this post was submitted on 13 May 2026
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[–] midribbon_action@lemmy.blahaj.zone 161 points 2 months ago (8 children)

No bid contract to a friend of Trump's in the hotel pool industry. The idea stemmed from Trump seeing the park service scrape algae off the top because of ongoing filtration issues. That's it. He just wants to hide the algae. It's so dumb, and as far as I understand it, pool paint is nearly impossible to remove.

Hey did you know that darker colors reflect less sunlight? They turn a substantial portion of light into heat; I wonder if that will affect the algae. I also wonder how he ever thought something on the bottom of the pool was supposed to hide the surface. That's not how occlusion works.

[–] iamericandre@lemmy.world 129 points 2 months ago (5 children)

You’re trying to rationalize the mind of a literal anus. Quit while you’re ahead

[–] stoy@lemmy.zip 54 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Hey, please don't insult the anus, it is a very important bodypart

[–] determinist@kbin.earth 24 points 2 months ago (1 children)

he's like a haemorrhoid in an anus.

[–] iamericandre@lemmy.world 21 points 2 months ago (2 children)

He’s more like a skid mark on the underpants of American history

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[–] caseyweederman@lemmy.ca 8 points 2 months ago

"he lacks the warmth and the depth"

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[–] midribbon_action@lemmy.blahaj.zone 41 points 2 months ago (1 children)

At least we don't have Harris in office, we dodged a bullet there. /s

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[–] StillAlive@piefed.world 63 points 2 months ago (2 children)
[–] mkwt@lemmy.world 75 points 2 months ago (1 children)

The reflecting pool on the National Mall is shallow pool / fountain that's there to look neat. It's not intended for swimming. It's an iconic landmark that connects the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Memorial. It's been featured in all kinds of media, films, and TV for decades. Martin Luther King Jr's "I have a dream" speech was there.

Trump decided that the reflecting pool needed to be painted blue like some kinds of swimming pools. He caused the government to hire "a guy he knows" without putting the contract out for normal competitive bidding.

Also, I think they're painting directly on to granite, not concrete.

There's also this shot of the President driving his motorcade of several multi-ton vehicles directly on top of the granite pool.

[–] FrChazzz@lemmus.org 13 points 2 months ago

Because I'm an insufferable pedant sometimes: MLK's speech was on the Lincoln Memorial steps (they have brass replicas of his foot prints on the very spot). The crowd was gathered in front of those steps and the crowd stretched back alongside the edges of the pool.

[–] programmer_belch@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 2 months ago (5 children)

Lincoln memorial pool is being painted blue for repairs. Some people think it is illegal and/or looks ugly CNN

[–] grue@lemmy.world 65 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It's not "for repairs." It is, itself, damage.

[–] midribbon_action@lemmy.blahaj.zone 24 points 2 months ago

Yeah spot on. 'Granite' is a wide category of rock. The Vietnam memorial is also apparently granite, I just learned that today. It looks nothing like the reflecting pool, it's much darker, almost black. The specific types of granite, maybe even the specific quarries, was chosen by each architect for it's texture and color. Congress paid extra to keep the original granite floor while replacing everything else about it in 2009.

It will never be restored, I don't think it's possible. Our generation will have been the last to be able to see the original intended art piece.

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[–] aeronmelon@lemmy.world 51 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Are they using felt-tipped pens to paint it? Cause that’s what it looks like in every single picture.

[–] FatVegan@leminal.space 7 points 2 months ago

Looks like they use some sort of sponge technique from art attack

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[–] smuuthbrane@sh.itjust.works 47 points 2 months ago (2 children)

My favourite? The overspray. Really classes up the national monument. Chef's kiss.

[–] ramble81@lemmy.zip 15 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I was gonna bring that up. It’s not a small area, so how bad do you have to be doing things to get such a bad amount of visible overspray from an ariel photo?!

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.cafe 13 points 2 months ago

They started with paint rollers, and realized that wasn't going to work, so they switched to sprayers. Seriously.

There are plastic sheets all around no? So they have no reason to be precise while spraying.

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[–] jobbies@lemmy.zip 46 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Thats awful. Can't beleive you guys are just letting that man trash your country.

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[–] altphoto@lemmy.today 27 points 2 months ago (3 children)

From a technical sense, its dark blue, which will basically absorb all light except blue. Water should absorb blue pretty good. So you'll have a nice water evaporator. It's good for the sinuses.

[–] greedytacothief@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Isn't DC already super humid all the time anyway?

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[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.cafe 22 points 2 months ago (4 children)

From what I understand, his Arc de Trump (seriously, that's what it's called), is going to be located between the pool and the Washington Monument, and will be TALLER than the the Washington Monument. He's making sure it gets a nice reflection.

Lovely.

[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 12 points 2 months ago (4 children)

I wonder what will become of all these garish monuments he leaves behind once history correctly sees him as neo-Hitler?

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.cafe 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

We should pass a law that it is illegal to name anything after him, or build any monument to him. How many statues of Hitler are there in Germany?

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[–] TryingToBeGood@reddthat.com 11 points 2 months ago

No, it will be on the VA side of the river, and shorter than Washington, but still tall enough to create a hazard to the flight path into national airport. FAA, don’t fail us. 🙏

[–] froh42@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago

Arsch de Trump, as we say in Germany.

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[–] HulkSmashBurgers@reddthat.com 19 points 2 months ago

So we have the Epstein pedo party ballroom, and now we have the Epstein pedo party pool.

[–] blargh513@sh.itjust.works 19 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Using funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the National Park Service reconstructed the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. The pool's water supply system was updated to eliminate stagnant water by circulating water from the Tidal Basin; the pool was formerly filled using potable water from the city.

Seems like algae and other water-borne nasties have been a thing since they started pumping the tidal basin water in.

I get it, don't waste drinking water, but I don't think pumping untreated water into a space without natural flow is going to work. You're basically making stagnant water and a lovely home for algae. Unless there was a steady stream of in/out at a fairly high refresh rate, you're going to get funk. You're trading the consumption of water for consumption of energy to run a pump system 24/7.

Either they need to fully naturalize it by adding plants and other life that balances out things or go full chem. It would still need to be circulated. Just throwing ozone into the water ain't gonna cut it. At that point, you may as well just run a full pool pump system (big one) and filter system with a sanitizer like chlorine or bromine. Potable water has a small amount of chlorine in it already, that's why it wasn't as bad with potable water.

If you start with sanitizer, I would presume that the unfinished concrete wouldn't last long. That may be what is going on. I'm not going to give anyone credit here, but sealing the surface prior to adding sanitizer makes sense. I think there are ways to sanitize with hydrogen peroxide, but I don't know if it would work on a scale like this. Most pools are deeper; this thing is only like 18 inches deep. That means very high evaporation relative to the total volume. Even with chlorine which deteriorates in sunlight, any sanitzing agent will will be quickly consumed. If you're pumping in basin water with lots of organic material and then throwing chlorine into it, the result will be a lot of nitrogen trichloride aka chloramine. It smells like pool, but with this much surface area it will be REALLY smelly.

That would be a fitting result of all of this. A giant pool of chemical soup and a resultant stink so nasty that nobody can go near it.

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[–] IAmYouButYouDontKnowYet@reddthat.com 16 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Idk... The Walmart blue really gives it some authority.

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[–] Zier@fedia.io 14 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Painting this pool a darker color than the concrete that is already there is one of the dumbest things ever. President Pedo routinely lives in opposite world. Complete idiot and waste of DNA.

[–] LemmiChanga@programming.dev 13 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Just be glad he didn’t paint it gold.

[–] Zier@fedia.io 8 points 2 months ago

I would love that because it would look like a big piss trough. Stay classy!!

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[–] WesternInfidels@feddit.online 13 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Not my pictures: "Reflecting Pool Boondoggle" Flickr Album.

This one in particular has a lot of details that reward / punish close zoomed-in examination, I think.

This one shows that some of the banners surrounding the site have been defaced, including at least two sections which appear to have been sliced out with a box cutter or something similar. I'm curious what was on those parts that were removed.

News about the pool project got me to dig into my crummy tourist snapshots from 2024. And the reflecting pool appeared ... blue? What are we after with all this, again?

PNPCmPCtUfA6AAG.jpg

Maybe the real purpose is to keep the president occupied with trivia, distracted from whatever the vile shits behind his throne are up to.

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[–] fenrasulfr@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Can I ask why they are painting the floor blue?

[–] Tiger666@lemmy.ca 16 points 1 month ago

Embezzlement.

[–] normalentrance@lemmy.zip 10 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Trump wanted to give 10+ mil taxpayer money to a crony. Wouldn't be surprised if he gets a little taste himself, or gets some work comped on his properties. There is also probably an aspect of reminding people he existed years down the road when he's dead, because he is a narcissist.

It certainly isn't because it is a good idea.

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[–] nuko147@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago (4 children)

The real news is that was a Trump's choice contractor that would do the job for $1.8 million but the cost got to around $13 million..

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[–] regedit@lemmy.zip 9 points 2 months ago (3 children)
[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 14 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Trump's having the reflecting pool painted blue to make it look "better."

[–] portuga@lemmy.world 12 points 2 months ago

He has a “pool guy” as far as I unwillingly learned and don’t need more information on

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[–] Lanske@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

So much beauty coming out of America these days........

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