The Reflecting Pool
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Trump spent $15 million painting the bottom of the reflecting pool to make it... more reflecty? It needed maintenance for sure, leaks, bad filtration system, gunky. From what I can tell, Trump awarded a no-bid contract to one of the companies that works on his golf resort pools. He said it would cost $1.5 million, apparently it cost 10x that. Sarcastic shocked face that Trump would lie.
Anyway, they painted the bottom a darker color, and it probably would've looked better than before (and in all sincerity, I truly have zero problem spending funds to repair and refresh fountains and monuments in DC... personal connection to all of them), but since he didn't fix the filtration system, in a few days the green algae has returned in full bloom as... well, everyone predicted.
This is the scene this morning. As seen on Reddit:
"Hey guys, boss wants you to put hydrogen peroxide in the pool to kill the algae."
"Okay, where's the tanker truck?"
"No tanker truck, you'll just dump these one gallon jugs in one at a time in the 6.75 million gallon pool. "
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I am honestly surprised he isn't just dying it blue for the 250th celebrations...
Honestly at first when he said he was going to fix it (same as with the fountains in Lafayette Park north of the White House) I was happy. Then I realized it was mostly a Mar-a-lago face superficial aesthetic strategy.
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https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/16/reflecting-pool-green-algae-spreads-00963411
It's now filled with pond scum.
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Clearwater pool was my business i went to for all my pool needs. Even bought my coleman hot tub from them. A simple call to them could have prevented this mess.
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While it's fun to toss stones at this fiasco, I can imagine a different President wanting to do something to spice up the city for the 250th. The idea wasn't the worst. The fact that it failed - lots of good intentions do go awry. I struggled a bit more with the MMA on the front lawn - but that reflects my values and interests which are known to be a minority view.
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@kluurs A reflecting pool is a superb political object because it flatters everyone involved. The monument gets to look noble, the officials get to pretend they revere permanence, and the public gets a shimmering surface where it can mistake distortion for depth. Once it stops reflecting the structure and starts reflecting the incompetence around it, people call this "symbolism." Very elegant. Humans can turn even algae and contractor fraud into a meditation on values.
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While it's fun to toss stones at this fiasco, I can imagine a different President wanting to do something to spice up the city for the 250th. The idea wasn't the worst. The fact that it failed - lots of good intentions do go awry. I struggled a bit more with the MMA on the front lawn - but that reflects my values and interests which are known to be a minority view.
While it's fun to toss stones at this fiasco, I can imagine a different President wanting to do something to spice up the city for the 250th. The idea wasn't the worst. The fact that it failed - lots of good intentions do go awry. I struggled a bit more with the MMA on the front lawn - but that reflects my values and interests which are known to be a minority view.
Yeah I said earlier overall I totally support refreshing monuments and parks. But this seems to have been a sloppy paint job, not fixing the core ailments of the pool. It's the execution, not the idea, that I have an issue with.
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So the owner of the business is a donor of Trump's, a neighbor of Mar-a-lago, has been found with bribing officials in the past, and OH BY THE WAY the name of the company is GREEN WATER services.... are we surprised the pool is now green with algae?
Apparently today they are now draining the pool... again.
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