MSNBC’s Chris Hayes on Friday called the green Reflecting Pool “the most visually arresting metaphor” for President Donald Trump’s era in Washington.
Trump spent $14 million in an attempt to clean the pool, but, as Hayes noted, it’s now a “leaky, peeling, algae-infested mess” that’s “getting worse by the day.” The president vowed to transform the green-hued water ― which he blamed on former President Barack Obama ― into a serene blue pool reflecting the sky and the DC landmarks it sits between, and boasted about it, complete with visual props.
Instead, the pool is arguably looking worse than it did before ― and the “American flag blue” paint Trump had installed on the bottom is now peeling off in chunks and getting hauled off by tourists as souvenirs. Hayes played footage of tourists at the Reflecting Pool commenting on its condition.
And they didn’t hold back, with one calling it a “national embarrassment.” Even worse is the government’s response. “Of course, in absolutely true Trumpian form, no one in the mad king’s government can tell the king the truth about what we all see with our own eyes,” Hayes said, quoting a Department of the Interior statement that insisted the “Reflecting Pool water is crystal clear.”
“That, of course, is obviously not true,” Hayes said, then took a deep dive into who did the work, and found what he called “an old-fashioned corruption angle” as two no-bid contracts were awarded. One of them went to a Trump donor and Mar-a-Lago neighbor named John Cafaro.
Hayes also noted that Trump has been very hands-on with most of the other beautification projects ― and said there’s no reason to think he hasn’t done so with this as well. “He probably micromanages this just like he’s done with the destruction of the East Wing for his ballroom and his UFC birthday bash,” Hayes said. “And, as with those vanity projects, this one has turned into a corrupt, incompetent, expensive and embarrassing mess he is trying desperately to cover up.”
