Reflecting Pool Reflects Poorly on Trump

At first, it looked like it was working to get folks buying into the lies about the reflecting pool: the reflecting pool supposedly required a no-bid contract, his handpicked contractor would charge a very low amount, and vandals destroyed the newly installed liner… they even caught one picking up a piece of the destroyed liner.

But then, experts said the material couldn’t have been cut in the way Trump officials claimed, the project went more than 533% over budget, and the man they arrested on felony destruction of property charges for alleged vandalism was former U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn.

But, as with so many Trump narratives, reality eventually caught up. Even his loyal U.S. Attorney in Washington, D.C., abandoned the criminal case after it became impossible to sustain the claim against a man who was, for all practical purposes, an innocent bystander. The Department of Justice and federal records ended up noting that the rushed, accelerated project timeline for the July 4th celebrations led to faulty installation rather than the vandalism initially blamed by administration officials.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz summed up the episode and put it in perspective:

“Found an imaginary problem, said only they could fix it, didn’t listen to experts, hired buddies who grifted millions, failed miserably, bragged how great it went. The entire Trump presidency in a nutshell.”

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