I've already done two stories about the painting of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, and it's only Tuesday. It's become the new White House ballroom, with nonprofits filing lawsuits to halt the project midway. The big news among all of the mainstream media outlets is that the cost of the project has ballooned to $13.1 million. The one sane Democrat left, John Fetterman, told critics to get over their TDS and enjoy the beautification of the Reflecting Pool in time for the nation's 250th birthday.
Earlier today, I published a post about New York Times investigative reporter David Fahrenthold's take on the pool. Fahrenthold seemed upset that the contractor was working on a 20 percent profit margin. Well, Farenthold wasn't done bitching about the Reflecting Pool yet — he's already posted about it two more times today. Not only has the cost ballooned, but Interior Department staffers have raised questions about the quality of the work.
NEW: Interior Dept. staffers have raised questions about the quality and speed of the work being done to repair the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, according to document seen by the NY Times.https://t.co/Q18Ljd7vcX
— David Fahrenthold (@Fahrenthold) May 12, 2026
I’m sorry, who’s your source again?
— Tommy_Peanuts 🇺🇸 🙏 🥜 (@LocalDinerFan) May 12, 2026
Oh, my, they've raised questions!
— 𝗣𝗔𝗨𝗟 𝗞𝗟𝗘𝗡𝗞 (@paulklenk) May 12, 2026
Of course they did. That’s what TDS does to people.
— Bob, just Bob (@InfoMenso) May 12, 2026
“Staffers?” What do they know?
— Morning Glory 🇺🇸🌼🇺🇸 (@DoryBeutel) May 12, 2026
Oh nooooooo, not the staffers
— TwistedOwl (@NewTwistedOwl) May 12, 2026
What are we gonna do now !!!! pic.twitter.com/zAAzoNwkPd
Anonymous Interior Department staffers are concerned! Time to write another story!
As I pointed out in my previous post, a lot of people reminded Fahrenthold that the Biden administration's plan for the Reflecting Pool was budgeted at $300 million and scheduled to take three years. And this was just years after President Barack Obama had already renovated the Reflecting Pool, at a cost of $34 million.
Just for fun, let's take a look at some of the media coverage of Obama's repair job.
2012. CNN does a segment on the complete failure of Obama's 2 year, $34 million reflecting pool renovation.
— MAZE (@mazemoore) May 12, 2026
This was less than a month after the reflecting pool reopened.
Notice how CNN didn't blame the Obama in any way. They would treat Trump the same way right?😜 pic.twitter.com/9z2QXxmwwn
But wait, there's more. I'm not sure where this video is from, but people were not excited about Obama's algae garden.
🚨 Obama spent $34 MILLION of your tax dollars renovating the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
— Alec Lace (@AlecLace) May 11, 2026
No Media meltdowns.
Here’s some reactions when it reopened 👇 pic.twitter.com/wV8wiNEM3U
Hilarious — if it weren’t such a perfect microcosm of every single brain-dead socialist/climate alarmist “decision.” Sure, “let’s fix the cement pond by pumping in polluted river water to save the planet!”
— Scott Stephan (@ScottStephan) May 12, 2026
Morons.
So the reflecting pool wasn’t fixed during Barry’s high roller occupation so where did the $34 million go? Where was it funneled?
— Deblyn ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@Deblyn2024) May 12, 2026
So Obama spent $34 million and it failed to clean up. Trump spends $14 million and they are suing to stop him.
— Todd Lyon (@ToddLyon8) May 12, 2026
Doesn't the current lawsuit say it needs to stay that way, grossness and all, to keep it as it was meant to be.
— Ghee's First (@Constan36865676) May 12, 2026
When people understand that Obama WANTED it to be ugly, things will make more sense
— Precious✨️Metal (@metalguera1114) May 12, 2026
The crumble & decay was all by design
Got them haters wanting to hold on to the sewage pool. It’s fine they say.
— C (@C51028723) May 12, 2026
Obama's 2 year remodel channeled in water from a nearby tidal pool, guaranteeing the algae could never be controlled, as any backflow of chemicals would pose risk to the wildlife.
— Barry Hall (@KissforKolber) May 11, 2026
The destruction of beauty is an intentional act to deaden our aspirations.
Barry laundered $34M in tax dollars and labeled it a renovation project. Pocket the money, close it down for two years and maybe nobody will notice that nothing was done.
— Look (it) up 🇺🇸 (@12kcolG) May 12, 2026
Of course there were no media meltdowns. The hypocrisy is exhausting.
— Monty Bennett (@MontyBennett) May 11, 2026
Don't worry about Trump's project — investigative reporters are on top of it. Nick Shirley kicks off an investigation that leads to multiple billions of dollars of fraud in just one state, but it wouldn't occur to Farenthold to look into that.
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