Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) ripped President Donald Trump on Monday over his administration’s handling of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool renovation, calling the troubled overhaul a “reflecting pool debacle” and accusing the president of obsessing over a vanity project while Americans struggle with rising costs.
Schumer Says Trump Has His Priorities Backward
Schumer shared a clip on X of his June 22 Senate floor speech attacking Trump and wrote, “A perfect picture of Trump’s presidency: Americans are losing their homes, cutting back at the grocery store, and drowning in bills, while Trump’s top priority is cleaning up the Reflecting Pool. America needs a president, not a pool boy.”
In the floor speech, Schumer said Trump’s focus on the pool showed the administration’s priorities were “completely out of whack” as families faced pressure from housing, grocery and household bills.
Schumer also accused Trump of ignoring experts, rushing into the first idea that came to mind, giving a political ally a no-bid contract at taxpayer expense and then blaming “invisible enemies” when the project faltered.
He used the pool as a broader metaphor for what he called Trump’s misplaced priorities, cronyism and dysfunction. Schumer said everyday Americans are “drowning in bills” while Trump remains fixated on a project he “managed to screw up.”
Trump Blames Vandals As Pool Problems Spread
Trump, in Truth Social posts over the weekend, blamed vandals for deliberately pouring corrosive chemicals into the pool and slashing its lining. He called the alleged damage “a true affront to both Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln” and warned those responsible could face “years in jail.”
CBS News reported on Monday that Trump said he would provide proof in court of his claim that vandals “cut” a large slit in the Reflecting Pool, which he said caused paint to peel on the recently renovated but algae-plagued project.
Arrests Follow Renovation As Democrats Pile On
The Interior Department said five people had been arrested and five others issued federal citations. The arrests followed a recent $13.1 million renovation that left the water discolored by algae and sections of the new “American flag blue” coating peeling.
Earlier, Schumer called the effort wasteful, labeling it a “new swamp” and questioning the use of taxpayer funds. Gov. JB Pritzker (D-Ill.) also criticized Trump for focusing on the renovation while gas prices remained high. Meanwhile, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) previously said Trump was “showing off his pool” while Americans faced higher gas, food and health care costs.
Photo courtesy: Bumble Dee / Shutterstock.com
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