Trump’s Reflecting – MSNBC host Chris Hayes mocked a Fox News segment praising President Donald Trump’s Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool renovation, saying the reporter seemed unaware of the bright green algae behind him. Hayes noted the Trump administration spent $14 million to r
On Tuesday, Chris Hayes couldn’t keep it together as a Fox News correspondent praised President Donald Trump’s work on the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool—even as the camera showed bright green water and algae.
Hayes laughed out loud while covering a Fox News report in which “Jesse Watters Primetime” correspondent Johnny Belisario stood near the reflecting pool and insisted the problem was basically handled. “I’m here at the newly renovated Reflecting Pool,” Belisario said from the scene. “It’s painted American flag blue. and the Democrats are gonna tell you. ‘Oh. there’s green algae. it looks so bad.’ But there’s pool guys cleaning it up right now. No other president would do that.”.
Hayes pushed back on the spot after playing the clip. asking through laughter. “Does that guy realize we can see the water behind him?!” He’d argued earlier in the show that Trump likely expects the landmark to look “like his swimming pool at Mar-a-Lago. ” while failing to understand that “it’s not a swimming pool” and doesn’t “have the same cleaning systems or the same purpose.”.
Trump. for his part. has been publicly fixated on cleaning the pool ahead of America’s 250th anniversary celebration this summer and has blamed Democratic predecessors for algae-riddled waters. But Hayes pointed to what he called the stubbornness of the problem. The current algae blooms returned less than two weeks after the pool was refilled following Trump’s $14 million renovation. and Hayes said the issue is not unique to Trump—adding that former President Barack Obama reportedly also saw the water turn green again after his own renovation project in 2012.
The discussion took a sharper turn when Hayes read from a statement from a Department of the Interior spokesperson. The spokesperson placed the blame for “massive algae clumps taking over the pool’s surface” directly on Obama. and Hayes juxtaposed that argument with Trump’s own prior messaging on the pool—saying Trump shared an AI-generated image earlier this year of Obama bathing in feces in the pool.
In the same statement Hayes aired. the spokesperson claimed the algae is now “dead” due to the use of “advanced nanobubbler technology” and said it is being “vacuumed up as we speak.” The statement concluded by praising Trump “for fixing the Reflecting Pool for good. ” echoing the tone Belisario used when he suggested that only Democrats would notice how green the water looked.
Hayes wasn’t persuaded. “Maybe,” he said after reading the statement. “Maybe they’re right. We’ll see. You can’t make this stuff up, though. They hired yet another set of contractors using nanobubbler machinery provided by a company called … Green Water Solutions.”
The segment landed on what Hayes described as a familiar cycle—fixating on the optics of a high-profile project. spending taxpayer money. and leaving the aftermath to others. “It’s all just Trump to a T: focus obsessively on things that do not matter. spend taxpayer money with no accountability. screw everything up. pretend it’s a great improvement — while leaving it to other people to clean up your mess.”.
The renovation itself was meant to change the pool’s appearance as well as its condition. The Trump administration spent $14 million to have the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool painted “American flag blue” and to have the seams resealed. On June 16, a U.S. National Park Service employee was shown using a vacuum pump to clean algae off the bottom of the newly repainted pool on the National Mall in Washington. D.C.
And on Tuesday, as the green water sat in full view, Hayes’ question to viewers lingered on the screen—less about who “noticed” the algae, and more about what anyone could plainly see.
United States politics Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool Donald Trump Chris Hayes Fox News Johnny Belisario MSNBC Department of the Interior Barack Obama nanobubbler technology Green Water Solutions America’s 250th anniversary
Lol so they spent 14 million and it’s still nasty green? come on.
I mean you can literally SEE the algae in the background. Fox really gonna act like that’s “handled”?? Sounds like a whole PR thing, not actual cleaning.
Wait so is it algae or is it just the color of the “American flag blue” paint?? Like maybe the cameras are messing it up. I’m not even defending Trump, it’s just confusing, because they keep calling it renovated like that means it can’t get dirty.
This is what happens when you focus on optics. They renovated it then act shocked it turns green again. Also Hayes saying Trump thinks it’s like Mar-a-Lago… idk, I feel like both sides are talking past each other and the water’s still gross either way.