The Reflecting Pool is yet another thing the Media Research Center has decided to go full Trump Regime Media over. Comedy cop Alex Christy grumbled in a June 12 post:
Moving on to other projects, Kimmel highlighted “the big, beautiful ballroom/bunker/Taco Bell-Pizza Hut and the brand-new $14 million reflecting pool, which is directly in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Poor Abe Lincoln. He’s probably somewhere thanking John Wilkes Booth right now because he—”
The famous Lincoln statue at the Lincoln Memorial then came to life to rebuke Kimmel, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, not cool. Too soon.”
After Kimmel voiced amazement that Statue Lincoln was talking, the statue mocked Trump’s “dumocrats” nickname for Democrats and subsequent explanation of removing the B from “dumb,” “Of course I can talk, dumbass. You know, a lot of people don’t realize that ‘dumbass’ has a B in it.”
The skit would continue with Statue Lincoln claiming to actually enjoy all of Trump’s renovations because it would be a change from what he usually sees, confessing to having a sports gambling addiction, and hiring the Statue of Liberty as a stripper.
If any other president decided to renovate the reflecting pool, it would either be a non-story or be portrayed as a positive thing. It certainly would not provide the basis for a “Lincoln thanks Booth” skit.
Well, Trump made a huge deal out of his Reflecting Pool renovation, so Christy shouldn’t be surprised that its result got attention.
Jorge Bonilla rushed to defend Trump in a June 17 post:
On a busy news day, ABC and NBC made sure to devote significant A-block time in their national evening newscasts to one of the major pressing stories of the day. Of course, we’re talking about the algae bloom at the newly redone Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
[…]There was no framing the Reflecting Pool with the other projects- just Ryan Nobles on site yukking it up with tourists and locals. We haven’t seen this much detail into a report on algae blooms since Florida beaches were hit with Red Tide a few years back. Then, as now, nature is merely a vehicle towards framing a Republican administration as incompetent.
Both of these items ran on A-block, before the first run of commercials. And you may ask yourselves: what did these newscasts not report in order to make time for algae? Excellent question.
Why doesn’t Bonilla want Trump to be held accountable for this? He doesn’t explain.
Nicholas Spinnato similarly groused:
On Wednesday, the crew at MS NOW’s Morning Joe continued to react to the possible end of the Iran War in a segment that was began as an attack on the renovations to the reflecting pool on the National Mall.
At the lead of the 7 AM, with a zoom in of the National Mall Reflecting Pool to the tune of “Green River,” co-host Mika Brzezinski remarked about the “algae-filled reflecting pool,” and Scarborough joked the “green algae adds a nice little contrast to it.”
Brzezinski called the situation a “little bit of a metaphor,” before co-host Joe Scarborough turned to call the pool a “great habitat for insects of all kinds.
[…]It should be noted bugs have been an issue at the pool for many years, as according to this 2022 report on midges. Also, the use of hydrogen peroxide, a new cry from those against pool changes, has occurred before the second Trump term, including under Biden in 2022.
Bonilla returned to whine in a June 19 post:
Algae at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has once again captured the imagination of the Elitist Media Evening News, with accompanying significant coverage. In the process, other more pressing stories get boxed out of coverage.
[…]It’s clear that this story is driven by Trump Derangement, and the sweet dopamine crack hits that the Elitist Media get from pointing at a Trump initiative gone sieways and going “ha-ha.” Why else is Jon Karl traipsing around the reflecting pool? Or Ryan Nobles, for that matter? For their next performance, are they going to don waders and go into the Reflecting Pool?
Yes, Bonilla devoted two posts to complaining that the media covered Trump’s Reflecting Pool woes rather than more right-wing-friendly news. You can bet that Bonilla would have a much different view had this renovation work gone so bad so fast under a Democratic president.
Christy returned to whine about more lack of right-wing coverage, complaining that non-right-wing networks had yet to report that “the alleged ringleader of the foiled terrorist attack on the UFC fight at the White House the previous Sunday is an illegal immigrant. … By contrast, the networks have continued to obsess over the latest setbacks in President Trump’s efforts to renovate the reflecting pool on the National Mall by spending 13 minutes and 18 seconds on the subject.” Christy added; “Ultimately, the nation’s immigration policies are more important than any misadventures surrounding the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial. A threat to the president’s life is more important than trolling him over his exterior decorating.”
Bill D’Agostino contributed his own whining in a June 23 post:
Thanks to the 24-hour news cycle, a nonsensical or unimportant story need only capture the attention of a few journalists in order for it to receive an absurdly disproportionate amount of coverage. Such is the case with the algae-riddled Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool on TV news, which over the past week, has gobbled up nearly seven hours of airtime on liberal cable (CNN and MS NOW) and broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC).
MRC analysts looked at all reflecting pool coverage on major left-wing cable and broadcast networks between June 14 and June 22, 2026. In just that nine-day period, the story received 411 minutes and 38 seconds of coverage, or an average of over 45 minutes per day.
For whatever reason, CNN was uniquely obsessed with the condition of the reflecting pool, racking up a whopping 215 minutes and 37 seconds of coverage in under ten days. In just the past week, CNN dedicated 207 minutes and 45 seconds solely to the reflecting pool — approximately 30 minutes per day.
As usual, D’Agostino omitted Fox News from his network count — and refused to admit that Trump himself made a big show about of redoing the Reflecting Pool and that he would noty think that such coverage was “absurdly disproportionat” if Trump was a Democat.