David McAfee
June 20, 2026
RAW STORY
Visitors to the Lincoln Memorial make their way past a member of the National Guard, as the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which has been painted blue at the directive of U.S. President Donald Trump, is seen in the background, ahead of America 250, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 9, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
The Trump administration has reached the stage of its Reflecting Pool saga where soldiers stand watch over a pond full of algae, and the internet has decided that image needs no embellishment to be devastating.
Video circulating Saturday, licensed through FreedomNews.tv, shows National Guard members in uniform posted along the edge of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool while tourists wander past and cleanup equipment idles nearby. The footage spread quickly, and so did the mockery, much of it from across the political spectrum.
Former RNC chair Michael Steele cut to the obvious question. Responding to a clip of the deployment, he asked simply, "Protect it from what, the algae?" Steven Huffman, posting the same scene, narrated it like a military success story, joked that the Guard and local police "have been dispatched to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to guard the algae" before concluding, "As you can see at the end of this clip, the algae is safe. Well done."
Others leaned into the absurdity of the optics. Physician Carolyn Barber wrote, "Rest easy, America. The National Guard has been deployed to ensure no one breaches the heavily defended algae pond at the Lincoln Memorial. The republic endures." Advocate Melanie D'Arrigo tied it to the administration's spending habits, predicting that "next thing you know, the algae will need a $600 million ballroom."
Beneath the jokes ran a more pointed critique about resources and motive. The account Republicans Against Trump labeled the scene "your tax dollars at work," framing armed troops at a decorative basin as a waste dressed up as security. Security researcher Robert Graham connected the deployment to the broader enforcement pattern that has accompanied Trump's vandalism claims, noting that "in support of Trump's conspiracies about his failures caused by sabotage, multiple police departments and the National Guard are now issuing citations merely for touching the water."
That last point captures why the images resonate. Over the past two days a 67-year-old cyclist has been arrested and another visitor reportedly cited, both for making contact with a pool the president insists was sabotaged by chemical-wielding vandals. The simpler explanation, that a rushed and overpriced renovation bloomed green and shed its paint, requires no soldiers at all. The administration has chosen the version with troops, and the country is watching armed service members guard standing water while critics ask the question no one in the White House seems willing to answer: guard it from what?
Visitors to the Lincoln Memorial make their way past a member of the National Guard, as the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which has been painted blue at the directive of U.S. President Donald Trump, is seen in the background, ahead of America 250, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 9, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
The Trump administration has reached the stage of its Reflecting Pool saga where soldiers stand watch over a pond full of algae, and the internet has decided that image needs no embellishment to be devastating.
Video circulating Saturday, licensed through FreedomNews.tv, shows National Guard members in uniform posted along the edge of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool while tourists wander past and cleanup equipment idles nearby. The footage spread quickly, and so did the mockery, much of it from across the political spectrum.
Former RNC chair Michael Steele cut to the obvious question. Responding to a clip of the deployment, he asked simply, "Protect it from what, the algae?" Steven Huffman, posting the same scene, narrated it like a military success story, joked that the Guard and local police "have been dispatched to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to guard the algae" before concluding, "As you can see at the end of this clip, the algae is safe. Well done."
Others leaned into the absurdity of the optics. Physician Carolyn Barber wrote, "Rest easy, America. The National Guard has been deployed to ensure no one breaches the heavily defended algae pond at the Lincoln Memorial. The republic endures." Advocate Melanie D'Arrigo tied it to the administration's spending habits, predicting that "next thing you know, the algae will need a $600 million ballroom."
Beneath the jokes ran a more pointed critique about resources and motive. The account Republicans Against Trump labeled the scene "your tax dollars at work," framing armed troops at a decorative basin as a waste dressed up as security. Security researcher Robert Graham connected the deployment to the broader enforcement pattern that has accompanied Trump's vandalism claims, noting that "in support of Trump's conspiracies about his failures caused by sabotage, multiple police departments and the National Guard are now issuing citations merely for touching the water."
That last point captures why the images resonate. Over the past two days a 67-year-old cyclist has been arrested and another visitor reportedly cited, both for making contact with a pool the president insists was sabotaged by chemical-wielding vandals. The simpler explanation, that a rushed and overpriced renovation bloomed green and shed its paint, requires no soldiers at all. The administration has chosen the version with troops, and the country is watching armed service members guard standing water while critics ask the question no one in the White House seems willing to answer: guard it from what?
Man cited by authorities for simply touching water in Trump's Reflecting Pool: report
David McAfee
June 20, 2026
National Park Service workers use skimmers to clean algae from the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool following the completion of recent renovations in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 15, 2026. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno
A man was cited by authorities merely for touching Trump's Reflecting Pool, according to a journalist's published video.
The Trump administration's defense of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has reached the point where reaching into the water can apparently earn you a ticket. Breaking-news reporter Oliya Scootercaster posted footage Saturday afternoon, licensed through FreedomNews.tv, showing a man seated on the grass at the pool's edge as a U.S. Park Police officer writes him up while a mounted colleague looms nearby. According to Scootercaster, the man said his citation was for putting his hand in the water.
The clip, which racked up more than 30,000 views within hours, captures the absurd security posture that has descended on a decorative basin. Officers on horseback now patrol the perimeter, and the cleanup crews share the space with a law enforcement presence better suited to a crime scene than a tourist landmark. All of it stems from a renovation the president ordered, a project that ran past $14 million and was supposed to leave the pool painted "American flag blue" in time for the country's 250th anniversary, only for the water to bloom green and the new surface to peel apart almost immediately.
This is at very least the second known enforcement action in recent days. Also recently, Park Police arrested David Hearn, a 67-year-old cyclist and former Olympian, on a misdemeanor charge after he touched a piece of paint that had already detached from the bottom. Hearn insisted he destroyed nothing. Now another visitor has reportedly been penalized for the crime of dipping a hand into a public pool.
Trump has spent the week insisting vandals and "radical left lunatics" are responsible for the mess, promising arrests and "years in jail." What the cameras keep documenting instead are federal officers apparently guarding green water as though it were a national treasure.
David McAfee
June 20, 2026
RAW STORY
National Park Service workers use skimmers to clean algae from the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool following the completion of recent renovations in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 15, 2026. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno
A man was cited by authorities merely for touching Trump's Reflecting Pool, according to a journalist's published video.
The Trump administration's defense of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has reached the point where reaching into the water can apparently earn you a ticket. Breaking-news reporter Oliya Scootercaster posted footage Saturday afternoon, licensed through FreedomNews.tv, showing a man seated on the grass at the pool's edge as a U.S. Park Police officer writes him up while a mounted colleague looms nearby. According to Scootercaster, the man said his citation was for putting his hand in the water.
The clip, which racked up more than 30,000 views within hours, captures the absurd security posture that has descended on a decorative basin. Officers on horseback now patrol the perimeter, and the cleanup crews share the space with a law enforcement presence better suited to a crime scene than a tourist landmark. All of it stems from a renovation the president ordered, a project that ran past $14 million and was supposed to leave the pool painted "American flag blue" in time for the country's 250th anniversary, only for the water to bloom green and the new surface to peel apart almost immediately.
This is at very least the second known enforcement action in recent days. Also recently, Park Police arrested David Hearn, a 67-year-old cyclist and former Olympian, on a misdemeanor charge after he touched a piece of paint that had already detached from the bottom. Hearn insisted he destroyed nothing. Now another visitor has reportedly been penalized for the crime of dipping a hand into a public pool.
Trump has spent the week insisting vandals and "radical left lunatics" are responsible for the mess, promising arrests and "years in jail." What the cameras keep documenting instead are federal officers apparently guarding green water as though it were a national treasure.
Trump lets loose new details on Reflecting Pool damage: 'Many people have been arrested'
David McAfee
June 20, 2026
David McAfee
June 20, 2026
RAW STORY
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which has been painted blue at the directive of U.S. President Donald Trump, ahead of the 250th anniversary of U.S. Independence, in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 12, 2026. REUTERS/Eric Lee
Donald Trump returned to his favorite subject Saturday evening, and his account of the great Reflecting Pool conspiracy grew more elaborate with every sentence. In a lengthy Truth Social post, the president announced that "many additional people have been arrested" over what he called "the disgraceful Vandalism of our beautiful Reflecting Pool," then offered a list of crimes that has expanded well beyond the algae and peeling paint that started the whole saga.
According to Trump, the vandals did not merely tamper with the water. They "took some form of knife or blade" and carved a "250 foot long gash into the beautiful facade," and they "poured corrosive and destructive chemicals into the Pool." He framed the alleged sabotage as an insult to history, writing that the damage was "a true affront to both Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and should be dealt with accordingly." He added that he met with contractors and may be "forced to release and drain much of the water" to complete repairs.
The president also delivered a characteristic burst of self-praise wrapped around a shaky history lesson. He claimed the pool "hasn't looked or worked like this since 1922, when it was originally built," insisted his version "worked perfectly, including the mirror like finish," and declared it had never been "so beautiful as it was just one week ago." That timeline quietly undercuts itself, since a structure that worked perfectly a week ago would most likely not need to be drained and repaired now.
What Trump did not provide, once again, was evidence. The only confirmed arrest so far is David Hearn, a 67-year-old cyclist and former Olympian charged with a misdemeanor after he touched a piece of paint that had already come loose, an accusation he denies. A second man was reportedly cited for putting his hand in the water. Neither episode resembles a knife-wielding chemical attack on a national monument.
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which has been painted blue at the directive of U.S. President Donald Trump, ahead of the 250th anniversary of U.S. Independence, in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 12, 2026. REUTERS/Eric Lee
Donald Trump returned to his favorite subject Saturday evening, and his account of the great Reflecting Pool conspiracy grew more elaborate with every sentence. In a lengthy Truth Social post, the president announced that "many additional people have been arrested" over what he called "the disgraceful Vandalism of our beautiful Reflecting Pool," then offered a list of crimes that has expanded well beyond the algae and peeling paint that started the whole saga.
According to Trump, the vandals did not merely tamper with the water. They "took some form of knife or blade" and carved a "250 foot long gash into the beautiful facade," and they "poured corrosive and destructive chemicals into the Pool." He framed the alleged sabotage as an insult to history, writing that the damage was "a true affront to both Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and should be dealt with accordingly." He added that he met with contractors and may be "forced to release and drain much of the water" to complete repairs.
The president also delivered a characteristic burst of self-praise wrapped around a shaky history lesson. He claimed the pool "hasn't looked or worked like this since 1922, when it was originally built," insisted his version "worked perfectly, including the mirror like finish," and declared it had never been "so beautiful as it was just one week ago." That timeline quietly undercuts itself, since a structure that worked perfectly a week ago would most likely not need to be drained and repaired now.
What Trump did not provide, once again, was evidence. The only confirmed arrest so far is David Hearn, a 67-year-old cyclist and former Olympian charged with a misdemeanor after he touched a piece of paint that had already come loose, an accusation he denies. A second man was reportedly cited for putting his hand in the water. Neither episode resembles a knife-wielding chemical attack on a national monument.
David McAfee
June 20, 2026
Donald Trump (Reuters)
President Donald Trump says the U.S. Park Police have rounded up a ring of vandals who sabotaged the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. The actual arrest record tells a much smaller story: one 67-year-old cyclist who says he reached into the water to touch a piece of paint that had already fallen off
In a Truth Social post Saturday, Trump escalated his days-long insistence that his troubled $14 million renovation was the victim of a crime rather than a botched paint job. "The United States Park Police have arrested multiple individuals for vandalizing our Nations magnificent Reflecting Poll," he wrote, misspelling "Pool." "Who would do such a thing? These are very serious crimes having to do with the destruction of National Monuments. Years in jail! Work will begin immediately on its repair."
According to The Washington Post, Park Police arrested a single person on Friday: David Hearn, a 67-year-old man from Bethesda and a three-time Olympic canoe slalom athlete, on a misdemeanor charge of destruction of government property.
Hearn's account bears no resemblance to a coordinated assault on a national landmark. He told the Post he had just finished a 52-mile bike ride, including a loop around Hains Point, and swung by the Lincoln Memorial to see the refurbished pool for himself. Noticing a chunk of the new "American flag blue" liner that had partially detached from the bottom, he reached into the water to feel it. Moments later, as he was getting ready to leave, officers put him in handcuffs.
"I didn't vandalize anything," Hearn told the paper. "I didn't destroy or break or peel anything. By the time I realized what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs."
The footage that fueled the arrest came from conservative journalist Emily Miller, who posted video online and claimed Hearn had grabbed a hose used by cleanup crews. Hearn said he only reached for the loose sealant. Either way, the charge is a misdemeanor, not the felony-grade "destruction of National Monuments" the president invoked, and it carries nothing resembling the "years in jail" he promised.
We will report on additional details if more evidence surfaces.
Trump's Reflecting Pool sabotage claim falls apart: 'Brain is filled with tapioca'
David McAfee
June 20, 2026
David McAfee
June 20, 2026
RAW STORY
National Park Service workers use skimmers to clean algae from the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool following the completion of recent renovations in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 15, 2026. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno
President Donald Trump reportedly spent nearly $15 million painting the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool blue. When the water turned green and the new paint started peeling off, he reached for the explanation he always reaches for: someone did this to him on purpose.
In a late-night Truth Social post Friday, Trump wrote that "we've had some real problems with Vandalism at the beautiful Reflecting Pool," and said law enforcement was "actively investigating." He provided no evidence. He claimed the algae was "75% gone," insisted the damaged section was small and would be fixed early the following week, and pinned the supposed sabotage on "radical left lunatics" and what he called "Dumocats." He tied it all to the numbers "8647" that had been scratched into the grass on the National Mall days earlier, slang widely read as a call to get rid of the 47th president.
CNN reported the claim Friday, noting the administration had been scrambling to fix the pool's deterioration just days after Trump's pricey renovation. The story landed about as well as the paint job.
Adam Kinzinger, the former Republican congressman turned full-time Trump critic, was blunt. "Has Trump ever admitted failure once? He's now claiming sabotage on the reflective pool," Kinzinger wrote, before delivering the line that turned his post into a viral hit with more than 9,000 likes: "His brain is filled with tapioca and raisins."
The account YourAnonNews, affiliated with the Anonymous collective, offered a far more grounded theory than the president's. "No one vandalized the Reflection Pool," the account wrote, alleging that Trump "just hired a no bid contractor that never did this kind of work before as a favor to the owner of the company who Trump also pardoned."
Amanda Carpenter, the former Republican speechwriter and Bulwark writer, took the sarcastic route. Replying to CNN's report, she wrote: "Yes... someone sprayed blue paint all over it." The blue paint, of course, was Trump's own, applied during the renovation he ordered.
Patrick Skinner, a former CIA case officer, skipped the jokes entirely. "This pathetic person hides its staggering incompetence by endless claims of victimhood. It's never their fault, it's always 'the others'. Can't fix a pool? It's a conspiracy!" Skinner wrote. "America, he's not the victim. We are. Of his incompetence & our choices. So reject this pathetic person."
The actual record does not flatter the president's story. The renovation was initially pitched at roughly $1.8 million and ballooned to about $14.7 million, according to a contract summary of the Interior Department's award to Atlantic Industrial Coatings. The basin was repainted "American flag blue" ahead of the country's 250th anniversary, then promptly bloomed into a murky green. Interior officials attributed the algae to residual buildup after supply lines sat dormant for weeks. Scientists pointed to the obvious: a shallow, sunny, stagnant pool in summer heat is a near-perfect algae habitat, and a fresh renovation can stir up nutrients that speed the bloom along.
For good measure, Trump also blamed ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl for the negative coverage. He named no vandals, produced no evidence of chemicals, and identified no suspects. What he did produce was a green pool, a peeling paint job, a $15 million bill, and a chorus of people pointing out that the only person who painted the Reflecting Pool blue was him.
National Park Service workers use skimmers to clean algae from the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool following the completion of recent renovations in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 15, 2026. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno
President Donald Trump reportedly spent nearly $15 million painting the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool blue. When the water turned green and the new paint started peeling off, he reached for the explanation he always reaches for: someone did this to him on purpose.
In a late-night Truth Social post Friday, Trump wrote that "we've had some real problems with Vandalism at the beautiful Reflecting Pool," and said law enforcement was "actively investigating." He provided no evidence. He claimed the algae was "75% gone," insisted the damaged section was small and would be fixed early the following week, and pinned the supposed sabotage on "radical left lunatics" and what he called "Dumocats." He tied it all to the numbers "8647" that had been scratched into the grass on the National Mall days earlier, slang widely read as a call to get rid of the 47th president.
CNN reported the claim Friday, noting the administration had been scrambling to fix the pool's deterioration just days after Trump's pricey renovation. The story landed about as well as the paint job.
Adam Kinzinger, the former Republican congressman turned full-time Trump critic, was blunt. "Has Trump ever admitted failure once? He's now claiming sabotage on the reflective pool," Kinzinger wrote, before delivering the line that turned his post into a viral hit with more than 9,000 likes: "His brain is filled with tapioca and raisins."
The account YourAnonNews, affiliated with the Anonymous collective, offered a far more grounded theory than the president's. "No one vandalized the Reflection Pool," the account wrote, alleging that Trump "just hired a no bid contractor that never did this kind of work before as a favor to the owner of the company who Trump also pardoned."
Amanda Carpenter, the former Republican speechwriter and Bulwark writer, took the sarcastic route. Replying to CNN's report, she wrote: "Yes... someone sprayed blue paint all over it." The blue paint, of course, was Trump's own, applied during the renovation he ordered.
Patrick Skinner, a former CIA case officer, skipped the jokes entirely. "This pathetic person hides its staggering incompetence by endless claims of victimhood. It's never their fault, it's always 'the others'. Can't fix a pool? It's a conspiracy!" Skinner wrote. "America, he's not the victim. We are. Of his incompetence & our choices. So reject this pathetic person."
The actual record does not flatter the president's story. The renovation was initially pitched at roughly $1.8 million and ballooned to about $14.7 million, according to a contract summary of the Interior Department's award to Atlantic Industrial Coatings. The basin was repainted "American flag blue" ahead of the country's 250th anniversary, then promptly bloomed into a murky green. Interior officials attributed the algae to residual buildup after supply lines sat dormant for weeks. Scientists pointed to the obvious: a shallow, sunny, stagnant pool in summer heat is a near-perfect algae habitat, and a fresh renovation can stir up nutrients that speed the bloom along.
For good measure, Trump also blamed ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl for the negative coverage. He named no vandals, produced no evidence of chemicals, and identified no suspects. What he did produce was a green pool, a peeling paint job, a $15 million bill, and a chorus of people pointing out that the only person who painted the Reflecting Pool blue was him.
Evidence shows Trump admin caused Reflecting Pool damage it blamed on sabotage: ex-insider
David McAfee
June 20, 2026
David McAfee
June 20, 2026
RAW STORY
An ex-GOP lawmaker has heard enough about phantom left-wing saboteurs at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, and he is pointing at the only suspects who fit the evidence: the people Trump hired to clean it.
In a series of posts and a new video, former Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger dismantled the administration's vandalism narrative by accepting one piece of it. Yes, he conceded, chemicals were used on the pool. The catch is who used them and why. "Just for those who are saying there was chemical sabotage to peel the paint in the reflective pool, you're right," Kinzinger wrote. "It's just, you guys did it to kill the algae."
His central claim cuts straight through the conspiracy theory. "The Trump administration dumped hydrogen peroxide to kill the algae and it stripped the paint," he said in the video, adding bluntly in a follow-up that "it was literally the people who painted it. They poured peroxide in it." In other words, the corrosive chemicals Trump blamed on radical leftists were the cleanup crew's own attempt to rescue a basin that had turned green within days of its multimillion-dollar makeover.
Kinzinger backed the point with a quick search result showing that highly concentrated, industrial-grade hydrogen peroxide acts as a strong oxidizer capable of breaking down the binder in paint and causing it to bubble and peel. That is the same outcome now floating across the surface of the pool, which the president has described instead as a deliberate "knife or blade" attack and a "250 foot long gash" carved into a national monument.
The contrast with how some Trump allies want to treat the matter is stark. Kinzinger was responding in part to commentator Jeff Storobinsky, who suggested that anyone "causing damage at the reflecting pool should face the same consequences of those who stormed the Capitol on 1.6." Kinzinger's reply amounts to a warning that such a standard would land on the administration itself, since by his account the damage was self-inflicted maintenance, not an assault by outsiders.
His broader frustration was with a movement he says cannot tolerate the idea that its leader made a mistake. They are "unable to see a flaw in their God king," Kinzinger wrote Saturday, choosing an elaborate sabotage story over the simpler truth that a rushed, overpriced renovation failed on its own. The peeling paint, in his telling, is not evidence of a crime. It is evidence of a cover story falling apart in real time.
An ex-GOP lawmaker has heard enough about phantom left-wing saboteurs at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, and he is pointing at the only suspects who fit the evidence: the people Trump hired to clean it.
In a series of posts and a new video, former Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger dismantled the administration's vandalism narrative by accepting one piece of it. Yes, he conceded, chemicals were used on the pool. The catch is who used them and why. "Just for those who are saying there was chemical sabotage to peel the paint in the reflective pool, you're right," Kinzinger wrote. "It's just, you guys did it to kill the algae."
His central claim cuts straight through the conspiracy theory. "The Trump administration dumped hydrogen peroxide to kill the algae and it stripped the paint," he said in the video, adding bluntly in a follow-up that "it was literally the people who painted it. They poured peroxide in it." In other words, the corrosive chemicals Trump blamed on radical leftists were the cleanup crew's own attempt to rescue a basin that had turned green within days of its multimillion-dollar makeover.
Kinzinger backed the point with a quick search result showing that highly concentrated, industrial-grade hydrogen peroxide acts as a strong oxidizer capable of breaking down the binder in paint and causing it to bubble and peel. That is the same outcome now floating across the surface of the pool, which the president has described instead as a deliberate "knife or blade" attack and a "250 foot long gash" carved into a national monument.
The contrast with how some Trump allies want to treat the matter is stark. Kinzinger was responding in part to commentator Jeff Storobinsky, who suggested that anyone "causing damage at the reflecting pool should face the same consequences of those who stormed the Capitol on 1.6." Kinzinger's reply amounts to a warning that such a standard would land on the administration itself, since by his account the damage was self-inflicted maintenance, not an assault by outsiders.
His broader frustration was with a movement he says cannot tolerate the idea that its leader made a mistake. They are "unable to see a flaw in their God king," Kinzinger wrote Saturday, choosing an elaborate sabotage story over the simpler truth that a rushed, overpriced renovation failed on its own. The peeling paint, in his telling, is not evidence of a crime. It is evidence of a cover story falling apart in real time.
The DC swamp is now drowning Trump
Raw Story
June 19, 2026
Nick Anderson/Raw Story
Nick Anderson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist.
June 19, 2026
Nick Anderson/Raw Story
Nick Anderson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist.
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