It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio attend a bilateral meeting with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, on the sidelines of the G7 summit, in Evian-les-Bains, France, June 16, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
Secretary of State Marco Rubio scrambled for a printer inside the Palace of Versailles after President Donald Trump went to the sign his Iran deal — without bringing a copy with him.
A new report sheds light on the chaotic behind-the-scenes details of how the historic agreement came together.
According to Agence France-Presse, Trump decided to sign at a candlelit dinner in Versailles "quite spontaneously" — the text hadn't even been printed, leaving Rubio to hunt down a printer somewhere inside the grand palace.
When Trump finally put pen to paper, he used a fat black marker, the crockery still on the table after a dinner of lobster and caviar.
The deal itself had been announced three days earlier — on Trump's 80th birthday, June 14 — while he was still in Washington, celebrating by watching MMA cage fights at the White House.
The signing venue had shifted multiple times. French President Emmanuel Macron had said the deal had already been signed "electronically."
It had then been expected that Vice President JD Vance would formalize it with top Iranian negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf in Switzerland. Trump then muddied the waters by saying it would be signed "tomorrow, maybe the next day" — before simply signing it himself at the Versailles dinner, reportedly impressed by the palace's "golden splendor."
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed his own copy in a parallel move, with Iranian news agencies showing him brandishing the document for the cameras.
The follow-on talks at the luxury Bürgenstock resort in Switzerland — a mountaintop complex where hotel guests had reportedly been quietly asked to leave — were postponed at the last minute, reportedly due to Israeli military action against Hezbollah in Lebanon late Thursday.
Journalists waiting on the tarmac at Andrews Air Force Base to fly to the meeting with Vice President JD Vance received a terse message: the vice president wasn't leaving that evening.
Iran said Friday there was now "no urgency," but that it was "planning to hold a meeting in the coming days."
THE GRIFT
Trump floats new plan to impose his own tolls on Strait of Hormuz
RAW STORY President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to muse about who gets to charge ships for passing through the Strait of Hormuz — and landed on an answer that put the United States, and himself, at the center of it.
In a post Wednesday, Trump declared there would be "NO TOLLS in the Hormuz Strait for 60 days" during what he called the "Cease Fire Period," and "NO TOLLS after the 60 day period has expired" — with one sweeping exception. The carve-out: tolls "imposed by and for the United States of America," should the underlying deal collapse.
The justification he offered was pretty clear. The fees, he wrote, would be compensation "for services rendered as the Guardian Angel to the countries of the Middle East," covering "past, present, and future reimbursement of costs." He signed off, as he often does, with "Thank you for your attention to this matter!!!"
The post recasts a fragile ceasefire — one Trump secured only after threatening that Iran's "whole civilization will die tonight" — as a kind of protection arrangement, with Washington positioned to bill the region for the privilege of safe passage.
His latest post openly contemplates American tolls rather than ruling them out.
Iran, for its part, has confirmed it won't collect tolls for 60 days but, per semiofficial outlet Tasnim, plans to start charging "for services" once the window closes — leaving both Washington and Tehran eyeing fees on the same waterway.
The stakes behind the bravado are real. Roughly a fifth of the world's oil — about 20 million barrels a day — moves through the Strait of Hormuz, alongside much of the globe's liquefied natural gas.
Trump tipped his hand and revealed the new 'big lie' he's trying to sell: analyst
Foreign policy analyst Robert Kagan explained how Trump revealed his big lie (CNN/Screenshot)
President Donald Trump has already revealed the next big lie that he plans to sell to Americans, a foreign policy analyst said.
Robert Kagan, a contributing writer for The Atlantic and a foreign policy analyst, said during an appearance on CNN that Trump will try to frame his deal to end the Iran war as "regime change" and "unconditional surrender."
He added that Trump will deny that the money going to Iran is "reparations" for the war.
"He's all about the big lie," Kagan said. "And this is going to be his big lie. I just don't think that even he, who is one of the great con artists of all time, can sell the American people on this being anything other than an American surrender."
Kagan also pointed out, "The one thing we're confident is happening is that Iran is going to get billions of dollars, tens of billions, and probably hundreds of billions of dollars in return for nothing," and described it as "an easy tell" that gives away Trump's lie.
"Now, that's called reparations, and if you look at history, reparations are paid by the loser to the winner," Kagan explained. "In World War I, Germany paid reparations to Britain and France. If Germany had won the war, Britain and France would have paid the reparations, so that's how you know what happened in this war."
In other words, "Trump essentially paid the Iranians to give him a fig leaf that would allow him to come home and tell the Americans that everything is fine," Kagan summed up.
CNN snubs JD Vance by cutting him off mid-thought to cover Obama Center opening
CNN cut away from Vice President JD Vance mid-briefing Thursday to launch live coverage of the Obama Presidential Center's grand opening.
Vance was at the White House podium fielding questions about the newly signed memorandum of understanding with Iran when anchor Pamela Brown pulled the plug on the briefing.
"Alright. You've been listening to Vice President JD Vance speaking about this memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran, saying that the 60-day negotiating period starts today," Brown said. "We now turn to our special coverage of the opening ceremony of the Obama Presidential Center."
She directed viewers who wanted to keep watching the briefing to CNN All Access via an on-screen QR code.
The network handed off to CNN anchors Wolf Blitzer and Sara Sidner, who were covering the star-studded Chicago ceremony.
"History unfolding right now on the South Side of Chicago," Blitzer said. "Former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama both about to speak on this stage as they unveil the museum and the cultural center that will define their legacy for generations to come."
Sidner, reporting live from Jackson Park, described a scene electric with anticipation.
"There are thousands of people now gathered here," she said, noting the site sits near where Obama launched a career that would see him elected as the nation's first African American president. "The energy here, as high as it gets, and we're just minutes away from the beginning of this ceremony."
Vance had been in the middle of answering a reporter's question about whether the administration planned to brief Congress on the deal's sanctions waivers under the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act.
Key cabinet member now in a dangerous spot after Trump's international humiliation: MS NOW
While Donald Trump is being excoriated by Republicans over his Iran deal, which one GOP lawmaker called “… a tremendous foreign policy blunder,” MS NOW’s Bill Rohde stated on Thursday morning that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth can expect that his role in advising the president to launch the war has put his job at risk.
Discussing the blowback Trump is facing over the war that, for the moment, has ended in a stalemate, Rohde claimed that Hegseth is already a prime target instead since he is already on the outs with a substantial number of Republican lawmakers.
“At some point. President Trump is the person most responsible for this strategic defeat and failure,” Rohde told the "Morning Joe” co-hosts. “But I would argue the person second most responsible, who is in the most dangerous position politically, is Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. He repeatedly lied to the American public in his press conferences about the progress of the war, and he also refused to give basic information to members of Congress. There's a lot of ill will among senators and House members towards Pete Hegseth.”
Quoting Hegseth asserting “The aftermath of this is going to be in our interest,” Rohde asked, “Did he warn the president about the Strait of Hormuz before this war? Was he honest with the American public? And to the 50,000 Americans who risked their lives in the 13 soldiers who died? You know, his performance is just something that has to be looked at.”
Co-host Willie Geist added, “We haven't seen the defense secretary in public much since those podium-banging news briefings that he would give every week, where he would lecture the media about how to cover the war, what was actually happening, and from all the reporting that he would show the president of the United States an iPad with things blowing up to show that they were doing well. It turns out this is a much, much more complicated problem than can be solved by blowing things up.”
MS NOW astounded as Trump suffers ‘lowest rating ever’ in new poll
Alex Witt (center) speaks on MS NOW, Saturday, June 20, 2026. (Screengrab / MS NOW)
A new NPR/PBS News/Marist poll was published Saturday with fresh data on how Americans are feeling about President Donald Trump and his handling of the economy, and the survey’s findings left MS NOW’s Alex Witt floored.
“The numbers for Trump's economy… they are not pretty,” Witt said. According to the poll, just 33% of Americans indicated they approved of Trump’s handling of the economy, with 60% disapproving. The poll, which surveyed 1,340 Americans and was conducted between June 8 and 11 – notably before the Trump administration reached its tentative peace deal with Iran, which now appears to be in jeopardy – represented the lowest rating for the president on the economy in its history.
“New warning signs for the Trump administration as Americans struggle with expenses and have to alter summer plans,” Witt said. “A new poll shows only one-third of Americans approve of the president's handling of the economy – it is Trump's lowest rating ever on the economy in this poll.”
Meghan Hays, who previously served as President Joe Biden’s special assistant, noted that Trump’s strategy on improving his standing with Americans – which she described as the “don’t-believe-your-lying-eyes strategy” – wasn’t working.
“Gas prices are up over 80 cents, grocery prices are up, people can't afford their health care, the American people are really suffering and it doesn't seem like the Trump administration cares anything about that,” Hays said. “They care about ballrooms, reflecting pools and fake agreements with Iran that are just making the economy worse.”
Poll Shows US Voters Have Disapproved of Trump’s War of Choice Against Iran From Beginning to End Only 38% of Americans supported the war in its first days, and nearly two-thirds said in the latest polling they disapproved of the president’s handling of Iran. Demonstrators participating in “May Day” protest march in New York City on May 1, 2026. (Photo by: Plexi Images/GHI/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
As talks to end the US-Israeli war on Iran were delayed Friday by continued attacks by the Israel Defense Forces in Lebanon, new polling showed Americans are eager to see the conclusion of the conflict that began in February—confirming that at no point since the Trump administration and Israel began the assault has the war been popular with the public.
Nearly two-thirds of respondents to an Associated Press/NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll taken from June 11-17 said they were unhappy with President Donald Trump’s handling of issues with Iran, which he began attacking as he insisted the country must not have enriched uranium that can be used to make a nuclear weapon and that the US must “destroy their missiles.”
One independent voter from Plano, Texas told the AP that he was frustrated by Trump’s decision to wage an unprovoked war on Iran—which followed an invasion of Venezuela and threats against Greenland and Cuba—after the president made ending US foreign wars a central campaign promise in 2024.
“I would like the war to end,” the voter, Donald McBride, told the AP. “The original objective of the war was to end the Iranian regime, and that’s just not possible. I don’t really know why we’d continue fighting.”
The poll was in line with an analysis of eight reputable surveys that were taken in early March, just days after Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began the attacks—a decision Secretary of State Marco Rubiosaid was made by the Trump administration because the White House believed Iran would retaliate against bombing that Israel was intent on starting.
Those surveys found that just 38% of voters approved of the military strikes against Iran in the days after they began, with polling expert G. Elliott Morris warning that “wars only get less popular” over time.
That quickly proved true in this case, with Americans almost immediately feeling the effects of Iran’s retaliatory strategy after the country effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, sending gas prices skyrocketing. In late April, 78% of respondents to a Reuters/Ipsos poll said they were very concerned about the rising cost of fuel, and 77% blamed Trump.
Fifty-eight percent also told Reuters two months into the Iran War that they’d be less likely to vote for a candidate who supported Trump’s actions against Iran.
In the poll released Friday, 53% of voters said the US military action against Iran has gone “too far,” slightly down from 59% who said so in March. The poll was taken as the US released a memorandum of understanding with Iran and as the president indicated a retreat from the central demands he had made regarding Israel’s missiles and nuclear program, which Iranian officials have maintained is not for military purposes.
Journalist reports on harm to ducks from Reflecting Pool: 'It's worse than you think'
A duck swims in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool as crews work to remove algae after recent renovations following a directive from U.S. President Donald Trump to paint it blue ahead of the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence, in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 20, 2026. REUTERS/Daniel Heuer
A journalist went down to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to see Donald Trump's renovation up close, and the most damning review came from the wildlife. The reflecting pool is "worse than you think" it is, ex-lawyer Aaron Parnas says in a video posted this weekend that drew nearly 40,000 views. "The ducks won't swim in it at all."
What the camera captured does not flatter a project the administration sold as a centerpiece for the country's 250th anniversary. Parnas pans across water that should be a crisp "American flag blue" and finds it a swampy green instead, with debris drifting on the surface and sheets of paint peeling away from the bottom. "This pool is blue, by the way. It's supposed to be blue," he says dryly, dipping a gloved hand into the murk. "I'm going to go sanitize my hands now, because that was gross."
The footage also shows what taxpayers are now funding to undo the damage. National Park Service crews in protective gear work the edges with aeration pumps and vacuums, scooping algae out of a basin that turned within days of being refilled. Parnas notes that ducklings perched on the side of the pool won't even get in the water.
The science is not mysterious, whatever the White House would prefer. Shallow, sunny, stagnant pools bloom fast in summer heat, especially when nutrients from runoff and wildlife feed the growth. None of that has stopped Trump from blaming vandals, "radical left lunatics," and a reporter for the mess.
Parnas skipped the conspiracy theories and let the pool speak for itself.
"Just gross," he then added.
Trump’s Reflecting Pool Disaster Exposed as More Details Revealed on Firm That Won No-Bid Contract
An expert analysis conducted this week found algae levels in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool at their highest levels in at least five years.
A duck and her ducklings swim through algae in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on June 18, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
New reports have revealed the full scope of President Donald Trump’s disastrous renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which the National Park Service this week has been scrambling to clean up.
A Thursday report in The New York Times revealed that the firm tapped to install the pool’s water purification system, Greenwater Services, was given a $1.7 million contract that “bypassed the competitive-bidding process that is typically required” for such projects.
Even though Greenwater had only received one other federal contract in the past, NPS said it bypassed the normal bidding process on the grounds that “there was no time to consider other offers because the system had to be installed in time for events celebrating the country’s 250th birthday,” reported the Times.
The Times also found that Greenwater is owned by JJ Cafaro Investment Trust, whose owner is a Trump donor and “a neighbor to Mar-a-Lago, the president’s private club in Florida.”
The firm’s work has come under scrutiny in recent days after a massive algae bloom erupted in the pool, which prompted NPS workers to dump containers of hydrogen peroxide into the water, which had turned a fluorescent green.
As noted by the Times, the NPS refilled the pool before Greenwater had installed a permanent water purification system, which the paper wrote raised “the risk that it would quickly be clouded with algae.”
While algae blooms have long been common in the Reflecting Pool, The Washington Post on Thursday commissioned expert analysis of satellite imagery and determined that this year’s bloom was the largest to occur in the last five years and that “algae levels spiked days after Trump’s renovation was completed.”
Alana Menendez, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Virginia’s Department of Environmental Sciences, told the Post that there was more algae in the Reflecting Pool on the first week after its reopening than in any other June satellite images of the pool going all the way back to 2021.
Algae blooms aren’t the only problem facing the pool, as CNN reported on Thursday that some of the blue material that had been installed at the bottom of the pool as part of the renovation has started peeling off.
Specifically, CNN said that its reporters “observed a flap of blue material that was partially attached to the bottom in one area of the pool and floating toward the top,” although the network added that “it is unclear if the material is paint or sealant, and it’s unclear what caused it to come up.”
Trump hit with ridicule as National Guard stands at Reflecting Pool: 'Protect from algae?'
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
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'
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.
Trump claims multiple were arrested over Reflecting Pool 'destruction': 'Years in Jail!'
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'
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
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 aerial view shows crews deconstructing the UFC fighting venue on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 19, 2026 REUTERS/Aaron Schwartz
President Donald Trump marked his 80th birthday last Sunday with an unprecedented Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event on White House grounds, but by Friday onlookers were stunned when photos emerged showing the damage left behind on the Ellipse, often referred to as President's Park South.
“The UFC event has destroyed the grass on the Ellipse in front of the White House,” bluntly noted John Jackson, a podcaster, writer and U.S. veteran of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, in a social media post Friday evening.
Captured by Reuters' Aaron Schwartz on Friday, an aerial photograph shows the once-green Ellipse – a 52-acre park just south of the White House South Lawn – with slivers and patches of green grass amid a sea of brown. The White House’s South Lawn also suffered damage, with a White House spokesperson telling USA Today that $1 million will be spent restoring its grass.
“In the 250th year anniversary of USA the White House and [its] surroundings look so terrible,” wrote José Andrés, founder of World Central Kitchen, the disaster-relief food nonprofit organization, in a social media post on X to his more than 1 million followers. “Is so sad to see.”
And Luis Moreno the former U.S. ambassador to Jamaica, quipped that the damage to the Ellipse perfectly encapsulated the Trump administration.
“Perfect metaphor for what he’s turned our country into,” he wrote Friday in a social media post on X.
Furious right-wing Italian paper brands Trump with a vulgar term in scorching op-ed
U.S. President Donald Trump gestures next to Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni following a group photo during the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, June 16, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
A right-wing Italian paper went after Trump with a vulgar name amid his spat with the country's prime minister.
"Sorry to say it, but I can't find, and perhaps there isn't, another way to say it," a translation of the Italian article from the Libero Quotidiano reads. "Donald Trump is an a—."
The article uses the Italian term "coglione," even using it in the headline, as it blasted Trump for ruining progress towards a friendly relationship with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni by telling an Italian news network that she "begged" him for a photo during the G7 summit. Meloni denied the account and accused Trump of making it up in a fierce response that tore into him.
"Only an a— could ruin everything with a lie so huge as to become ridiculous," the article read. "Why say such nonsense? The answer can only be found in the definition of the word 'a—' which has entered the popular jargon of the Italian language: an inept, stupid person who acts with little intelligence."
Trump stood by his claim that Meloni was a "big fan" of his in comments to NBC News on Friday. Meanwhile, Meloni was cheered on across the world, even called "fabulous," for firing back at Trump.
Although the article attacks "the inadequacy of the American president," it does strike a sympathetic tone by admitting, "it is not the case to declare war on America," and "we do not deny it, we too had placed many hopes" in Trump.
Trump reignites bizarre spat with Italian PM: ‘Asked over and over for a picture with me’
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room at the White House, in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 27, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci
For the third time, President Donald Trump reinforced his version of events Saturday as it pertained to his bizarre spat with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who accused the president of fabricating a story about her begging for a photograph.
Trump told an Italian news network that during the Group of Seven summit in France, Meloni had “begged” him for a photograph together and that he “felt sorry for her.” Meloni fiercely denied Trump’s account of their interaction, accusing him of fabricating the story.
Trump stood by his story, however, telling NBC News on Friday that Meloni was “a big fan” of his. And on Saturday, the president pushed his version of events a third time in an explosive social media post on Truth Social.
“Italian Prime Minister Gigiorgia Meloni asked, over and over, for a picture with me during the G-7 meeting in France. She is doing poorly in Italy with her level of popularity, possibly because she turned down the United States of America, a Country that truly loves and protects Italy, when it came to denying Iran from obtaining or developing a Nuclear Weapon (But so did NATO, for that matter!),” Trump wrote.
“She wouldn’t even let us use Italy’s landing strips or runways, a great logistical inconvenience, and this despite the fact the U.S. contributes hundreds of Billions of Dollars a year to protect Italy, and other “so-called” NATO Allies. Now, after the United States defeated Iran militarily, she wants to be friends again in order to get her ‘numbers up.’ No thanks!!!”
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