The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool remains in a state of "unmitigated mess," reported Meidas Touch's Scott MacFarlane on Thursday — and it's gotten to the point that spectators are coming, not for normal tourist reasons, but to simply watch the disaster unfold.
"It is still a work in progress," said MacFarlane. "Some of the tarping is down, so we have a better vantage point, but you're not looking at reflecting water; you're looking at work crews and material they're using for part of their work. This is an ongoing process. Truly there are a lot of laborers on the surface of the Reflecting Pool with heavy equipment."
The administration has "no firm timetable" for when all the repairs will be done, MacFarlane added.
"Remember, when Trump decided to do this, he said that only he could fix the Reflecting Pool," said MacFarlane. In fact, he promised it would be done in time for the 250th Anniversary celebrations — which it wasn't. However, "it is drawing people who want to come look at it. Just not the right kind of visitors. Rubberneckers, people who want to see the scope and size of damage."
Trump made the choice to have the entirety of the Reflecting Pool's lining painted blue, to make it look more like a swimming pool. Almost instantly after the work was done, algae blooms took over the water, and workers responded with huge dumps of hydrogen peroxide that ultimately damaged the brand new lining and caused it to separate in chunks.
The president denies this is how the damage happened, insisting instead that vandals intentionally made a "gash" in the pool lining to make him look bad. He has provided no evidence for this, and the one prosecution of an individual for supposedly vandalizing the Reflecting Pool was dropped after the Justice Department admitted Interior officials were sitting on exonerating evidence.
