To most Americans, it’s only common sense to undertake a few home improvement projects before hosting a big party. President Donald Trump is doing exactly that for Washington, D.C., as millions of visitors are expected in the nation’s capital for the semiquincentennial celebration this summer. But to hear liberals tell it, you’d think Trump was burning the city to the ground and dancing on the ashes.
The latest left-wing meltdown was over Trump’s renovation of the Reflecting Pool, the long, rectangular body of water between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. For years, the Reflecting Pool has been a smelly, dirty mess. As The New York Times notes, “The pool has also been troubled for decades by leaks and algae blooms that turn its water green.”
Previous presidents have made efforts to clean the pool – a seemingly simple task that has proven nigh impossible. A resurfaced CNN clip from 2012 reports that the Obama administration spent an eye-popping $34 million (about $67 million in 2025 dollars) over two years renovating the Reflecting Pool – only for it to be a disgusting mess less than a month later.
But Trump has managed to do what Obama failed to do in a matter of weeks – and spent a fraction of what his predecessor poured into the project.
In April, Trump announced plans to renovate the pool. Instead of the normal months or even years of “planning” phases, a private contractor quickly drained the pool, repainted the bottom “American flag blue,” and sealed it from leaks. Photos show the pool nearly full as of Sunday evening, with the pearly white monuments reflecting off the now crystal-clear water.
To anyone who hasn’t been infected by the dreaded liberal brainworm, the Reflecting Pool saga is a nice, feel-good story ahead of July 4. But to the left-wing social media mob and the corporate media, cleaning out a dirty pool is a full-scale national crisis.
One liberal tourist interviewed on MSNOW called the renovation of the pool “really sad.” Another popular left-wing influencer posted a fake image of the pool and claimed that Trump “ruined” it.
The Washington Post ran a 1,200-word piece worrying whether Trump picked the “right” blue for the pool bottom – only for the paper’s “pool expert” to admit that yes, he did. A second Post article cited “historians” who claimed that Trump was pursuing a “move fast and break things approach” – even though he was, in fact, fixing what had been broken for decades.
A nonprofit dedicated to “landscape architecture” even filed a lawsuit seeking to block the project, arguing that “every day that the resurfacing continues, the historic character of the Reflecting Pool is being further and fundamentally altered.”
Yes, you read that correctly – liberals hate Trump so much that they’re willing to embarrass themselves by claiming smelly algae and duck poop is “historic” just to thwart the president’s efforts to make the capital more beautiful for the American people. (The contractor hired to do the job finished it before a judge could even hear the case.)
Much of the manufactured outrage on the left can be explained as a familiar symptom of Trump Derangement Syndrome. But there’s also something deeper going on here.
One of the things liberals hate most about Trump is that he has proven over and over that you can just… fix things. Cleaning the Reflecting Pool didn’t take years of “environmental studies,” DEI seminars, land acknowledgements, or an endless maze of bureaucratic nonsense. Trump simply saw a problem and solved it.
While the Reflecting Pool is the latest example of Trump just doing things, it is hardly the only one. Over the span of just a few months, Trump has cleaned up more than 500 instances of graffiti in D.C., removed 153 homeless encampments, restored 22 fountains – including some that had not run for decades – and cleaned 28 statues. He has also made the city dramatically safer through his deployment of the National Guard to enforce the law where D.C.’s liberal leaders had refused to.
To the left – as well as much of the political establishment on the right – this is a real “emperor has no clothes” moment. For decades, career politicians and entrenched bureaucrats have come up with every excuse under the sun for why they can’t get things done in a timely or somewhat affordable fashion. Government projects are always, always over budget and behind schedule.
In the process of these never-ending projects sucking up vast amounts of taxpayer dollars, an entire class of government contractors has gotten fabulously wealthy. Meanwhile, the ever-growing army of government bureaucrats has collected paychecks and pensions despite doing very little actual work. (Unsurprisingly, both of those groups contribute heavily to Democrat political campaigns.)
Trump is proving that this system is a total scam and a ripoff for taxpayers – and in the process posing an existential threat to the entire left-wing ecosystem and money machine. In this context, it becomes easier to understand why liberals are so upset about Trump cleaning up a pool.
On a deeper and more fundamental level, leftism is an ideology of degeneracy, filth, and decay. Leftism has never built anything. It has only destroyed what others have built. Liberals can’t even comprehend why someone would want to clean the Reflecting Pool or restore a fountain because they do not believe in maintaining and preserving the culture and society that those monuments were built to celebrate.
That is precisely why Americans should never entrust the people now criticizing Trump’s beautification of the capital to run their communities or their country. Those who openly prefer squalor and filth over acknowledging that their political adversaries might have some good ideas are unfit to lead a free and prosperous people.
Shane Harris is the Editor-in-Chief of AMAC Newsline. You can follow him on X @shaneharris513.
Shane Harris, you continue to impress me. “Dreaded Liberal Brainworm’ made me laugh because it so perfectly describes that parasitic mind set. On my first trip to Washington DC the beauty by design impressed me so that it is the strongest memory of that visit. We really do need to take note of those who oppose beautification, and oppose them in elections.
There is only one way to stop this nonsense. Vote RED to stop the insanity!! We have to get out and Vote in overwhelmingly numbers(harder for the left to cheat)
I was honored to visit DC on an Honor Flight trip in 2023… The Reflecting Pool stunk and was dirty… We are blessed to have a President who loves America and Americans!!
The Democrats just continue to show off their stupidity because they were unable to attach any money wasting amendments to the pool cleaning bill.
Let the ” Libtards” gnash their teeth, wring their hands, whine, pi_s & moan all they want. Just keep moving forward and be MAGA!
Yes! There are many things to clean up in this country. The Democrats would complain no matter what Trump is doing! When I think about it, no one was complaining when Obama was in office with his disasters and there were many. No one complained and we should have been screaming when Biden was in office. He has created a huge mess that will take years to clean up. What a noth9ing he is and has been!
Lets just accept the fact that the current democrat party, will oppose anything President Trump does. And they seem to think that we the American people have memories like theirs seem to be. We remember how little was done to clean up and beautify the area around the people’s government.
I even remember all the crime that had terrified any who dared to park their car or even go for a walk on DC streets. I think President Trump fixed that, still no credit from the dimmies, who despise any thing he does for all the people.
What the hell does the left want? A ????y pool?
The negativity of the left is showing for all to see. Any progress, anything to stop the lawlessness, preserving our historic monuments and don’t forget the statues the left progressives hate. Because they tear these things down. They want an amoral, godless country where they are the boss. They are destroying America by rewriting its history, tearing down the monuments and its culture. And creating Sodom and Gomorrah. They love criminals, hate police. They hate anyone that is not on their side and most of all they hate President Trump because he gets things done. They commit fraud with programs like Obama with cleaning up the pool. Most of that money was funneled back to the politicians and the contractors. Trump got it done with none of that. Election fraud is rampant in CA right now. They are still counting the votes. Really? They are busy filling out ballots for their candidates and it turns out more than they anticipated. That’s why it takes so long. And they complain over the clean up Trump is doing to make DC shine for the 250th anniversary of this nation. Which they are destroying.That is why they are angry.
It’s a beautiful sight!
Really sad how demented the left is. No matter how good Trump does things they will not accept it. They truly have TDS. How can you be against things done well and for a reasonable amount of money instead of getting ripped off. The left is nuts!
My goodness Mr Harris, you nailed it.
In 1986 Trump fixed up Central Park’s Wollman Rink, an ice skating rink in New York City. The city had agonized for years on how to fix the thing. When they let Trump handle it, it was done in a few months. Government spends more time and effort in doing studies and hiring consulting firms than in actually doing simple things.
Actually, the Demo/Commies have already lost their minds which is why the are pushing to elect Platner and Talarico to be their nominees for government positions. They now select the dregs of society to be the exact people they need to push their agenda. If we do not get to the polls in ALL elections this year and in 2028, we will be another Communist nation! VOTE!!!
Pigs in a pen attitude. Liberal decay!
“Liberals lost their minds”
How can you lose what you never had?
Thank you President for cleaning up Washington D.C.! I only wish I was young enough and had $ enuf to go see it this July 4th! At 81, it’s not happening….:(
Liberals hate it when Trump does something good! They have never been capable of that and they never will be. Everything they have touched has turned to garbage and every decision they have ever made is a bad one. Stick around I’ll tell you what I really think about the party
I just wish President Trump would tell everyone to go outside and breath in some fresh air……..because you know the democRATS will claim its bad because Trump want you to do it
Obama could not flush a toilet, he was a D.E.I affirmative action moron.
Democrats and our Communist media have NO credibility!
Trump does things BETTER and more QUICKLY because, unlike nearly all DIMMs, he has real-life experience with a REAL job! He doesn’t want/need to spend extra to “grease” some corrupt unions!
Great article! And I think it’s awesome Trump is cleaning up our precious memorials that have been here for so long and was placed for a reason. Who cares what the others think they show their stupidity and ignorance by just their actions of not wanting to clean the memorial up. It’s about time someone took the initiative to just get things done. With over a million visitors expected on July 4th what NORMAL person wouldn’t want their home to look great with visitors coming? .THANK YOU PRESIDENT TRUMP FOR DOING THIS! ????????????
News Report> The latest left-wing meltdown was over Trump’s renovation of the Reflecting Pool, the long, rectangular body of water between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. For years, the Reflecting Pool has been a smelly, dirty mess.
“Disdain for the Left has become much, much, more that disdain. These paid naysayers never have a solution, never anything but hate, vile comments, swearing that is ignorant, and contribute nothing.”
We do not tolerate you, want you gone, and for all your B.S.
“American citizens speak and far, far, outnumber you dweebs. So when they seek an end, you created it!” –> What others are saying and thinking.
Much of the left belong in an institution, apparently.
Not public service, obviously.
He’s the BEST at all he does for America and real Americans!
So true, President can do no good in the sight of the socialist liberals. Why? Because they cannot make any money on the projects that he does. Obama probably paid his buddies and other demoncrats big money for the cleanupbof the pool in2012. That’s the demoncrat socialist liberal way, how much money can I make on that project, not how much can we save the taxpayers.
So they hate President Trump, he doesn’t allow them to grow there wealth.
We have to PUSH HARDER to get ALL RED states voters to vote to keep up what is being done to get our country back on the Right track. Oh how i wish i could see all the beautification being accomplished in real life.
President Trump drained an actual swamp in D.C., of course the islamo-marixists would complain.
Good work President Trump, again!
We keep using the term “Democrat’s”, these bandit’s are not democrats, they are hard core COMMUNIST, WHO ARE USING THE EXACT TECHNIQE’S, THAT ARE TAUGHT TO young commies. If you do not believe this, look what actually happened to Secretary Rubio in his confrontation with that communist. One their ploys that they are taught, is to get up after they have not let their opponent speak, and walk out. This is a very typical communist technique taught early in life. 1960’s, high school taught AMERICANISM VS. COMMUNISM, SHOULD BE STILL TEACHING IT.
Outstanding article, and true.
The more liberal minded citizens who constantly fall for Progressive deceit are always complaining about everything, especially anything that more rational people are doing that actually have positive results.
Progressives create perceived problems that the more liberal minded believe are actual problems, but Progressives never actually show any progress in remedying problems, perceived or real. More liberal minded folk are mostly responsible for creating the arts that the world would be a lesser place to live without. When it comes to business and politics, the more liberal minded citizens are easily deceived by Progressives to waste money trying to control our social lives rather than actually help those in need by helping them take care of themselves. Point of fact, more people are on welfare programs since the creation of the war on poverty.
We need to let more conservative; business minded citizens run our governments so we can stop Progressives from wasting our tax dollars enslaving citizens under welfare programs. We need clean government facilities as well as needing to clean out the scams of welfare and other Socialist programs. As well as a clean reflection pool, we need a clean government.
This story reminded me of Trump fixing the skating rink in New York City. He fixed it asking the right people what was wrong and how to make it right. He then went to work bringing the project in under time and budget. You have to admire the man!
TDS infected liberals would have all of America looking like SanFranSicko with the needles and feces covering the sidewalks.
if a democrat had done this the liberal crybabies would have been fine with it. They’re screaming bloody murder because the person they hate the most (Trump!) did it.
The Democrats are becoming progressively more and more idiotic and ignorant. The Reflecting Pool should never should have been allowed to get into such a horrible condition. Good for President Trump for caring about the appearance of our country. I have begun to think those on the LEFT have all developed mental illness. With every word they spout I thank GOD they are not in control and hope they never will be until the party becomes mentally stable.
IMHO, the problem, well this problem, is that the government awards contracts to contractors who know that when – not if – there are cost overruns, they will be paid for. The trick is to submit a low-ball bid knowing that it will cost more in order to get the bid then run up the cost. If the government would attach penalties to these contracts and/or refuse to pay more than the bid unless extreme circumstances have occurred, you’d see some more careful auditing when bids were submitted.
Heck, those people are UNFIT to live in our country and I don’t give two plug nickels if they were born here or not. They are useless human debris, to quote Rush Limbaugh, boy I miss him everyday. I criticize Trump about the Iran thing, not finishing the job and trying to make Israel not defend itself, but he has done a lot of good things too.
The reason the left hates President Trump fixing the reflecting pool certainly is based on their jaw jerk Trump Derangement Syndrome reflex reaction that offhand rejects anything he does or is for. However, that said there is another very important case they are having a meltdown about this; this case very succinctly and efficiently highlights the complete failure and utter incompetence of their doctrine of the big government technocratic state with its technical experts, and myriads of regulations and permits required to do anything, often prohibiting the employment of the only simple, low-cost and efficient solution. They hate being shown off at a moment in time when they feel they are so close to their Great Reset goal of destroying our constitutional republic via their unelected- corporate-governmental partnerships system into a fascist regime with total control based upon digital currency, data centers, and A.I. .The left-wing technocrat crowd of computer experts in Silicon Valley hates nothing more than when the ineffectiveness and failure of their favorite brain child the technocratic state is put on public display in its full glory as the naked emperor it truly is. If big government is ever the answer you can be sure it was a question about inherent lunacy and incompetence.
So well stated, Shane. To live, and force everyone else to live, in and with, squalor is beyond disgusting. Democrats have lost their bleeding minds.
I worry that when Trump is gone, neither party will carry on his renovation work. Things will just decay again. Of course, we could elect another builder, but unlikely.
As the old saying goes, if you put the brain of a Liberal in to the head of a Hummingbird, that bird would start flying backward. There are very few Liberals, most especially those who claim to represent the American Citizen who also pays Taxes, also known as their salary, who have a brain to share. Liberals, for the most part are unable to think independently and must be told what to think and how to vote.
Look at the voting situation now taking place in California. They appear to have suddenly found thousands of uncounted votes all in favor of their designated winner. I find that truly amazing but it is the Democrat form of voting in California.
Can President Trump hire a wrecking crew to go visit that big beautiful white building (Capital Building) full of brainless rot and restore the beauty it once had, oh about 200 years ago? I would gladly donate to help restore the inner workings of that building.
TDS IS REAL AND IS FAR MORE DANGEROUS TO AMERICA, WE THE PEOPLE, CITIES AND COMMUNTIES AND EVIL THAN CANCER, DIABETES, HEART DISEASE, AND ANY OTHER DIEASE CURRRRENTLY KNOWN TO MANKIND.
But when the article headline reads “Trump Cleaned a Pool. Liberals Lost Their Minds”, I must challenge that. You see, LIBERRALS DON’T HAVE MINDS TO LOSE. They are nothing more than pathetic, indoctrinated, violent, short-circuited ‘robots’.
Oh Shane Harris you are THE MAN!!!!!!!!! I am MAGA MAGA MAGA and damb PROUD of it. In some instances in the daily hateful rhetoric about DJT I find it WONDERFUL that the swamp dwellars can’t keep up with him. Can you imagine what it was like to work for him??? I am so happy that he is our president. The EVIL DOERS can’t keep up and are not smart enough to even try. Anyway the three nut jobs who are trying to stop the MMA fight on the WHITE HOUSE lawn are just hitlarian wanna be’s and to rule everything they see. I say too bad.YOUR ILK IS NOT WANTED HERE!!! NOW SIT DOWN AND SHUT YOUR MOUTHS!!!!!!! MAGA MAGA MAGA IT IS ABOUT TIME THAT THESE PEOPLE DEMONSTRATED SOME RESPECTABLE BEHAVIORS!! SHOW THE AMERICAN PEOPLE THAT YOU ARE AT LEAST TRYING TO BE PATRIOTIC!! USA USA ???????? USA USA USA ???????? MAGA MAGA MAGA
That’s why everything looks sh**ty in socialist run countries. If it breaks…let it go. Well this is the USA….we don’t like the socialist ghetto look here.
Why am I not surprised by the insance imbecilic commie liberals?!
I say grab all those libtard whiners and throw their a s s e s in that pool . Scrub them until there’s no more scum left to pass around. Libs have no idea what squeaky clean means.
Praying President Trump can reach a lot of goals. Also, praying, if the Democrats get back in, they’ll have a change of heart and continue working, rather than dismantling, everything our president accomplishes.
AMAC Site Monitor/Manager—KEEP UP! Viewers read and respond to comments rapidly because time is valuable. Now, KEEP UP!
But wont do diddly about CA