Donald Trump on Saturday announced that federal authorities had made “multiple arrests” of people he said were vandalizing the Reflecting Pool as he struggled to explain why the $14-million-plus rehabilitation project he launched for the nation’s 250th anniversary seemingly backfired.

Trump said his predecessors had let the pool turn an algae-stained green and that he’d line it with “American flag blue” so it better reflected the Washington Monument. But after the new pool was unveiled, its blue tinge quickly became a familiar green. Workers treated it with chemicals to kill the algae, but then the painted blue lining on the bottom began to peel.

  • Sibilantjoe@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    Imagine being arrested and charged with a felony because a geriatric narcissist is too far gone to admit his cronies did a shit job:

    One man arrested was David Hearn, 67, of Bethesda, Maryland, who owned a company that made composite used to build watercraft. He said he stopped by the pool during his 64-mile bike ride Friday to see what was going on.

    Hearn, a former Olympic canoe racer, told The Associated Press that he reached into the pool because he wanted to examine the peeling new coating. He said he briefly touched a chunk that was still attached to the side of the pool, then let go shortly after a park worker told him to.

    But, Hearn said, he was then detained by National Guard troops and Park Police for five hours before being released Friday night.

  • School_Lunch@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    This was suppose to be the one thing he didn’t fail at. His real-estate business is the one that he didn’t bankrupt. I would say now, it is definitive that its only still going because of fraud. He can’t even maintain a pool…

    What a completely worthless human…

    • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
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      It wasn’t a mistake, it was a kickback scheme. You steer a contract toward a trusted buddy, who does a shit job using shit materials, and they split the profit, especially the overruns, which are 100% profit.

      Now you have to intimidate anyone who is considering investigating it.

      This sort of scheme has been his Bread & Butter for his entire [criminal] “career.”

      • socsa@piefed.social
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        3 days ago

        Right, but Trump can’t even do the absolute simplest form of corruption right. The intersection of his incompetence and narcissism means he can’t even paint a pool without making it into a fiasco. It’s seems stupid but it just shows how his entire situation is unraveling. Good con men understand the value of subtlety, and do not tolerate incompetence. Trump is so fucking stupid that he can’t even grift properly as the most powerful man in the world.

  • mycodesucks@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    It’s 2026. We no longer substantiate anything - we just make whatever claims we want and attack whoever dares to call us out on it. That’s how I got my PhD.

    • socsa@piefed.social
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      3 days ago

      The absolute fucking irony of the claim that vandals “dumped corrosive chemicals into the pool” lmao the writers of this season are just phoning it in at this point.