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Reflecting Pool turns green despite 'American flag blue' pledge

cultureJun 24, 202610910,021

The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool turned green with an algal bloom days after it was repainted and refilled, contradicting President Donald Trump’s pledge the water would be "American flag blue." Scientists say nitrogen and phosphorus combined with sunlight and stagnant water created the conditions for the bloom, and experts warn algae or paint chemicals could harm ducks and other wildlife. The administration has blamed vandalism and reported arrests while installing chain-link fencing and surveillance around the pool, and Snopes documented that Trump’s motorcade drove on the freshly sealed surface earlier this spring. The episode matters because it combines environmental science, maintenance failures, and political messaging at a highly symbolic national site ahead of the 250th Independence Day celebrations.

Mrs. Betty Bowers
@mrsbettybowers.bsky.social

Pick up a floating paint chip in the Lincoln Reflecting Pool?You're looking at 10 years in jail. But steal the Speaker of the House's lectern from the Capitol? Dude, you get a pardon! Welcome to the crazy world of Trump justice.

342345d ago
frisson310.bsky.social18

How about the destruction of the East Wing? Was that not one of the most expensive damaging instances of vandalism in our history? How much was that building worth in terms of monetary value and history?

John Shea 🍀16

This whole administration is a miscarriage of justice

Luigi in a Coal Mine11

In Texas you can get 30yrs for moving some zines around the house.

Glenn9

It ain’t crazy. It’s fascist.

Керрі Світ🇺🇦🇨🇦🇩🇰🇪🇺7

Picking up the floating paint chip was a crime not because it was destroying the pool, but because it revealed the destruction that the Trump regime already knew about but chose not to disclose to the public.

yinzer64.bsky.social7

Take a lectern, leave a shit on the desk….crazy is right

Glenn7

And a large payout if Trump had his way.

Reformed Nut6

"Sealant Team Six" "defending" the Reflecting Pool from #Antifa" has made more arrests than the #DOJ #FBI has over all the names in the #EpsteinFiles

marv88-88.bsky.social5

All of them stormed the capital for a pedophile think about that for a second. How many have gone back to prison for child porn. Lots!!!!

Christian Petersen4

Even a three-year-old could have guessed this one...

Ken4

We're upside down in USA. Trump is convicted on 34 fraud counts by a NY jury. 1500 insurrectionists, led by the same criminal, has their convictions overturned via wholesale pardons (an invitation to further criminal acts). Trump sells pardons to other wealthy convicts. SCOTUS & Congress sell out

5thgenfljane.bsky.social4

The fucker wants people locked up for touching the paint chips while he’s getting away with knocking down the East Wing.

Daniel♾️Shook3

It makes me sad to know that Trump will more than likely never see a day behind bars. We see much of the corruption that he is up to on a daily basis but I’m sure criminal activity planning is on his schedule of illicit goals that we will likely never see.

Inthemountains3

Is it permitted to take a dump in the pool or can you just do that in the Capitol?

Gayle Dourn Plantz3

Kill a cop January 6? You're already oardoned

justtim99.bsky.social3

Tommy does Time in DC

Bert in Colorado3

I’m guessing there are hundreds of non participants at J6 who are now wishing they participated in the violence.🙄

tat1111.bsky.social2

Felon Trump has been a lowlife criminal his entire life… he knows his people, they are the criminal Reich. In the upside down world of a pathological liar and the “religious” right… where wrong is now right and criminals get a pass, while decent people are sent to jail. Welcome to fascism!

Valerie 🇺🇸🇮🇹🇺🇦2

And if you are a convicted rapist & pedophile you are elected president.

DirkNiblick2

I hope that, if we get to elect another President, they immediately pardon all the poor SOBs Trump threw in prison over shit like the paint chips. That is if their grand juries don’t keep laughing them out of court.

LincolnzGhost2

Rape a child and get a cabinet post.

Juvenal's Kid2

Americans do not realize how much Sovietization is already in place in the USA. And due to the political system, there is really nothing that can be done about it.

🇺🇦 Edelweißpirat 🇱🇹2

A pardon and a check

Oedipal Arrangements 🇵🇸2

Omw to smear shit all over the Capitol building for my billion dollar reward!

enthusiastfacts.bsky.social2

The spoils from the loot are irrestible incentives to sustain the rot and decay at all levels in the GOP and Tя☭mp Judiciary, Legislature, family and syndicate

Amanda Marcotte
@amandamarcotte.bsky.social

Trump's lies about the Reflecting Pool are too silly for anyone to believe. MAGA repeats them anyway. It's not just that they're that stupid. (Though they are.) They would like to arrest people for laughing at them. It also exposes their desperation. www.salon.com/2026/06/24/w...

25645d ago
Amanda Marcotte47

Why read past headlines: You, savvy, already know the dumb conspiracy theory about "vandals" at the pool. I dig beyond the "antifa ninjas did it" lie. I show why MAGA is willing to embarrass themselves by boosting lies that make them sound so stupid. www.salon.com/2026/06/24/w...

Maggie From The Commonwealth (God save it!)6

“Trump’s … slapping his name on other people’s accomplishments and trying to claim credit.” This is exactly why all Never Trumpers hate him. For nearly 70 years, the GOP has worked a long game for complete control of the U.S., manipulating ignorance & hate for the sake of power. Never Trumpers

MMMurray5

I’m still hunting the vandals that try to fill my swimming pool with algae every summer. Good luck to those MAGAs.

A Rebour head4

When you sanctify people's resentment, bigotry and itching inferiority complexes as "Patriotic" and feed them the red meat of victimhood, they will do things like die from COVID to perform fealty to the Leader who freed them from having to pretend to be decent, humane citizens.

Dave4

“Of course they will delude themselves into believing “vandals” broke the pool Trump obviously messed up. The alternative is to look at their own reflections — and they wouldn’t like what they would see.” Couldn’t be more spot on!

kentropic3

Performative public belief in the lies - no matter how transparent or ridiculous - is an important fascist bonding ritual, signaling both membership in & allegiance to the cult. It’s a collective power play & assertion that reality is whatever the leader says it is, regardless of facts & evidence.

Roland Gerritsen van der Hoop3

Absurd theatre. Megalomaniac does not like pool. He gives contract to buddy with no expertise. He ignores scientific advise on dark floors and standing water Buddy buys cheap stuff and does shoddy work (and gives kickbacks?) Pool becomes soup and floor detaches. Leader blames others.

Mity Cheese2

This is related to press reporting on what politician X "believes" when it's what a lobbyist paid them to say or another politician told them to say if they wanted to keep their job. You'll never convince me that Ted Cruz "believes" climate change is a hoax, it's just convenient for him to say.

🦁Fight Unstable Corrupt Killer Terrible Rabid Unhinged Mad Pedo🐯2

Well written. Trump IS the mirror to the MAGA narcissist. So they have to delude themselves into believing the beauty they see in that mirror.

Bill Wilkinson2

Just a reminder that he told Macron that you have to put your name on things so they'll remember you in a visit to Mount Vernon during the first abomination

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