known problems, and instead of trying to learn from the past and bring in people with actual knowledge who might find a real solution, Trump just acts, and the results speak for themselves.

Of the things that have been done, by the way, include dumping hydrogen peroxide in the water to try to kill the algae, but reports suggest that that may have contributed to the paint detaching.

Style Over Substance

The whole thing, back to the “North Korea” of it all, is also an illustration that Trump is gauche style over expert-driven substance as well as being driven by narcissistic goals, not the public interest.

It is hard not to see, by the way, the rich kid who always got what he wanted, coupled with the reality TV star too dim to fully understand that his image on The Apprentice was a construct on display here. Although I guess who could have known that a man who put his name on an array of fake/poorly conceived products to make a fast buck shouldn’t be trusted with the presidency?

Unreality: Lies and Propaganda

This whole story is full of attempts by Trump to create his own reality.

First, as with other projects, his initial cost estimates are wrong, if not simply lies from the start. But as ABC News reports, the cost has ballooned: Reflecting Pool renovations to cost more than $16 million.

The cost to repaint the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has ballooned to more than $14.65 million — exceeding the original estimated cost of the no-bid contract by more than $4 million, according to federal contract data.

In addition to the repainting by Atlantic Industrial Coatings, the National Park Service paid $1.74 million to Green Water Solutions, an Ohio-based company, earlier this year to install a “nano bubble” system to kill algae, using a similar no-bid contract to speed up the work in time for Fourth of July celebrations.

Between the two companies that received separate contracts for the resurfacing and filtration systems, the project is set to cost more than $16 million. The status of the payments to the contractors was not immediately available in the federal government’s contract database.

Second, now that work is failing, Trump is lying about “sabotage” and trying to use propaganda to deflect blame for his failure. This is pure authoritarian playbook stuff, and as I have noted many times before, the blatant attempt at creating and appealing to unreality is a hallmark of fascistic governance (so another cameo from a long-standing discussion).

Via NOTUS: Trump, Without Evidence, Blames ‘Disgraceful Vandalism’ for Reflecting Pool Do-Over.

Just a week after the completion of President Donald Trump’s much-hyped $14 million renovation of the iconic Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, the water is green and a thin layer of “American flag blue” paint originally meant to augment the color of the feature has begun to peel.

But rather than blaming Mother Nature or the contractor who won a no-bid contract for the renovation, Trump has turned his ire on another alleged culprit: vandals.

“Many additional people have been arrested having to do with the disgraceful Vandalism of our beautiful Reflecting Pool,” Trump posted.

There is little evidence of wide-scale sabotage that may have led to the pool’s rapid decay. Trump claimed on Truth Social that someone slashed the new paint with “some form of knife or blade” and poured “corrosive and destructive chemicals” into the water, allegations that local authorities have yet to corroborate.

As the UPI write-up notes, “It was unclear exactly what damage Trump was attributing to vandalism.”

The main reported example that I have seen is this via Fox News: Who is David Hearn? US Olympian who denies vandalizing Reflecting Pool after viral arrest.

An Olympic canoeist has been accused of vandalizing the iconic Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C.

David Hearn, 67, who represented the United States in three Summer Olympics, denied the accusations that he vandalized the newly refurbished Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, after being arrested by the U.S. Park Police on Saturday.

Hearn told The Associated Press that he only reached into the pool because he wanted to examine the peeling new coating, and he only briefly touched a chunk that was still attached to the side of the pool, then let go shortly after a park worker told him to.

Sounds serious!

And there was this on X.

And then we have stuff like this:

If you listen to the clip, he only cites vandalizing the grass and also says, “I think I read” about some other vandalism. I believe that is what he is referring to via Forbes: Apparent Trump Protest Phrase ‘86 47’ Etched Into National Mall.

I have to admit that I do not understand why CNN employs Jennings, as this is just a blatant attempt at confusing people. The grass incident has nothing to do with the reflecting pool, save in terms of proximity. And while I recognize that defacing the grounds is illegal, and I agree that if someone is caught doing it, they should face appropriate legal sanction, let’s not pretend like making patterns in the grass is not someone trying to “destroy” our national monuments (as per Jennings in the clip). Plus, it is obfuscating, to put it kindly, to connect Trump’s claims of vandalism of the pool with this grass bit.

Quite frankly, given Trump’s media diet, it would not surprise me in the least if there isn’t some toxic feedback loop of people making wild claims on social media, which Trump then repeats, and then leads to people like Jennings amplifying it all.

There was a video late last week of a guy claiming that the problem had to be sabotage (it even made one of the late-night comedy shows). I can absolutely see Trump seeing that and then repeating it as if it were hard news reporting.

Basic Conclusion

While not the most important story in front of our noses these days, the reflecting pool debacle is actually a very useful illustration of a huge number of the problems with the Trump administration, and specifically, Trump’s way of governing.

Indeed, this run-down, which has gotten quite long, is not comprehensive. I expect that a pretty hefty article could be written just using the reflecting pool as a foundation to explain everything wrong with how Trump governs.