Trump says he'll resurface the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, turning it blue
Source: CBS News
Updated on: April 23, 2026 / 8:08 PM EDT
President Trump's renovation kick has now reached the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. The president told reporters Thursday that his administration is planning to pour down a new surface onto the bottom of the pool, atop its stone flooring. The swimming pool-style surface made out of the "latest and greatest filament" will be colored "American flag blue," he said.
Built in the 1920s, the Reflecting Pool and its surroundings were comprehensively renovated in 2012, paid for by $34 million in Obama-era stimulus funding. The National Park Service has carried out some renovations since then, and the pool is also periodically drained to scrub out algae, garbage, goose droppings and other detritus.
But during an Oval Office event on drug prices, Mr. Trump said he is disturbed by the "terrible" condition of the pool, a historic sight that featured heavily in Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 March on Washington and other major events at the Lincoln Memorial.
He estimated that renovating the pool will take about a week and cost roughly $1.5 million. He said contractors have begun working on the stones, and started laying down its new "industrial-grade" surface on Thursday. "You're going to end up with a beautiful, beautiful reflecting pool, the way it's supposed to be," he said, showing photos of the construction process. "Much better than it ever was, actually."
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-resurfacing-lincoln-memorial-reflecting-pool-blue/
Waste. Fraud. Abuse.
He is desecrating the entire city.
mpcamb
(3,241 posts)Walleye
(45,204 posts)PatSeg
(53,301 posts)Whenever he talks of the U.S., he is talking about Donald Trump - I, me, mine, etc. He has an emperor's mindset where it all comes under his domain.
Bristlecone
(11,149 posts)He wants to ensure that the next President in 2028 has a great ballroom, arches, colored pools, etc. After all, when had he ever destroyed anything
..
(And yes, this is deep, deep sarcasm)
Blues Heron
(8,953 posts)evolves
(5,865 posts)That was some weird shit.
riversedge
(81,344 posts)Irish_Dem
(81,983 posts)Pit his face on it!!
twodogsbarking
(19,130 posts)In two weeks.
William Seger
(12,509 posts)twodogsbarking
(19,130 posts)twodogsbarking
(19,130 posts)Volaris
(11,769 posts)Very well done!
Botany
(77,664 posts)It is a reflecting structure not a swimming pool. The man has zero taste. He can have any cut of
meat, any piece of seafood, any baked good, any fruit or vegetable, or any drink but he likes well done
strip steaks (tough cut) with ketchup, KFC, McDonalds, and Diet Coke. The man is devoid of taste.
And he thinks this looks classy too when it is a tacky eyesore. (Merde Logo gate).

radical noodle
(10,669 posts)He needs to work on that. Maybe it'll distract him. He wants to remake the US in his image by doing things not easily undone.
Botany
(77,664 posts)He likes shit like this.

Hope22
(4,830 posts)99.9% of what you do is not your job! And 100% of what you do is poorly done!
Ray Bruns
(6,588 posts)Doing everything else but what hes supposed to be doing.
William Seger
(12,509 posts)... by thinking that customers would pay extra for the #rump name.
littlemissmartypants
(34,196 posts)Then leave him alone with the paint and brushes and have a nice lunch.
thesquanderer
(13,064 posts)Last edited Fri Apr 24, 2026, 04:53 PM - Edit history (1)
thesquanderer
(13,064 posts)Ford_Prefect
(8,638 posts)purr-rat beauty
(1,349 posts)But I can forsee jet skis in it soon if we keep this trajectory towards idiocy
Javaman
(65,938 posts)JohnnyRingo
(20,959 posts)But I'm sure there's an angle. Perhaps one of his ballroom donors will get the heavily padded contract or maybe Jared will be appointed as Chief Project Officer.
At least he should go though Congress for approval and oversight.
Irish_Dem
(81,983 posts)Putin is destroying the entire USA without firing a shot.
Volaris
(11,769 posts)NNadir
(38,350 posts)...under water, Orrex style.
efhmc
(16,883 posts)Maybe starting with himself.
Joinfortmill
(21,455 posts)Orrex
(67,301 posts)Straight to the bottom and stay there, daughterfucker.
twodogsbarking
(19,130 posts)Entranced by his own beauty, he was unable to leave the reflection and eventually pined away or drowned, with some versions saying he fell into the water trying to reach his own image.
NNadir
(38,350 posts)...his looks, we can add that to his well known lack of taste.
SSJVegeta
(2,944 posts)Historic NY
(40,107 posts)painting isn't going to help when ducks shit in it an algae grows. The water is cycled from the tidal basin which has its own pollutants. Trump thinks of new way to spend our money. Its a pond not a swimming pool
https://wtop.com/dc/2026/04/reflecting-pool-gets-a-deep-clean-in-preparation-for-america-250/]
travelingthrulife
(5,457 posts)JBTaurus83
(1,588 posts)By the time he is finished. Im sure this project is top of every citizens mind as prices sky rocket. Id hope Dems capitalize on all of his redecorating in an ad with a ticker of gas prices and the national debt in the corner.
Clouds Passing
(8,137 posts)sop
(19,041 posts)The dark bottom absorbs light and creates a deeper, more dramatic, mirror-like effect, a blue bottom will likely change the visual characteristics of the pool's reflections.
This was my first question too!
Does he know the difference between 'renovation' and 'restoration?'
LeftInTX
(34,714 posts)At least he's not gonna fill it with concrete like he originally planned.
MIButterfly
(3,020 posts)DJT focusing on everything he shouldn't and destroying everything he should be focusing on. How could one human being be so inept and just plain flat-out stupid?
A president serves the PEOPLE; DJT only serves himself. He obsesses over whatever cockamanie idea comes into his empty head at any given moment, all to our detriment.
Not to mention he treats our money like it's his own personal ATM while depriving people of health care, food assistance, etc.
People actually voted for this kind of bullshit. To my dying day, I will never get it.
ColoringFool
(916 posts)LeftInTX
(34,714 posts)ColoringFool
(916 posts)Wild blueberry
(8,348 posts)As in, another of his close-to-death musings.
Get your tiny mitts OFF our White House, our capital, our country! They're not yours, nor is our taxpayer money, chump.
samsingh
(18,463 posts)and cozy up to enemies while fighting allies
Harker
(17,990 posts)Bengus81
(10,290 posts)magicarpet
(19,083 posts).... and make KKKegsbreath the admiral in charge. He wants to be certain the whole world sees the USA as the warmonger state who will backdown to no one.
Then djt can launch Tomahawk missiles at the US Capitol if he does not like how they vote on his Heritage Foundation's - Fascist Program 2025 legislation.
LeftInTX
(34,714 posts)It's probably a waste of money, but at least he isn't filling it with concrete like he originally planned.
JoseBalow
(9,631 posts)drumpf doesn't do anything that doesn't personally benefit himself. Nothing.
yellow dahlia
(6,310 posts)Kid Berwyn
(24,837 posts)Charles Leerhson
Yahoo.com, May 9, 2019
EXCERPT...
I tend to see my time with him the first part of it, anyway, before things started going bad in a hurry as his King Midas period. I never said this to him; if I had, he probably would have thought I was suggesting he enter the muffler business. But there was a stretch of months when everything he touched turned into a deal. The banks seemed to accept the version of him depicted in his first book, The Art of the Deal, which we now know from his previous ghostwriter, Tony Schwartz, was entirely invented. They believed it over what they saw on his balance sheets or heard coming out of his mouth, and they never said no to his requests for more money. Often they came up with things he could say yes to before he could think of them himself. As a result, a failing real estate developer who had little idea of what he was doing and less interest in doing it once hed held the all-important press conference wound up owning three New Jersey hotel-casinos, the Plaza Hotel, the Eastern Airlines Shuttle and a 281-foot yacht.
A real go-getter, right? But Trumps portfolio did not jibe with what I saw each day which to a surprisingly large extent was him looking at fabric swatches. Indeed, flipping through fabric swatches seemed at times to be his main occupation. Some days he would do it for hours, then take me in what he always called his French military helicopter to Atlantic City where he looked at more fabric swatches or sometimes small samples of wood paneling. It was true that the carpets and drapes at his properties needed to be refreshed frequently, and the seats on the renamed Trump Shuttle required occasional reupholstering. But the main thing about fabric swatches was that they were within his comfort zone whereas, for example, the management of hotels and airlines clearly wasnt. One of his aides once told me that every room at the Plaza could be filled at the rack rate (list price) every night, and the revenue still wouldnt cover the monthly payment of the loan hed taken out to buy the place. In other words, hed made a ridiculous deal. Neither he nor the banks had done the math beforehand. Or perhaps Trump knew it because someone had told him, but didnt want to think about it. The one thing he is above-average at is compartmentalization.
Source:
https://news.yahoo.com/trump-the-billiondollar-loser-his-ghostwriter-recalls-the-king-midas-years-090000640.html
tavernier
(14,486 posts)Dems should put up a sign next to it once its done reminding people to vote blue!
Ocelot II
(131,014 posts)Bayard
(30,048 posts)He has no idea what's in it, but he just has to mess with everything.
greatauntoftriplets
(179,239 posts)LeftInTX
(34,714 posts)If the pool is currently painted black, it probably helps with algae control. It probably helps hide the algae
-misanthroptimist
(1,728 posts)...of resurfacing the bottom of any pool with Trump.
bucolic_frolic
(55,547 posts)It is an obsession with being right about everything and being able to dictate what happens, what style, design, architecture is, and everyone else can go shove it.
ColoringFool
(916 posts)destruction in the name of "much-needed renovation, Barack Hussein Obama let everything go to pot. The furniture is so uncomfortable, I guess it's so visitors don't stay long. Soon the White House will be bigger and more beautiful than any other building in America, probably the world. I'd like to have gold columns, like a Greek temple but better. My friend President Putin might disagree, but we'll see. I think I'll win this one.
What's that? When will we end the war with Iran? Who sent you here---Fake News CNN? You are nasty."
Lulu KC
(8,898 posts)Retirement beckons, big guy.
gordianot
(15,784 posts)Replace it with an orange creep sitting on a golden throne.
Bengus81
(10,290 posts)Grins
(9,499 posts)Show me one photo of him at the pool. He has never seen it up close.
LetMyPeopleVote
(181,155 posts)Two-thirds of Americans believe the president has the wrong priorities. As he focuses on another renovation project, he keeps proving them right.
...contracting procedures had been followed or whether any element of the endeavor has been or will be subject to any kind of oversight."
— DrDinD.bsky.social (@drdind.bsky.social) 2026-04-25T15:44:07.247Z
"Trump, still mired in distractions, turns his attention to the reflecting pool in D.C." share.google/HERD8kOwVboh...
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-still-mired-in-distractions-turns-his-attention-to-the-reflecting-pool-in-d-c
Next up on President Trumps renovation tour of Washington, D.C.: the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool, which he called filthy and dirty and in need of a major upgrade.
Mr. Trump said on Thursday that the project was already underway to renovate the reflecting pool, which is more than 2,000 feet long and has been the site of many historic events, including Martin Luther King Jr.s I Have a Dream speech.
At a White House event ostensibly about health care, Trump strayed from the topic to talk about the reflecting pool between the Washington and Lincoln memorials, taking time to argue that he actually had more people when he spoke at a July 4 event at the reflecting pool than MLK did when he delivered his I Have a Dream speech in 1963. (I have pictures of Martin Luther Kings crowd and my crowd, the president said.).....
An Associated Press report added, Trump brought up the project unprompted and spoke about it for several minutes.
This latest renovation project is not to be confused with the presidents preoccupation with his ballroom vanity project, his crusade to build a Triumphal Arch, his apparent excitement about the construction of a temporary White House arena for an upcoming UFC fight, his desire to turn the White House Executive Office Building into a giant white blob, his stated interest in renovating the White House Treaty Room, his specific marble and paint preferences for the Kennedy Center or the dozen or so other renovation projects Trump has prioritized in and around the White House complex.
Two-thirds of Americans believe their unpopular president simply has the wrong priorities. He keeps proving them right.