President Donald Trump’s fantastical claims of vandalism at the Reflecting Pool make him look more pathetic and ridiculous than ever. The poor guy cannot even provide a decent lie anymore, something that was once his greatest political skill.
Without going through proper procedures for determining the best way to repair problems with the long, shallow pool that stretches between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., Trump unilaterally hired some pool guys who are his political cronies to paint the bottom of the famous pond. The job was done with cost overruns that came to more than nine times the original repair estimate of $1.8 million and, within days, the pool turned green with algae while the blue paint began to peel and rise to the surface.
Not one to ever — ever — admit a mistake, Trump is now claiming that vandalism is responsible and that six people have been arrested for sabotaging the project. He has offered zero evidence of any of this and, other than a guy who shouted a bad word at some National Guardsmen, the only person briefly detained at the pool was a female tourist who was attempting to snag a bit of the floating blue paint as a souvenir.
As he made his bogus claims in response to reporters’ questions, Trump looked like a little kid fumbling to find an excuse for failing to do his homework. Yet, it is true that there has been vandalism in our nation’s capital. Just look at the browned South Lawn of the White House where Trump held his birthday cage fight. Or, most unconscionable, consider the demolished East Wing.
Someone, indeed, has been holding a demolition derby at the White House and beyond, and that vandal’s name is Donald J. Trump.
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