Donald Trump has said the reflecting pool will probably need to be drained for a second round of repairs after a massive algae bloom turned the water green and foul-smelling. The $14.7m renovation, intended to beautify the pool for the 250th anniversary of independence, has instead become a perverse tourist attraction and a 2,028ft national metaphor for failure.
Algae bloom and public reaction
On Monday, the pool's water resembled a plane passenger clutching a sick bag, with a vivid green algae bloom that clouded the dark-blue liner. A roughly 4ft piece of the liner was seen floating in the pool last Friday. Tourists and TV crews gathered to document the spectacle. José Lebron, a local tour guide, said: 'He has a contrary of the Midas touch, which is everything he touches becomes crap. I’m worried because now the point of visiting the pool is seeing the whole spectacle of the mistake. It’s not enjoying what the pool actually is meant for, which is a reflective space.'
Trump's response and allegations
Trump has claimed saboteurs caused a 300ft-long gash in the pool, illegally polluted it with chemicals, and marked '86 47' (slang for getting rid of Trump) into nearby grass. At least five people have been arrested, including former Olympic canoeist David Hearn, who publicly denied the charges. Trump threatened the culprits with 10 years in jail. Questioned by reporters, he said: 'We had vandalism. It’s not a lot of damage, but we’ll probably have to let the water out and re-fix it.'
Contractor's defense and historical context
Virginia-based Atlantic Industrial Coatings, which received a no-bid contract after previously working on pools at one of Trump's golf clubs, said the required repairs were 'a very small part of the massive 7-acre (2.83-hectare) project, and do not indicate a failure of the liner.' The pool, once lined with crowds listening to Martin Luther King's 'I have a dream' speech, now appears murky, with algae, leaves, and litter floating in one corner. A beleaguered duck paddled nearby, and passersby could not see their reflections.
Symbolic power and criticism
Jessica Diaz, a nurse practitioner visiting from Jupiter, Florida, said: 'A little cloudy, a little murky, a little disappointing. Different bacteria and whatnot that take away from the beauty of it and the symbolism of it. It puts things in not a very great light.' Sherry O’Keefe, a therapist, used the phrase 'not impressed' eight times, adding: 'The fact that we have had a massive algae bloom that is now resulting in people being arrested for touching the water reflects that we’ve got somebody who is more concerned with appearances than with actuality.'
Political implications
George Derek Musgrove, co-author of Chocolate City: A History of Race and Democracy in the Nation’s Capital, said Trump regarded the pool as an easy way to embarrass the Obama administration and deflect attention from the Iran war. 'Once he got involved and insisted on a specific fix that didn’t actually address the problem of algae blooms, and doled out a very questionable no-bid contract to an inexperienced contractor, it started to get this stink of corruption. And now, in order to cover up his choices, he’s having people arrested just for touching a piece of the blue paint that has peeled off.'
Epitaph for Trump's Washington ambitions
Sidney Blumenthal, a Lincoln biographer and former senior adviser to Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, remarked: 'Trump has wanted a monument to himself in Washington and he finally has one. It is this reflecting pool and it is a perfect metaphor of kleptocracy, failure, incompetence, a complete mess and it stands before the Lincoln Memorial, which he seeks to overshadow with his arch of triumph after losing the Iran war.'
