Algal bloom in the pond in front of the Lincoln Memorial, or satire and embarrassment

How did an algal bloom in a palace pond, a fairly ordinary occurrence, become the subject of a bizarre political battle? In today’s United States, nothing is surprising anymore, not even this.

The controversy began with one of Trump’s projects, as he seeks to leave behind as many grand legacies as possible in and around the White House. One example is the reconstruction of the East Wing of the presidential residence into a new ballroom, despite objections from historic preservation experts. Even more controversial is the proposal to build an entirely new structure, a triumphal arch. Against this backdrop, replacing the bottom of a pond seems like a minor issue, even if it is no ordinary pond.

The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is a reflecting pool, a body of water designed to create striking mirror images. It was built between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. Depending on where a visitor stands, the surface reflects one or the other of these landmarks. Located on the National Mall, between the White House, the Capitol, and other federal public buildings, the pool has served as the backdrop for numerous political events for nearly a century and has become deeply embedded in the country’s political tradition.

Long-term plans of the new administration

At the start of his second term, Donald Trump announced plans to expand and modernize the representative part of the capital. One of the reasons for these projects is the upcoming 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. The president’s critics, however, argue that this is merely a pretext for constructing monuments that serve primarily as tributes to Trump himself. Opposition lawmakers speaking in Congress, including Don Beyer, have described them as Trump’s vanity projects. Such accusations are hardly surprising given that several institutions, including the airport in Palm Beach, have already been named after the current president despite the long-standing tradition of not commemorating living, especially incumbent, public figures.

The United States takes pride in its centuries-old democratic tradition and respect for established procedures. Nevertheless, transfers of power have not always been conducted gracefully. For example, when the administration of President George W. Bush took over the White House, it was discovered that the letter W, distinguishing him from his father, George Bush, and serving as his monogram, had been removed from many keyboards. It is no secret that Donald Trump speaks of his predecessors in the harshest terms. Among the accusations he has made against previous administrations is that they neglected the Lincoln Reflecting Pool and mishandled its renovation.

On June 1, President Trump posted two photographs of the pool on Truth Social, one from the Obama era, labeled “Hussein Obama,” and one from his own presidency. The first showed the pool with dirty water and the Washington Monument in gloomy tones. The second presented crystal-clear water in which the monument’s reflection looked particularly impressive. Internet users quickly noticed, however, that the only real difference between the images was the color grading. The clouds formed the same pattern, and the identical flock of ducks floated on the water. It was clearly the same photograph, even identified in Wikipedia’s image archive, simply processed with different filters.

The modernization of the pool, whose cost increased from just under $2 million to well over $10 million, included replacing the hydraulic infrastructure. Yet both Trump and his critics focused on the most visible element, painting the bottom bright blue. Opponents argued that the previous gray color matched the surrounding architecture and provided a neutral background for the reflections.

The vivid blue color is more reminiscent of a hotel swimming pool than a neoclassical park pond. In fact, the designers openly admitted that they drew inspiration from the Bahamas. Trump, meanwhile, presented the color as a patriotic element, claiming it represented one of the colors of the American flag. This sparked a debate over whether the chosen shade actually resembled the official Old Glory Blue. Adding to the controversy, Forbes reported that the company awarded the renovation contract without a competitive bidding process had been personally recommended by Trump because it had renovated his private swimming pools 20 years earlier, a claim he later denied.

Satire versus the police

The story would probably have enjoyed a few days of media attention before fading away had it not been for the fact that almost immediately after the renovation, the freshly refilled pool turned green. Phycologists collected samples and identified the bloom-forming algae as belonging to the genus Desmodesmus. This is one of the most widespread groups of green algae, found around the world and even cultivated in laboratories as food for water fleas. It is not toxic. Park authorities applied the standard treatment for algal blooms, hydrogen peroxide. In Poland, this method was used more extensively to combat Prymnesium parvum in the channelized sections of the Kłodnica River. However, the results proved only moderately successful.

An algal bloom in a park or palace pond is nothing unusual. Stagnant, unshaded water, especially when supplied from a polluted river, creates ideal conditions for phytoplankton growth during heatwaves. Yet in the context of a freshly completed renovation, the bloom became an irony of fate. Scientists and environmental organizations affected by Trump’s reforms, as we recently reported, regarded it as a gift from nature.

Nature, it turns out, cannot be controlled by executive orders. Swimming pool specialists such as Steve Goodale point out that algal blooms are common in newly filled pools because the microbial community has not yet stabilized. Limnologist Gregory Boyer argues that painting the bottom a darker color may have increased the risk of a bloom by allowing the water to heat up more rapidly. The internet was soon flooded with satirical articles and memes.

The issue spread beyond the usual anti-Trump platforms. Even the largely apolitical Phytomemetics, known for botanical cartoons, posted an image of the bloom. The caption suggested that, from a botanist’s perspective, the solution was obvious: introduce emergent aquatic vegetation. From a hydrobotanical standpoint this is true, although it is impractical in a pool designed more like a decorative basin than a natural pond. Hydrobiologists also note that algal blooms are naturally controlled by planktonic animals such as water fleas. This is not the first bloom in the history of the reflecting pool, but previous ones never became part of political disputes.

Because Trump and his administration also frequently communicate through images accompanied by slogans, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish satire from genuine official messaging. One widely circulated image compared the length of the reflecting pool to the height of skyscrapers to explain why controlling the situation was so difficult. In fact, when work on painting the bottom began on April 24, Trump himself used exactly such a comparison on Truth Social.

Moreover, not only did the algal bloom appear, but the newly applied paint also began peeling from the bottom. Whether the hydrogen peroxide treatment contributed to this or not, the expensive renovation carried out by a company selected without a competitive tender turned out to be poor workmanship. This provided the opposition’s most effective weapon, satire, with even more material. The authorities responded through police action. The administration blamed vandals, even saboteurs, for the peeling paint, and police arrested people who had been near the water during the critical period. Among them was former Olympian David Hearn.

Neither the algal bloom nor the failure of the bottom coating can be resolved through police measures, and the pool will ultimately have to be drained once again. A relatively modest investment that was intended to become one of Trump’s many success stories instead turned into a public embarrassment.

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main photo: Ali Khan/Wikimedia

source:

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/david-hearn-us-olympian-denies-vandalizing-reflecting-pool-viral-arrest
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/the-reflecting-pool-is-about-to-be-drained-again-heres-what-to-know
https://www.pbia.org/about/name-change-faqs
https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2026/06/24/taxpayer-dollarsflushed-down-the-drain-democrat-probes-reflecting-pool-contractors-linked-to-trump