Trump might really drain the swamp

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/06/24/trump-reflecting-pool-flop-turns-national-mall-into-swamp/

Ten years ago, in the final weeks of his first presidential campaign, Donald Trump often led rallygoers in a chant: “Drain the swamp! Drain the swamp!” This week, it might finally happen.

The land where the Lincoln Memorial sits used to be mudflats and wetlands, but now its Reflecting Pool became home to a historically large algae bloom filled with jagged clumps of blue industrial paint. The Trump administration’s poorly executed renovation has already cost taxpayers more than $14 million, failing in just two weeks despite the president’s claim that it “could last for 100 years.” To fix the problem it created, the White House is having the pool emptied once again — draining the muck.

This is just the latest in a series of botched jobs in the nation’s capital. Last fall, Trump razed the East Wing to build a ballroom, which he said would be covered entirely by private donations. Instead, after lowballing the estimate, costs have soared to $600 million, and taxpayers have already had to foot more than half the bill. He undertook controversial overhauls of the Rose Garden — twice in five years — replacing the trees and lawn with a stone patio, cafe tables and yellow-striped umbrellas fashioned to look like Mar-a-Lago poolside. And he affixed his name to the Kennedy Center and planned to shutter it for a two-year remodeling, only to have a federal judge order his name removed and block the venue’s closure. No project is too big or too small to bungle