U.S. President Donald Trump holds a reflecting pool image at the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, D.C., June 3, 2026. REUTERS Kevin Lamarque
During a Wednesday press conference, President Donald Trump could not wait to announce that crews will begin refilling the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool after spending over a month resurfacing it with "American flag blue" sealant.
But what caught hecklers was the moment Trump pulled out a poster in the Oval Office comparing the size of the reflecting pool to that of some of the largest buildings in the U.S., as if the investment he put on U.S. taxpayers’ had done anything to extend the length of the pool—or that a rectangular water-filled hole could compare to the girders, architecture and design that goes into the Empire State Building of the World Trade Center.
“He has to pump up those rookie numbers,” offered on critic on X, who posted an augmented graph containing a much longer, red bar labeled “My gas bill” alongside Trump’s blue reflecting pool.
“Most un-math graph ever!” quipped another critic.
Many others included simple “head slap” emojis, while another said on X “This is the chart you make when you’re gunning for that MQ and need to prove you’re better than your peers (but you’ve been shamming).”
The worst MAGA X users could muster in response was splitting hairs with CBS reporters for referring to the blue sealant as “paint.”
Trump’s Reflecting Pool renovation is already brimming with accusations of corruption and of enrichment of the president’s allies. Trump was already flip-flopping on the controversy of who he hired to renovate the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
“President Trump previously said he had personally chosen the contractor to fix the Reflecting Pool, because of the good work they did on his golf club's swimming pools,” The New York Times’ David A. Farenthold posted on X. “Now, Trump says does not know them.”
Farenthold posted his comment after he and fellow New York Times journalist Maxine Joselow ran a Tuesday piece reporting that “Interior Dept. staffers have raised questions about the quality and speed of the work being done to repair the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, according to documents.”
Meanwhile, Trump is diverting “at least $60 million” from million from a National Park Service (NPS) entrance fee fund to pay for his various pet projects around Washington. DC,” reported The Hill’s Rachel Frazin.
An additional $13 million from the fund is going toward Trump’s renovations on the National Mall Reflecting Pool. That last allocation, Frazin added, is not listed in the federal database of NPS projects, which raises questions about how it is being funded. All that is known for sure is that $7 million is coming from park fees.
