Algae fill Lincoln Reflecting Pool, threaten repaint plan
Green algae have carpeted the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, filling the basin with bright green mats and threatening a plan to repaint its floor "American flag blue" ordered by President Donald Trump. The administration spent roughly $14 million on recent renovations, but photos and reports show blue material peeling and floating to the surface. A new internal memo warns environmental and technical hazards could sink the repaint effort and officials are racing to address the problems before July 4. The algae and delaminating paint risk additional taxpayer expense, environmental cleanup and a high-profile embarrassment for the 250th anniversary display.
The guy who bankrupted casinos decided to improve the Reflecting Pool with our money. Things are going about as well as I expected.
The pool originally reflected the Washington Monument. It now reflects the full failure of the Trump Administration.
Here's the situation from an expert.
“Hey, Siri, Can I use the same paint I used to paint my kitchen for the bottom of my pool?” Siri: “You can, if you’re a fucking idiot.”
Has he blamed Biden yet?
Is the tarp still up on the Kennedy Center? Maybe they could drape it over the pool to hide his latest embarrassment.
Pieces of trump's blue grotto keep peeling off and it's only a few weeks old.
What do we even say at this point? Like, this is beyond infuriating, ironic, parody worthy. This is just fucking embarrassing. I'm fucking embarrassed by my country and the people who should be holding this shit to account have zero capacity for shame or to feel the same. Depressing shit.
I want to see him brag about not paying the contractor.
Have to scarify a pool before painting. They probably didn’t do any prep work. I used to sandblast pools for a summer job when I was in college.
Is that a paint chunk peeling off?
That hydrogen peroxide actually helped us out of getting rid of that hideous looking flag blue paint 🤣😂
The American flag blue paint is coming off in sheets.😂 youtube.com/shorts/bXoJz...
"This is genuinely entertaining and the best part is....we have three more years of it." Sedno Wonever.
Mofo can't even win a war against algae
You just know the Atlantic Industrial Coatings LLC won't be seeing a dime even though they fulfilled their agreement with the Kiddy Fiddler.
Everything he uses our tax dollars on is simply just shifting money out of the government and into his pockets. I guarantee, whatever he spent on this "project", 95% of it ended up laundered back to him.
Well at least now we have a better view of "American Flag Blue" that trump talked about.
“But I know a pool guy”…. 😆😆
Yup, you can tell why he bankrupted a casino. cbwrong.blogspot.com/2026/06/the-...
Are you telling me that his pool guy wasn't up to the task? 🙄
im sure antifa is responsible
It's time for Democratic bigwigs to call on Trump to resign. Cite the loss in Iran and his obvious health problems. Doing so would steer the conversation towards his incompetence, and he'd be able to do nothing to change it
Peroxide is used as a paint remover
Is that the paint flaking? Of course it is….
That looks like paint lifting And then floating to the top 🔝
CAREFUL!!! That chunk of paint is worth a FORTUNE! 😂🤣🎨
It's peak Trump. The folks of NY City warned of this because this kind crap is Trump's trademark. Done fast and cheap while always way waaaaay over budget.
We're rich in metaphors if nothing else
$14 million could have helped a lot of Americans ☹️ #DumpTrump
I'll bet they used latex paint in the reflecting pool. Should have used marine grade.
Expressed warranty ? Or did he pay in cash to avoid taxes ?
Just everyone has predicted. But much faster.
And he said he knows pools because he owns hotels with pools 😆 🤣 moron 🙄
trump definitely does not have the Meidas Touch. 😉
Are we sure that's not just a giant Fruit Rollup? Has anyone tasted it?
So, 14M huh? This is the job of amateurs and shouldn’t have cost $14 dollars let alone 14M. That grifting SOB, skimmed off the top. We’re going to find out he robbed us blind. I’m hoping he pays every dime of it back.
Is that peeling paint? Already ? Haaa good lord
This is what happens when a crooked guy say's " I know a guy" and gives him a contract without bids.
Exposes tRumps ignorance to the creator of the reflecting pond goal! The pond is the reflection of its surroundings on calm wind days it’s a mirror! Not a pool the pond naturally filtered n drained and filled eliminating algae n mosquitoes! tRump sure FUBAR this project.
Trump said he knows all the best people, that he’s using his “pool guy” who did his pools at his resorts. 🤬
Is this money laundering at its worst?
I would bet his current net worth that most of the money that went into "improving" the pool went into his pocket instead.
Chunks of that shit are gonna be floating through the water and clogging up the pipes for years to come. Perfect metaphor for Trump’s entire legacy.
I guess $14M doesn't go as far as it used to...😏
Yeah but he’ll spend another $15 million to “fix” it! The Trump Admin is bankrupting the United States! Or, perhaps that was the plan with his “pool guy“… To do a crappy job first time around then say that he’ll fix it for another 15 million! Of course, Trump will just hand over the cash!
That's the problem when you repeatedly stiff all the good contractors by going bankrupt all the time. Only the mediocre contractors are interested in business with Trump.
Still went better than Iran.
Another bad Trump administration coverup.
I have known what the Trump name meant back East in every context of building, renting & real estate for 50yrs. Not paying subs or carpenders, fulfilling contracts, shaky building constrution, horrific landlords-starting all with his father. No surpise here folks.
This is what happens when the sole qualification for any position or job is readily pursed lips.
T**** believes he is an amazing property developer…but every real estate or design project looks like sh** In addition to being an authoritarian blowhard, the T**** brand is just so TACKY.
When your qualifications for a job are the willingness to PRAISE TRUMP then it's no surprise that the work will be done with the same attention to quality work.
The lies are peeling off.
Pretty soon Logan's Run (1976)
I want my money back.
More waste of our tax money to clean up this mess! 🤬
It’s not a reflecting pool anymore. 🤬
wait until you hear about him starting a war in iran for israel!
Trump thinks it’s the government’s money.
You reap what you sow (or is it grow)? 🤷🏻♀️
We should all reply to Trump's Truth Social posts with photos of the paint and algae. Just a wee reminder of the cockup he wasted taxpayers' money on. #WasteFraudAndAbuse
After spending $14 million in taxpayer funds, Trump's renovations to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool are peeling off and floating to the surface
I think I know what’s comin’
So they picked up some blue house paint from home depot and pocketed the $14m didn't they
I think we taxpayers overpaid for this paint job by about $13.99 million. Pretty sure we could have found a guy to do an equally good job in exchange for a six-pack.
Honestly this is the only good misadventure subplot of Trump 2.0. Absolute comedy gold and extremely revelatory about how this man bankrupted a casino
One of many reasons of why you don't paint granite.
So is it peeling off because Trump's no-bid contractor cut all the corners or because of the hundreds of gallons of powerful H2O2 oxidizer they dumped in the pool the other day?
Oh beautiful for spacious skies
This would be hilarious if it was in fact his own personal money. But it’s not. It’s taxpayer money. This goes on the back of every GOP member who voted him in. When you meet one, point out what an asshole they are. Wars, fraud, racism, blatant stealing of money. All a product of the GOP.
As someone who works in the coating industry. I can tell you that hydrogen peroxide may have caused this. However the dilution ratio would have to be north of 30% H2O2 to water. Or the paint has absolutely no chemical resistance. Which would also make sense since it was a no bid job.
Voting for whichever Democrat forces this contractor to build Trump’s tomb
It's almost like everyone predicted this.
"Hydrogen peroxide can help remove paint, particularly water-based paints.” Oops.
To be honest, I expected it to last a little bit longer, but I am thrilled that it's happening now, before the 4th, to make his embarrassment complete. 🤡🔥
It just gets worse and worse.
Trump got a 13.5 million dollar kickback
Sheesh. The President is rotting, his Reflecting Pool is rotting. What next?
Why do I have the feeling that the ballroom is going to turn out like the shirt that Denise made for Theo on The C*sby Show?
The symbolism is off the charts. Who knew the reflecting pool would do exactly that? Show everyone what a piece of shit corrupt fraud he is.
THIS is the polar opposite of DEI. This isn’t even mediocrity. But this is how they’ve always played the game and stacked the deck.
Gee, maybe they should have called in *experts* to evaluate it and put the job out for bids from companies that were actually qualified to do the job. But of course Mr. Wounded Id thinks he is an expert in everything.
trump is a 70s car salesman adding undercoating onto the invoice.
Like everything else about him, just a cheap facade.
I’m surprised he’s not selling the pieces
That’s American Blue, simply the best! This is what happens when you gift contracts. Millions down the drain, literally! 🤬🤬
Has he blamed Biden yet?
Yeah, I remember how four years of, "winning" feels like. I think we shouldn't settle for anything other than $2600 a month for five years and National Health Care, to dig us out of this one.
The body is rejecting it.
A complete metaphor for his entire administration…
How does literally everything Donald Trump touches immediately go to shit.
Is this because of the gallons of hydrogen peroxide
All of that Hydrogen peroxide destabilized the paint. The H2O broke the bonds in the paint and it kind of ‘bubbled it up’. LOL. 😁 Those idiots know nothing about Science or Chemistry, now this disaster. This is why Science, Biology, Chemistry, Ethics & Gov’t need to be mandatory in High School.
This is the shoddy type of job you'd expect if someone said they paid 14million but pocketed 10 million
He can’t do anything right!
Yes we see 'chunks' there ... and stripped bottom .. I suspect that MOST of the paint has already dissolved and is going to clog up the filters & pumps; these chunks are just parts that haven't dissolved yet. It's actually WORSE than these visible chunks.
I’ve often found that immediately upon completion of a massive painting project, the best way to get that paint to cure thoroughly is to promptly submerge it under millions of gallons of hot water. Which leads me to wonder, how many pounds of algae are growing each day to add to the load?
I wonder if this was going to happen anyway, or if it was from the dumping of peroxide that helped peel it off.
What about this stuff? /s
rot for the rot god
The metaphors are coming at Trump fast and furious these days.
i'd bet trump will find a way to autograph these peelings and sell them in gold frames.
Maybe a fishing contest for the Freedom 250 folks -biggest piece of paint pulled out wins a DOJ investigation of their choice! #MAGA
Just IMAGINE the mess he will make of a ballroom AND the view blocking ARCH!?! Madison Square Garden/Penn Station more disasters...
Has it been shaking too many hands?
Makes you wonder how much kick back #47 got on that $14M paint job.
when do we get our refund???
Granted, small potatoes compared with the manly war department and their trillion dollar budget, losing everything Obama won years ago for nothing. But it bothers me anyway.
A great visual metaphor for tRump's whole life of mental and moral bankruptcy Can't wait for the Ballroom and arch
Wow, he really does ruin everything he touches! 🤬
At least we can see the blue now!
Idiotic, impulsive, ego-driven endeavors always end poorly, whether it’s the disastrous war in Iran, the ballroom boondoggle or the Reflecting Pool debacle.
Please, someone start selling chunks of it and donate the money to immigrant assistance organizations and/or LGTBQ+ organizations!!! 😁
Good. Mother Nature is fixing it and we just need to scoop it out. Just another MAGA shit show.
low bid, enrich your friends, pocket the rest in a kick back i want these guys locked up forever
Can we focus on what’s important here: whether or not this will harm the resident ducks
Trump can pay the country back for his mistake.
When I saw this in April in DC, I knew the whole thing was a con job. I mean an American flag being sprayed out? Someone decided to try and make a quick buck. Of course it's flaking off.
Time to demand a $13.999M refund
That looks like blue Flex-Seal
Imagine that? The Conman in Cheifs rush paint job by one of his buddies turns out to be a load of crap...well I never.
Trump will probably cover it up with tarps and forget about it.
YOU WANNA PIECE-A ME??? — The Reflecting Pool
So the "master builder" fucked up, gain ...
More material for this year’s campaign ads.
Good thing it’s infrastructure week!
Paint peels from the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool after recent renovations following a directive from U.S. President Donald Trump to paint it blue ahead of the 250th anniversary of U.S. Independence, in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 18, 2026. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon
truth in advertising. the reflecting pool accurately mirrors the state of America under this administration on it's 250th birthday.
And than we got this still going on
It's going to look AMAZING for the 4th of July!
There will be massive lawsuits and once again taxpayers will pick up the bill🤬
$14M price tag to taxpayers? 😤
Graft and corruption is all $14 million bucks that probably went into Trump’s pocket with this closed bid. Like the 200 miles of missing border wall + billions stolen in his first term.
Once again, Trump could've simply done nothing and things would be better off.
Couldn’t find a more symbolic photo of this administration’s impact on the country and the world: a shoddy, destructive swamp of corruption.
14 million more dollars wasted by trump.
When they drain that pool again because of this, they *should* put an extra filter system in place to capture all the chunks of coating that will now be in the water. But they won’t because they are morons who don’t care about the environment.
The Art of the Deal... lol, can't even hire a competent contractor..
$14 million dollars and the fucking paint is just…peeling off. Literally everything Trump touches he destroys.
Its just so on-brand for tRUMP. NO BID. NO ONE GIVING EXPERT ADVICE. NO CONSULTS. $14M of tax payers $. DONE. ANOTHER FAILURE & THIS TIME NOT JUST THE TAXPAYERS BUT THE WIILDLIFE TO BOOT!
Nothing says happy 250th birthday 🇺🇸 than a swampy green pond that doesn't reflect anything with at least a $14.8 million dollar makeover of blue paint that is peeling. www.pbs.org/newshour/pol...
Has Trump actually done a single thing that worked out besides his corruption?
They probably voided the warranty with that Hydrogen Peroxide. So we get to pay to fix it.
Slap-a-coat-of-paint on it is no way to run the government, but that's literally what they're doing. Idiots.
He couldn’t have fked this up worse if he tried.
So pouring Hydrogen Peroxide onto the water has damaged the lining of the pool. Well, to be fair, who knew that would happen? Actually, CoPilot did. All they had to do was ask 🤷♂️
Just throw a tarp over it. Start by using the one at the Kennedy Center. 🥸
Sue the company The Felon overpaid for this travesty.
He gave the pool leprosy.
I hope all the tacky gold he's sprayed all over the Oval Office comes off this easy.
Thank goodness the pool is already on the ground. With this kind of poor construction, I’m terrified about what will happen to tall things like the ballroom and the arch.
I called it Republican vandalism of US property before they did it, and I still call it Republican vandalism of US property.
There's one non-bid $14M tax dollars well spent, huh, fellow Americans??? People seem to forget how many deserted Trump shoddy constructed buildings must be demo'd. He can't build, he can't negotiate, he can't stop lying. Rubble & HABs is his legacy.
Where the hell is DOGE when you need them
The stable genius and your tax dollars.
What was that company again? Let’s start leaving our reviews…😏
Trump is a Loser and a Traitor! I made a Lego meme of President Trump Surrendering America to Iran so you could find a safe way to explain to your children that our President is a Loser and a Traitor! #TraitorTrumpTricks #NoTacos4Trump #DondeEstan #USDemocracy #IranWar
The hits just keep coming dont they holy shit 😂 This is chef kiss good 👌
He could have done nothing.
The reflecting pool is a reminder of trumps time in office. Fix shit that doesn’t need to be fixed. Ultimately it always leads to his failure
You'd think a man who wears bronzer every day would know how coverup can wash off.
What a metaphor for this whole administration.
Maybe it is his plan all along to act like the dumbest POS and destroy everything he puts his hands on, in the world. I can't imagine someone being such a pathetic loser, with no intentions to be.
I suspect all the painters, granite workers, and pool maintenance experts across the country are thinking “FFS, we told you this was going to happen!”
Everything #trump touches turns to 💩. Or in this case sludge and peeling paint.
d you say he got busted? I guess the money he ripped off, didn't go for pool renovations? It went south!
Exactly like the scam artists who charge you for re-paving your driveway but all they do is smear used crankcase oil on it.
Another f*ck up, Donnie! You're on a roll.
Work performed by his "merit" hires who embody all the traits and lack of qualifications he attributes to DEI hires
Looks like a swamp monster.
All of this bullsh*t was just another huge grift. When the financial forensics finally come to light on the current regime, Americans will be shocked.
Wasn’t ever meant to be painted or sealed it’s supposed to let water out so it stay still and keeps getting fresh water
Can any lawyer here tell me why the contractors who tore down the East Wing and who who did this, aren’t immediately being hauled in front of Congress?
Of all the things that he's done, 'pondgate' is the key simile for the Trump presidency.
Fitting definition for this trump regime. They can’t do a damn thing right. We have a chance to change this in November. Let’s roll.
at least we won't have to pay a fortune to strip it before it's re-sealed
Just like the makeup covered skin on the back of his hand
I knew it, I knew it, I KNEW it! Been waiting for this picture ... 🤦
what did that last? one week?
It is very symbolic of the Trump administration. 🙄😂
It's always amateur hour in Trump's administration--every action seems like nobody knows what they are doing--an amazing collection of incompetents
If this happened to a pool at a trump property, he'd have sued for a refund already.
"They also show that Mr. Trump’s plan does not address one of the pool’s main problems: faulty plumbing in its filtration system...it was unclear if Mr. Trump’s pool would remain blue — or if it would soon be obscured by a recurring layer of green algae." www.nytimes.com/2026/05/08/u...
Everything he touches turns to ruin. 🤮
How to throw away $14 million dollars. They could have given me that and I could fix the pool for less without being a pool specialist!
You can’t expect it to stick around with so much chlorine being pumped into the water. 🧪
The mental giants in charge probably used latex paint.
Of course it’s peeling. We need to get these fucking Epstein files.
The reflecting pool is actually a great metaphor for tough civic problems that evade easy fixes, the risks of ignoring experts, and the allure and hazards of contracting out a fix and calling it a day.
It's just that in this case, the outcome is pretty entertaining bsky.app/profile/jben...
Having lived in the area my whole life,I can't really agree with that. It wasn't a tough civic problem, just time for regular maintenance. Trump made up the idea it was in terrible shape so he could blame his predecessors and seize control of another piece of DC, and then screwed it up like always.
Turns out Mister “I’m gonna run the country like a business” is running the country like he did his own businesses.
Companies love to point to a line item where it is someone else's problem. Sometimes they miss the point that if you outsource everything it takes very little effort for the company itself to be replaced. Also fixing things is a lot harder if you are spending all your time herding cats.
I mostly agree but feel it may have been less of a tough problem than a problem that was created by the executive leadership’s failure to do the other things mentioned.
Very similar to losing a war of choice and surrendering.
Waiting for Trump to brag that it has more algae than the Empire State Building
Literally the Swamp that was promised to be drained but still isn't.
That "American Flag Blue" paint is delaminating from the reflecting pool 😅 Polyurea pipeliner is a complex application that requires insane attention to detail. Inadequate surface prep, failure to remove laitance, moisture contamination, poor temperature control, rushing the cure period.
"Good afternoon! Oregon OSHA. Who's in charge here?"
If you have ever sand blasted then thoroughly cleaned a large settling pond you would have been suspicious of the application techniques used.
Moisture contamination? In DC? Which was historically *checks notes* …a swamp? No way!
To be fair, taxpayers did overpay for the work
Paint is only as good as what it goes on, inadequate prep is a mf
Doing this on poured concrete would be hard enough to do right, but aged/exposed granite is an even more challenging substrate I would imagine???
They're looting the pool, hurry and get your piece before they're all gone!
im sure the peroxide didn't help either
As loose as some portions are, I bet some patches of paint will really hold fast, meaning you won't be able to repaint it without taking it down to bare concrete again. Like trying to repaint a car from the late 90s with shitty peeling clearcoat.
There's also the plausible theory that what made the reflecting pool actually work was that the water slowly filtered out through the base granite, and was gradually refilled, which achieved slow circulation without active pumps (and thus reducing growth buildup, without much surface turbulance).
A pool magazine did a write-up about the renovation. Definitely had some worried about the choice of product used, Rhino Pipeliner 5000.
Sending this to my NACE inspector buddies and watching them scream
What?! You mean someone from this regime had zero knowledge or experience in how to do something, but was put in charge of it anyway? And it failed spectacularly? This is a singular event that absolutely no one could have predicted.
They were only paid about $13 million. You can't expect it to last forever at that price. (For those keeping track it has been 15 days since trump announced it was complete)
Is this basically an epoxy? Because if so, oh dear...
The reflection pool is a metaphor. Failure to engage experts No examination of root causes No bid contractors hastily chosen No accountability Magagop key achievements: Waste, Fraud, Abuse of our resources & reputation www.yahoo.com/news/politic... #voices4Victory #USDemocracy #DV1
the Algae Won the Lincoln Memorial Refection Pool War... Trump always looses when he thinks that he knows more than anyone or anything... he's too stupid to know that he is stupid, just like his stupid supporters are...
DNC - I hope y’all are paying f***ing attention! The campaign ads write themselves. Simple, concise. “If Republicans can’t manage the reflecting pool, how can we trust them to manage the country?”
Anyone experienced in keeping tropical fish intuitively understands that algae is a bitch. 😬
"The algae is still here, but the paint appears to be going away." $14 million down the drain for a reflecting pool that looks like Shrek's hot tub. The president took a "great interest" in this disaster, which explains why it's a complete and total peeling embarrassment.
A scientist posted a couple days ago the paint wouldn’t last. I think she said because of the algae.
Paint peeling in the reflecting pool. Can we get that 14 million dollars back?
Couple of million worth of half assed work and materials. 12 million gets divved up to his cronies with a little sumthin for himself.