Spike: Trump’s Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool excuses don’t hold water

Are we really going to do this? Are we going to pretend that vandalism is the reason the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has literally been turned into a national swamp? Are we supposed to believe eco terrorists secretly dumped algae to make Trump look bad? That vandals gashed a 300-foot cut into the perfect liner that was installed because they hate this country and will stop at nothing to spoil the party?

You have to do some real mental gymnastics to buy into this scenario. And to be blunt, it takes a lot of huevos to try to sell it.

As we roll towards our nation’s 250th birthday, our semi-quincentennial, it’s great that the Trump Administration is focused on making our nation’s capital great again, which is something we can all be proud of. They are removing graffiti, cleaning statues, and repairing fountains that have long been neglected.

Except for the debacle that is the Reflecting Pool, which has transformed from a source of pride and reflection into a metaphor for an administration that can’t seem to accept the idea of playing by the rules. For practically every well-intended effort they undertake, they can’t help themselves but to ignore protocols and overcharge the taxpayers so they can get their beak wet, no pun intended.

The stories we’re being told have been changing faster than the color of the reflecting pool’s water itself

Sabotage by the “lunatic left,” vandalism, mismanagement by previous administrations. Isn’t it a more likely scenario that President Donald J. Trump has done what he’s always done? Made grandiose promises, talked a big game, and then under-delivered.

Trump awarded a huge, no-bid government contract (six times the estimated cost of repair) to an inexperienced, unqualified contractor (a huge donor, by the way), who then, in an attempt to meet some ill-conceived, self-imposed timeline (the president’s birthday), did a rush job with no consideration for the functionality of either the process or the monument itself.

This predictably resulted in a biological algae soup kitchen and the spoiling of one of our most treasured monuments, just in time for one of our nation’s most anticipated and important celebrations.

But rather than admit that laws and protocols were ignored, experts were ignored, and science was ignored, resulting in the well-intended project being botched, Trump, as always, refuses to acknowledge the possibility that he made a mistake. He is actually attempting to create some delusional sabotage and vandalism scenario to lay the blame anywhere but on himself. He’s even going as far as to arrest citizens for “vandalism” to further the narrative.

Are we really supposed to believe that some scuba terrorist slashed the perfect “American flag blue” liner of the reflecting pond? Is anybody buying this? Are people so entrenched in their devotion to this president and his infallibility that they will ignore their own eyes, ignore hard facts, and common sense? Why is anyone supporting or even furthering this ridiculous narrative?

We all know the story of “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” where, despite the obvious, no one was willing to speak the truth. At least until an innocent child had the courage to speak truth to power. Who’s gonna be the one to speak the truth to Trump? The emperor’s reflecting pool has no reflection.

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