So Much for “Drain the Swamp”
Trump came to DC promising he would “drain the swamp.” Instead, he made a new, much grosser swamp. Literally and figuratively.
The Reflecting Pool is a 16-million-dollar algae-infested, lining-torn screw up. It’s also the perfect metaphor for Donald Trump’s second term.
In April of this year, Trump announced that the Reflecting Pool would be getting a “much needed” renovation, the latest in his litany of renovations-turned-shitshows across Washington since he took office.
At the time, we were told it would take “maybe a week.” It would cost just $1 million (added on to the 200 million, then 400 million, then 600 million, then 1.6-billion-dollar ballroom; 90-million-dollar refurbishing of the Qatari-donated Air Force One; 15-million-dollar “Arc de Trump” and so much more).
Trump lied.
The Reflecting Pool renovations dragged on. And on. And on. Every few days, Trump promised the renovations were nearly finished and the end was in sight. Remind you of any other conflict that doesn’t seem to end?
In June, seven weeks behind schedule and more than $15 million over budget, the Reflecting Pool was finally reopened to the public looking almost the same as before.
For about a day.
Within a week of its reopening, a rampant algae bloom turned the “American blue” pool a muddy green. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Trump’s “state-of-the-art” lining (installed in a no-bid contract by one of his buddiest who also owns a company called — we wish we were joking — Greenwater Services) cracked, broke, and was seen floating on the surface. We certainly aren’t experts, but isn’t pool lining supposed to be on … the bottom?
Anyways, Trump, the “master builder,” first resorted to posting AI images of the Reflecting Pool in a very odd and silly attempt to convince us to not believe our lying eyes. Like, seriously, how dumb does he think America is?
After this (obviously) failed, Trump then claimed that there was a sinister plot to cut a 350 foot gash in the pool’s lining (longer than a whole football field, by the way). A plot that wasn’t caught on camera despite DC now being one of the most heavily policed cities in the world with the still-ongoing deployment of the National Guard. Antifa is getting so good they can apparently operate invisibly these days!!
We’ve now learned that the American people will be footing the bill for draining, removing, and redoing the renovations to fix what has become the most famous swamp in the world. What’s that saying about fool me once, shame on you?
While all of this is fascinating in the sense that it’s so incredibly bone-headed, it’s also the perfect metaphor for how Trump has turned the government into the very swamp he was elected to drain.
Think about it.
The Reflecting Pool renovation was pitched as a simple fix. It was supposed to be fast, cheap, beautiful, and the product of Trump’s unmatched genius as a builder. Instead, it is a bloated, over-budget disaster handed out through no-bid contracts to politically connected allies who delivered a worse product than they were paid (by your tax dollars!) to replace.
Sound familiar?
Ten years ago, Trump came to DC promising to dismantle the corruption, cronyism, and insider dealing that has supposedly infected the federal government. Instead, he’s brought back the spoils system that would make even the most corrupt nineteenth-century party bosses blush.
The experts are gone. Agency heads haven’t been chosen based on their expertise or literally any relevant experience, but based on their personal devotion (and often donations) to the Dear Leader and his causes. Government contracts have overwhelmingly flowed to Trump lackeys and political allies. Trump and his family have increased their wealth by billions of dollars through backdoor crypto grifts at his supporters’ expense. The line between public service and private enrichment hasn’t been blurred so much as entirely obliterated.
This is an administration where billionaires openly shape policy from group chats. Where the same men making military decisions then go and bet on those operations before they happen and make more money in an hour than many of us will make in a year (or two, or ten). Where cabinet secretaries behave more like influencers, and where the day-to-day operations of the government are more unhinged than an episode of Veep.
In Trump’s America, everything is a spectacle.
The only problem is that eventually reality shows up.
The reality is that, through all of this, your grocery prices have stayed high and gotten higher. Your gas prices have stayed high and gotten higher. Your ability to buy a home, save for retirement, support your family, or afford basic goods has stayed non-existent.
The reality is that the government promised savings and instead produced exploding costs, ballooning contracts, and a ballroom whose price tag has climbed from the hundreds of millions into a billion or more.
So no, the Reflecting Pool wasn’t ruined by some invisible army of saboteurs operating under the cover of darkness. It was ruined by the same thing poisoning so many other things across America: arrogance, incompetence, corruption, and the belief that you can get away with bad governance and the people won’t notice the stench.
When Donald Trump holds his MAGA rally on the National Mall on July 4th, and they do a fly-over of his “new and improved” capital, just know that his backdrop will be the very swamp he created.