Reflecting Pool Rejects Donald Dumb's Abuse by Nurturing a very ‘Aggressive’ Form of Algae.
AI says: "For a family of four, the poverty line was approximately $26,200 in 2020, though many analysts suggest families need roughly $52,400 (twice the poverty line) to adequately cover essential costs without financial strain." Let us take the average of these two numbers (i.e. $39,300) as a working number, even though this is a very conservative estimate since we are in 2026 and the cost of living has skyrocketed under the make-the-rich-richer-and-the-poor-poorer policies of the criminal felon moron.
Instead of squandering 14 million dollars of taxpayers' money on a vanity project like this that turned the Reflecting Pool into a mediocre swimming pool, the jackass in the white house could have helped 14,000,000 / 39,300 = 356. Three hundred and fifty-six families of four in poor America could survive one year on the money wasted on the deranged moron's re-do of the stupid pool.
First, materials used to paint the bottom blue turned out to be food for algae as the blue color, close to the color of the sun rays, invites aggressive algal growth. Then, the efforts by the geniuses - recruited in a corrupt no-bidding process - working on this project to kill off the algae apparently selected for a new, even more aggressive algae, according to tests conducted by a reporter for The Atlantic.
Trump's decision to drain the pool and paint the bottom "American Flag Blue" has been criticized for its cost, plus the no-bid contract for the work. Since the pool was refilled, bright green algae spread throughout the water and the paint has been peeling away. Reporters have seen tourists tearing off pieces of the paint to bring home as souvenirs.
The dumb moron dispatched crews to combat the algae through various means, including "hydro-vacuums" and pouring hydrogen peroxide into the water. That appears to have been an inadequate fix, only killing off some of the algae along the outer edges of the Reflecting Pool and possibly even causing or exacerbating the peeling paint.
But the problems caused by the hydrogen peroxide don't end there.
Viser had observed the Reflecting Pool on several different days recently, watching tourists grab their souvenirs and government workers wading through the water making various attempts to remove the algae, noting that the water was "relatively clear" in some sections, an "oily sludge" in others, and multiple shades of green from the algae in others.
The Atlantic decided to run its own tests on the water. Viser gathered samples from multiple areas of the Reflecting Pool, and brought them to two different scientists for testing.
"Testing reveals that efforts to suppress one algal bloom seem to be fueling another," wrote Viser, and the "workers battling against nature" in "the country's most high-profile science experiment" may actually be making things worse.
"After a week of combat," wrote Viser, "they have essentially killed off one type of algae infesting the pool, only to create the conditions for a new type to take over. And Scenedesmus, a genus of green algae nicknamed 'Skinny Dead Mouse' by scientists, is now flourishing," according to the tests they ran.
The original algae that showed up in the Reflecting Pool "appeared to be a blue-green cyanobacterial bloom," wrote Viser, and that type can sometimes produce neurotoxins that are dangerous for humans and animals.
One of the scientists who tested the samples was Hans W. Paerl, a professor of marine and environmental sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Paerl examined the samples under a microscope and found "remnants of the previous bloom" of the blue-green algae, "but they were too degraded to identify," wrote Viser, and he believed this was caused, at least in part, by the hydrogen peroxide.
"The guys dealing with peroxide treatment can pat themselves on the back," said Paerl. "But it doesn't really solve the overall problem."
"What's happened is they've just switched the players. And the green algae are just taking over," Paerl explained, and this new green algae "is a pretty aggressive grower."
Greg Boyer, a professor emeritus of biochemistry at the State University of New York, concurred, telling The Atlantic he had "never seen it bloom quite this thick." Boyer's testing found similar results of "little to no blue-green algae," wrote Viser, but that could change over the next few weeks. Currently, we were in "peak season for green algae," said Boyer, and "pretty early in the season for blue-green algae."
Both scientists also told Viser that the treatments the NPS was using to attempt to fight the algae, hydrogen peroxide and nanobubble technology, were more effective against the blue-green algae, not the green algae that was currently dominating.
The Reflecting Pool itself was already an ideal environment for algae, Boyer said.
"If I was going to design a facility to grow algae," Boyer explained, "I would probably design a facility that had a lot of surface area and was very shallow, so you have sunlight down to the bottom. And put a lot of nutrients in it. And that's pretty much what the Reflecting Pool is. It's just a perfect facility for growing algae."
The deep blue paint that Trump had added only made it worse, wrote Viser, because it "raised the water temperature and accelerated the growth."
"The water will probably remain green for the foreseeable future," said Paerl.
The post Reflecting Pool Is Now Under Siege by a Different and More 'Aggressive' Form of Algae: Report first appeared on Mediaite.
John Cafaro's name and looks are a telltale of Trump's shady friendships
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The man whose subsidiary company was awarded a no-bid contract to remodel the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has been unmasked as a two-time felon and deep-pocketed MAGA donor.
A company owned by John J. Cafaro, whom President Donald Trump has called a "fantastic man" despite a pair of politics-related felonies, installed a water-purification system to prevent algae bloom in the pool—an installation that so far appears to be failing miserably.
Photo Illustration by Victoria Sunday/The Daily Beast/Getty Images/Reuters/X
Daily Beast Editor-in-Chief Hugh Dougherty and Chief Content Officer Joanna Coles broke down all the questions surrounding Cafaro and his relationship to Trump on The Daily Beast Podcast.
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool as photographed on May 2, May 28, June 7, June 12, June 16, and June 18. An algae bloom is turning the pool green—the very issue that President Donald Trump promised to fix with his multi-million remodel. / Reuters Photographer / REUTERS
"How could he possibly get into this?" Dougherty asked. "We don't really know, because it is a no-bid contract that is shrouded in secrecy."
Dougherty, who notes that some are comparing a photo of a cigar-smoking Cafaro to "Fat Tony" from The Simpsons, rattled off what we do know about the businessman's relationship with Trump.
Cafaro is a longtime Trump donor with a mansion in Palm Beach, near the president's Mar-a-Lago estate. He has been praised by Trump (he called him a "fantastic man" in 2016) despite spending time in jail for making an undisclosed $10,000 "loan" to his daughter, Capri Cafaro, during her unsuccessful run for Congress in Ohio.
Cafaro spent five days in the hoosegow in 2010 over a judge's dissatisfaction with his financial disclosures. He was ultimately released and sentenced to probation and a $250,000 fine.
Dougherty's comments follow revelations in The New York Times that Cafaro, who also once pleaded guilty to a felony charge of conspiring to bribe a congressman, has donated $350,000 to PACs supporting Trump since 2016.
Cafaro's company, Greenwater Services, was awarded a $1.7 million contract for the reflecting pool gig by the Interior Department, which oversees the National Park Service.
The contract did not have to go through a typical government bidding process because the Trump administration deemed it a priority, allowing the president to have his "American flag blue" reflecting pool installed in time for the America 250 celebrations.
Trump has blamed ABC host Jonathan Karl and other rebels for turning the Pool green by tampering with it. / Eric Lee/REUTERS
Reached for comment, the White House claimed there was no favoritism in the administration's selection of a company that has ties to a longtime donor.
"This contract was awarded by the Department of [the] Interior; the White House did not play any role in the selection process," spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told the Daily Beast. "The failing New York Times' continued attempts to fabricate conflicts of interest are irresponsible and further reinforce the public's distrust in the news media, which is already at an all-time low."
Beyond questions about the nature of the contract are criticisms that Trump may have blown through $14 million in taxpayer dollars—more than seven times the amount initially proposed—to repaint the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, only for it to fill with green sludge two weeks before America's 250th birthday.
The pool holds about 6.5 million gallons of water, and has a surface area of more than 300,000 square feet. On Thursday, around half of the surface water remained green.
A U.S. National Park Service worker dumps bottles of hydrogen peroxide in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool as part of their effort to mitigate an algae bloom which followed the completion of recent renovations in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 16, 2026. / Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Now, Park Service employees are resorting to pouring hydrogen peroxide into the pool in an attempt to kill off the algae.
Coles asked Dougherty if there was any chance the pool would be glistening blue in time for the July 4 celebrations.
The president’s hopes of an “American flag blue” reflecting pool have quickly been dashed by an algae bloom. / Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images
"Anything's possible," he said, before noting that things still appear to be moving in the wrong direction, as The Washington Post reported that satellite imagery shows there is more algae in the pool this month than in any of the last five Junes.
"So can it be fixed? Maybe," Dougherty said. "I'm not sure that the individual gallon bottles of unbranded bleach are the way. And as you see, the clock is ticking to July 4... It doesn't look like it. [The algae] seems to be going up, not down."
John J. Cafaro: Felon Trump Pal Behind Green Slime Fiasco Exposed
The man whose subsidiary company was awarded a no-bid contract to remodel the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has been unmasked as a two-time felon and deep-pocketed MAGA donor.
A company owned by John J. Cafaro, whom President Donald Trump has called a "fantastic man" despite a pair of politics-related felonies, installed a water-purification system to prevent algae bloom in the pool—an installation that so far appears to be failing miserably.
Photo Illustration by Victoria Sunday/The Daily Beast/Getty Images/Reuters/X
Daily Beast Editor-in-Chief Hugh Dougherty and Chief Content Officer Joanna Coles broke down all the questions surrounding Cafaro and his relationship to Trump on The Daily Beast Podcast.
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool as photographed on May 2, May 28, June 7, June 12, June 16, and June 18. An algae bloom is turning the pool green—the very issue that President Donald Trump promised to fix with his multi-million remodel. / Reuters Photographer / REUTERS
"How could he possibly get into this?" Dougherty asked. "We don't really know, because it is a no-bid contract that is shrouded in secrecy."
Dougherty, who notes that some are comparing a photo of a cigar-smoking Cafaro to "Fat Tony" from The Simpsons, rattled off what we do know about the businessman's relationship with Trump.
Cafaro is a longtime Trump donor with a mansion in Palm Beach, near the president's Mar-a-Lago estate. He has been praised by Trump (he called him a "fantastic man" in 2016) despite spending time in jail for making an undisclosed $10,000 "loan" to his daughter, Capri Cafaro, during her unsuccessful run for Congress in Ohio.
Cafaro spent five days in the hoosegow in 2010 over a judge's dissatisfaction with his financial disclosures. He was ultimately released and sentenced to probation and a $250,000 fine.
Dougherty's comments follow revelations in The New York Times that Cafaro, who also once pleaded guilty to a felony charge of conspiring to bribe a congressman, has donated $350,000 to PACs supporting Trump since 2016.
Cafaro's company, Greenwater Services, was awarded a $1.7 million contract for the reflecting pool gig by the Interior Department, which oversees the National Park Service.
The contract did not have to go through a typical government bidding process because the Trump administration deemed it a priority, allowing the president to have his "American flag blue" reflecting pool installed in time for the America 250 celebrations.
Trump has blamed ABC host Jonathan Karl and other rebels for turning the Pool green by tampering with it. / Eric Lee/REUTERS
Reached for comment, the White House claimed there was no favoritism in the administration's selection of a company that has ties to a longtime donor.
"This contract was awarded by the Department of [the] Interior; the White House did not play any role in the selection process," spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told the Daily Beast. "The failing New York Times' continued attempts to fabricate conflicts of interest are irresponsible and further reinforce the public's distrust in the news media, which is already at an all-time low."
Beyond questions about the nature of the contract are criticisms that Trump may have blown through $14 million in taxpayer dollars—more than seven times the amount initially proposed—to repaint the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, only for it to fill with green sludge two weeks before America's 250th birthday.
The pool holds about 6.5 million gallons of water, and has a surface area of more than 300,000 square feet. On Thursday, around half of the surface water remained green.
A U.S. National Park Service worker dumps bottles of hydrogen peroxide in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool as part of their effort to mitigate an algae bloom which followed the completion of recent renovations in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 16, 2026. / Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Now, Park Service employees are resorting to pouring hydrogen peroxide into the pool in an attempt to kill off the algae.
Coles asked Dougherty if there was any chance the pool would be glistening blue in time for the July 4 celebrations.
The president’s hopes of an “American flag blue” reflecting pool have quickly been dashed by an algae bloom. / Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images
"Anything's possible," he said, before noting that things still appear to be moving in the wrong direction, as The Washington Post reported that satellite imagery shows there is more algae in the pool this month than in any of the last five Junes.
"So can it be fixed? Maybe," Dougherty said. "I'm not sure that the individual gallon bottles of unbranded bleach are the way. And as you see, the clock is ticking to July 4... It doesn't look like it. [The algae] seems to be going up, not down."
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