President Trump’s renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is continuing to fail.
Freelance photographer Joe Flood posted a video Wednesday of workers dealing with large chunks of sealant peeling off the dry concrete at the bottom of the pool, which was full of water before Trump turned his attention to it.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that the pool was vandalized, with the Washington, D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office filing charges in July against former Olympic canoeist David Hearn for allegedly ripping a large gash from the pool’s blue paint and lining. Those charges were baseless, as the pool’s paint was peeling off due to the application of hydrogen peroxide to kill algae. The U.S. Attorney’s Office was forced to drop the case against Hearn and all other so-called “vandals.”
The state of the pool Wednesday would seem to confirm that Trump was wrong all along, although he has yet to admit it. Last week, court filings revealed that the Trump administration knew the pool’s paint was peeling almost a month before bringing charges against Hearn and other defendants.
Trump gave the renovation project to a business owned by a longtime Republican donor, curiously named Greenwater Services, through a no-bid process. The Justice Department has admitted that the damage to the Reflecting Pool was caused by Greenwater’s “flawed” installation of the pool lining, not vandals, and it doesn’t appear to be over yet.
Not only is the pool still in an awful state, but Trump could face legal action from Hearn over the false claims his administration made against him, and Democrats in Congress want to investigate why the administration pushed the made-up charges. This long, drawn-out, failed project that wasn’t even necessary in the first place is emblematic of Trump’s presidency.
Nearly half of the states in the U.S. have filed a lawsuit to stop the United States Postal Service from imposing new restrictions on mail-in voting ahead of the midterms in November.
The 55-page complaint, filed by Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Washington D.C., and 23 blue states, comes two days after the Supreme Court halted an injunction on President Trump’s executive order requiring changes to mail ballots.
Under the new U.S. Postal Service rules, states must submit mail-in voters’ information into a USPS portal, and meet strict requirements for their ballot envelope designs.
“We’re suing to block USPS’s rule restricting mail-in voting. This rule is an unlawful overreach that shows just how far President Trump will go to control elections—and we won’t stand for it,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Wednesday. “Your vote is your voice. We’re asking the court to ensure every person has the right to make theirs heard.”
“One need not look further than the White House to explain USPS’s unprecedented and unlawful conduct. President Trump has long opposed mail voting, expressing that it would ‘LEAD TO THE END OF OUR GREAT REPUBLICAN PARTY,’” the lawsuit read. “Since reassuming office, the President has aimed to—in his words— ‘get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS.’”
“I’m suing to block the Trump administration’s new rule that allows the USPS to intercept and reject lawful ballots, threatening millions of Americans’ right to vote,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James. “With the midterms less than three months away, this will create confusion and unacceptable risks for voters.”
This policy is voter suppression masquerading as fraud control, led by a president who can’t accept the will of the electorate. The Trump administration sees it as a major win.
“Radical Democrats continue to oppose commonsense measures that protect the security of mail-in ballots and ensure only Americans are electing American leaders,” White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said. “The Trump Administration will continue to lawfully enact the agenda President Trump was elected on—which includes the safety and security of our elections.”
The Trump administration has declared a British pro-Palestine organization a terrorist group.
