What Does the Slimy Green Pool Say About Competence?

A Saturday Prompt

Cleaning up the mess this week. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images)

I know, I know, there are much bigger issues. The utter incompetence and recklessness of waging war against Iran, followed by Donald Trump’s surrender document and the attempt to claim it’s not a humiliating capitulation by the United States. The near-unanimous passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act by Congress, followed by a corrupt and criminal coverup by the Justice Department to refuse the release of millions of files in order to protect the rich and powerful (including Trump) from alleged rape and pedophilia. Or how about a mass deportation program that denies due process and basic human rights and leads to the murder of American citizens by masked federal agents and a growing number of suicides by people kept in detention? The list of cruelty and incompetence that demands accountability from the perpetrators is long and egregious.

But hear me out: The scandal of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is such a complete encapsulation—and such a perfect metaphor—of incompetence and corruption that it deserves to be both a long-remembered failure and a final straw for a restless, angry nation.

Consider some facts: Trump decided the water in the reflecting pool was so dirty and disgusting—“an embarrassment to our country,” he said—that a president’s time should be spent addressing it. A cleanup and waterproofing project that was supposed to cost less than $2 million has now ballooned to over $16 million. Trump boasted that he himself had picked the company—which got a no-bid contract—because that vendor worked on a swimming pool at one of his golf clubs. “I have a guy who’s unbelievable at doing swimming pools,” he said in April, noting that he himself had selected “American flag blue” for the color. Later, as the costs rose, the predictable Trump denied even knowing the guy. “I didn’t give out the contract, ‘Interior’ did, to a contractor I did not know, and have never used before,” he posted.

In the last week, the reflecting pool’s water turned acid green from algae, followed by chunks of the blue paint peeling off and floating to the surface. Nearly a dozen workers have been wading through the water in an effort to scrub and pump away the algae, which the Trump people say was in the old underground pipes. It appears the large amounts of hydrogen peroxide used to kill the algae is damaging the paint job. This despite the fact that Trump proudly posted earlier this month that the “highly sophisticated material, industrial strength, applied by very talented people” is “thick, strong, flexible.”

But here’s the kicker: The Ohio-based company that got a no-bid contract to put in a water-purification system for $1.7 million is owned by a Trump donor and a Mar-a-Lago neighbor. Trump has described John J. Cafaro as “a fantastic man,” but it turns out that this great guy deserving of a no-bid contract has been convicted of multiple felonies for bribing a congressman and violating campaign finance laws.

And now, as the murky green water and floating blue chunks continue to plague the historic reflecting pool—which was completed in 1922 and has been a focal point for such events as Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream Speech” in 1963—Trump has turned to conspiracy and nefarious forces to explain away his corrupt and incompetent operation. He blamed the damage on “real problems with vandalism,” and even attacked ABC News reporter Jon Karl for “sticking his hand into the Pool” and “trying to rip the rubber off of the surface.” He posted that law enforcement has been called in to investigate the vandals who are using chemicals “to try to destroy and demean our beautiful work.”

Get it? Investigate alleged crimes noted in the Epstein files? Nope. Investigate and prosecute the murderers of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti earlier this year in Minneapolis? Nope. But the vandals of his reflecting pool? Spare no expense to get to the bottom of this green slime problem in the deteriorating pool that he alone decided was a critical national issue.

Maybe the slime will get cleaned up and the peeling paint fixed in time for the 4th of July. Maybe one day Americans will say the reflecting pool looks OK and forget the corruption and incompetence that preceded it. But it’s about as obvious an illustration as I can imagine for why we need competent, ethical professionals in positions of responsibility, up to and including the highest office in our land. Whether it’s the last straw or one more data point on why the Trump Republicans need to be soundly defeated in November, I can only hope that it helps fuel the mounting anger toward a frivolous and reckless White House occupant who cares more about his vanity projects than the well-being of everyday Americans struggling to survive.

What do you think? What does the slimy green pool say about competence? Has it been on your radar? Does it underscore the serious need for competent and ethical professionals in government? Will Americans care and remember come November? How does this fiasco strike you?

As always, I look forward to reading your observations and the opportunity for the America, America community to hear from each other. Please do be respectful in your remarks. Trolling will not be tolerated.

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