Trump Posts 6-Second AI Meme as $14 Million Lincoln Pool Repaint Turns Green Again
Updated
Updated · The Daily Beast · Jun 19
Trump Posts 6-Second AI Meme as $14 Million Lincoln Pool Repaint Turns Green Again
3 articles · Updated · The Daily Beast · Jun 19
Summary
A six-second AI video Trump posted to Truth Social showed him filling the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool with a protester’s tears as fresh aerial images highlighted the project’s renewed algae problem.
New photos showed about half the 6.5 million-gallon pool still green by Thursday, despite Trump’s promise of “American flag blue” water after a $14 million repainting.
The overhaul swelled from an initial $1.8 million estimate and ran two months instead of one week, while Park Service crews spent the past week vacuuming slime and adding hydrogen peroxide.
An Interior Department spokesperson said nanobubble technology had killed the algae and that crews were removing it, but satellite imagery cited by The Washington Post showed June algae levels at a five-year high.
The setback adds scrutiny ahead of July’s U.S. 250th birthday events in Washington and over a no-bid purification contract tied to Trump donor John J. Cafaro.