President Donald Trump has taken his destruction to another level as he turns Washington, D.C. into the "grimiest swamp of all time," according to one political expert.
David Rothkopf, global affairs columnist for The Daily Beast, said on a new episode of "The Daily Beast Podcast" with host Joanna Coles that Trump's failed renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has become the perfect symbol of Trump's presidency. Trump promised to turn the old pool into a beautiful specimen, complete with "American flag blue" waters with absolutely no algae, at a cost of just $2 million.
However, the project didn't go as Trump thought it might. The total cost ended up being around $16 million, and the algae that Trump derided has returned in full force. Some visitors even saw a dead duckling floating in its waters, according to reports.
"It’s such a symbol of his vandalism, his failure, his inability to take responsibility for anything, his turning Washington into the grimiest, slimiest swamp of all time,” he said. “This is a metaphor for Trump.”
Rothkopf also noted that Trump's failure to renovate the Reflecting Pool represents a pattern of behavior where the president fails to live up to his own expectations.
“He didn’t do enough damage as the worst, most tasteless developer in America. Now he’s taken it to another scale with tack,” Rothkopf said.