Yesterday, I wrote about the Washington Post’s absurd claim that “After Trump’s $10 million renovation, the Reflecting Pool is full again — and looks almost the same.” Here’s the tweet they put out yesterday afternoon.
The Reflecting Pool on the National Mall has been refilled following President Trump’s renovations.
The project ultimately took six weeks and cost more than $10 million, far more than Trump initially projected. https://t.co/no9QuP1lmu pic.twitter.com/jBPKbqtWIy
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) June 9, 2026
I and many other people reacted to this with some amount of anger and frustration. Why? For several reasons. First, this is such a transparent lie. Even in the photo they used for comparison you can see a difference between then and now. But more to the point, the Post chose images that don’t really give you a good before and after comparison.
Fortunately, EarthCam put out a better comparison the same day and this one shows a pretty dramatic change in the reflecting pool from bright green to deep blue.
Actual before and after (after on top): pic.twitter.com/9h3k3KVVX0
— John Sexton (@verumserum) June 9, 2026
I wasn’t the only person to post that comparison which comes from this video clip.
Months of work, condensed into seconds. Watch the transformation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool as crews drained, repainted, and refilled one of America’s most iconic landmarks ahead of a busy summer season in Washington, D.C. pic.twitter.com/HBoJUx6n0t
— EarthCam (@EarthCam) June 9, 2026
Several other people responded to the Post with the same image both before and after I did. And lots of people responded with other before and after images which made the same point.
— Occam‘s Razor (@EricInDallas) June 9, 2026
I obviously can’t speak for everyone but I suspect most of the people who were responding had the same feeling of deep irritation that I had. The media has spent weeks posting misleading photos and stories about this renovation, claiming it was too expensive and too ugly. They picked this up from the left, which posted images of the fresh sealant, which was bright blue before it dried, and suggested that was the final color.
You’re acting like you didn’t know people have been attacking the reflecting pool reno out of an impulse to be against whatever Trump is forhttps://t.co/8ViyUi1rj4https://t.co/ypeQBpIDuB
— AlexaShrugged (@AlexaShrugged) June 10, 2026
And there’s no doubt people got the message that Trump was ruining it. NPR wrote about that a few days ago:
“The more water it fills, the more similar it looks [to before],” said Luisa Córdoba, a D.C. resident and avid runner who says she’s been coming to check on the pool every day since work started. “I’m just happy it’s not that bright blue that we saw the first days, which was so alarming … if it stays like this, it’s fine.”
Early renderings — as well as preliminary coats of paint when the project started in late April — had critics worried the historic landmark would end up looking more like a swimming pool. But Friday’s observers didn’t find that to be the case.
And there’s video of people who also seem to have expected a swimming pool result.
DC liberals complain that they miss the old color of the Reflecting Pool (algae green): pic.twitter.com/7A7FOOjVgq
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) June 8, 2026
All of those critics got it wrong but of course none of them will admit that now. Now they’re all moving from ‘it’s so ugly’ to ‘I can’t see a difference’ without pausing in between.
This whole story really exists as one small part of a new media fixation on opposing everything Trump is doing in Washington, DC. That started last August with his attempt to bring down crime in the city. The media immediately shouted that crime was already down but since then violent crime is down 30%. Then there were the lies about his renovation of the East Wing. One Post writer argued the new East Wing was Trump’s effort to make himself a king. Then it was the arch, which they also hated for reasons that were vague. Then it was the reflecting pool, which again was terrible primarily because Trump was doing it.
And so today, when I saw this post from Jonathan Martin at Politico, I wanted to tear my own eyeballs out. This guy is their senior political columnist and he manages to get this entire story exactly backwards.
The most interesting part about this is not the actual rehab, which is fine and in some cases needed, it’s the impulse to be for whatever Trump is for.
His passion is renovation and buildings and grounds? OK that’s what we’re into, also https://t.co/0cwAlQByvN
— Jonathan Martin (@jmart) June 10, 2026
In Martin’s view, the real story here is how everyone just jumps on Trump’s bandwagon. What he’s missed, entirely it seems, is that these posts about the reflecting pool were largely in response to the universally negative criticism of everything Trump has done in Washington, DC for the past year.
FYI, this “it looks the same” thing is just moving the goalpost.
We remember that the initial criticism was that it would look like a swimming pool and lose the mirror reflection because we shared our AI versions of what it might look like. https://t.co/FOXGVhyeOX pic.twitter.com/vL25Fs13Ji
— Melik Abdul (@MelikAbdul_) June 10, 2026
The negativity is unwarranted in this case. Can any of these people just say something nice because it’s true?
Can we all just admit that, even if you hate Trump, the reflecting pool looks really great now?
— Jeff Blehar is *BOX OFFICE POISON* (@EsotericCD) June 10, 2026
So the story here is not that people adopt whatever Trump likes. The story is that the media automatically attacks whatever he does. But Martin can’t see it.
FYI, this “it looks the same” thing is just moving the goalpost.
We remember that the initial criticism was that it would look like a swimming pool and lose the mirror reflection because we shared our AI versions of what it might look like. https://t.co/FOXGVhyeOX pic.twitter.com/vL25Fs13Ji
— Melik Abdul (@MelikAbdul_) June 10, 2026
Just once in a while it would be nice if the resistance journalism robots could stop and be humans again. Even Trump-hating authors can do this, but the media not so much.
Very beautiful. https://t.co/Hvd6cgt2PR
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) June 10, 2026
Is the renovation of the Reflecting Pool a critically important story? No, it is not. I get that. But it’s actually the fact that this matters so little that makes it telling in a broader sense. The media (esp. the Post) can’t give Trump a single tiny win even on a story that isn’t a big deal. They have to downplay and diminish it solely because he was involved. It’s the exact opposite of what Martin claims is happening here. It would be so easy to see the positive here but they refuse.
Last night, @POTUS invited the hardworking men who renovated the Reflecting Pool to the Oval Office ❤️
Every man received a signed hat and a presidential challenge coin! pic.twitter.com/sRoO6Z3bYo
— Margo Martin (@MargoMartin47) June 10, 2026
This is a completely positive upbeat story and a win for the country. The knee-jerk, attack-Trump reaction from the media demonstrates that nothing they say can really be trusted. They are not fair arbiters of reality, they are partisans. And Jonathan Martin is either the same as the media herd or he’s too clueless to see what is actually happening under his nose. Either way it’s an embarrassment.
A beautiful day in the nation’s capital. 🇺🇸
The renovated Reflecting Pool. pic.twitter.com/pktHqevXCy
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 9, 2026
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