Scrambling to avoid blame for Reflecting Pool fiasco, Trump’s defense turns farcical
There is a degree of irony surrounding Donald Trump’s Reflecting Pool fiasco. For months, the president obsessed over the renovation project, framing it as a metaphor for how awesome his awesomeness is: The Republican would tackle a lingering problem that vexed previous administrations, while delivering impressive results quickly and cheaply.
It wouldn’t just be a triumph for his presidency; it would be a totemic success story, demonstrating that Trump’s unique approach to problem-solving is fundamentally superior to what Americans have come to expect from traditional officials.
At least, that was the idea.
The debacle has become a metaphor of sorts, but not the one Trump had in mind. As the Reflecting Pool turned green, and the blue paint that he was so excited about started peeling off the surface, the president has confronted all kinds of difficult questions, not only about his failed results, but also about the fact that the project took far longer than he promised, with a price tag that soared far above his initial assurances, all while cutting corners and relying on controversial no-bid contracts.
The Republican proved the opposite of his intended point: Instead of demonstrating the superiority of his model, Trump offered timely evidence that his approach doesn’t work.
With this in mind, the president came to realize in recent days that he needed an excuse — or preferably, villains who could shoulder the blame for his own failures.
To that end, he began assuring the public over the weekend that he’d succeeded beautifully, but “vandals” intervened and ruined his triumph. At an unrelated White House event on Monday afternoon, the president went further, alleging nefarious criminals — some armed with “probably a box cutter or a knife of some kind” — attacked the Reflecting Pool with fertilizer and “did something to create the algae.”
The administration said five people have been arrested on charges of vandalism, though without more information, it’s nearly impossible to say whether these people actually did anything wrong or whether they were charged as part of an inherently political exercise.
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Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”
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