What the Reflecting Pool Saga Says About President Trump’s Haters

The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, DC, has been neglected for decades, sadly, and it seems every attempt to restore it to glory has been doomed from the start. Former President Barack Obama tried and failed – and he wasn’t the first – but President Donald Trump said he would get it done quickly, without any fuss, and at relatively little cost. The renovation took longer than he claimed it would and cost considerably more than the figure he originally touted. But he did fix it, and, for a few days, it looked great. Still, it already needs repairs after allegedly being sabotaged – and, beyond the question of whether the famous landmark was deliberately damaged, reactions to the news tell us a great deal about the mind-altering effects of Trump Derangement Syndrome.

The first thing worth noting is that, when the Reflecting Pool was last renovated – the project was completed in late 2012 at a cost of $34 million – hardly anyone mentioned it. The media didn’t cover it to any great extent; Obama’s critics were not angry about it – or about the price tag – and when, just days after renovations were complete, the pool filled with algae, no one gleefully reported its failure.

Certainly, Obama didn’t accuse anyone of vandalizing the pool because the very notion would have been ridiculous. No one on the right, no matter how much they despised the then-president, would have even considered defacing a national landmark out of sheer spite.

Yet, the idea that Trump-deranged leftists would really do such a petty and reprehensible thing is entirely believable. And that in itself is a damning indictment of the 47th president’s haters.

The Doomed Reflecting Pool

Is it true that the Reflecting Pool was deliberately damaged just days after repairs were completed? The president says so, even claiming that several individuals have been arrested. Some media outlets assert that his allegation is based on no evidence – as it does appear that the algae is probably a recurring issue, for which there is no fix without some mechanism of cycling water through the Reflecting Pool. Then, of course, it will no longer be a pool that reflects, as its architect, Henry Bacon, envisioned.

In reality, President Trump’s efforts were going to be in vain. The only permanent fix for the Reflecting Pool is a total rebuild: putting a concrete support structure beneath it – which it never had – to protect it from the marshland upon which it is built and replacing all the water pipes. And that’s a great deal of pipe.

As a builder himself, Trump surely knows this and was likely hoping for a quick fix that would at least make the Reflecting Pool look magnificent through America’s 250th birthday celebrations.

Still, vandalized or not, the pool that visually connects the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial, and the saga that materialized around its renovation, do not reflect well on the president’s detractors. Like the White House ballroom, the Reflecting Pool, the monuments of the nation’s capital, and the White House itself are symbols of America. They were, with the exception of the ballroom, all there long before Trump and, with the same exception, will be there long after Trump has gone.

We Can’t Be Happy If Trump Gets the Credit

There is, after all, a strong possibility that the next Democrat to occupy 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. will have the ballroom torn down – which would be an act of state-sponsored vandalism – purely because Trump had it built.

The reasonable person would imagine that, politics aside, all efforts to rebuild, restore, and beautify America’s capital city would be applauded.

Not so, apparently. Trump Derangement Syndrome will cause its victims to prefer no progress or improvement or beautification or repairs if they mean Trump can take even some of the credit.

This is more than a little sad to consider. And this mindset leads one to ponder all kinds of possibilities – such as leftist DAs, governors, and mayors releasing violent illegal aliens from prison and protecting them from deportation because those people don’t want to see less crime. Better to have the crime than to see President Trump applauded for reducing it.

It really does appear to be a sickness of the mind: Americans cannot and should not have nice things for as long as Trump is in the White House – because he absolutely cannot be allowed to claim the credit for anything positive or constructive.

Trump gambled on a temporary fix for the Reflecting Pool, and the left can barely conceal its pleasure that the gamble has failed. And even if the landmark was not deliberately damaged, the very fact that the radical left couldn’t bear the thought of Trump restoring it and seems to revel in the failure of the project sets them apart from the rest of America.