Dirty Pool
In a lot of ways, the Reflecting Pool story is a reflection of everything Trump. The pattern goes something like this. Step one, make a bold promise to fix something not too many people actually see as a pressing problem. Step two, hire unqualified associates from the wrong end of the gene pool to fix the problem. Step three, fail to fix the problem. Step four, make the problem worse. Step five, blame your enemies for the problem you created. Step six, deploy your corrupted prosecutors to bring laughable charges against these imaginary criminals. Step eight, blame those Trumped-up, fabricated charges being dropped on the prosecutors who couldn’t make your lies stick, and continue to blame the imaginary criminals. Bonus step: sit back as the media and the country obsess over your reflection in the reflecting pool, which ultimately distracts from much bigger and more dangerous failures. NYT (Gift Article): How the Reflecting Pool Came to Mirror Trump’s Washington. “Many of the details of the saga are reported in this article for the first time [and show] the second Trump administration’s willingness to skirt laws, expend millions of dollars, ignore facts and punish truth tellers in service of the president’s demands to put his mark on the capital.” This is an everyone (and everything) in the pool story, from hiring guys who run Trump’s hospitality businesses to being stung by tariffs that made the products needed for the fix unavailable. Is it any wonder that in an age defined by malignant narcissism that a pool designed to reflect the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument ended up reflecting Trumpism?
+ Politico: Trump says voters are mad at other Republicans, not him, as midterms approach.
+ That’s all I’ve got for today’s lead. I’m still spent from yesterday’s coverage of America’s munition shortfall. Hegseth Blows His Load. “Hegseth whipped out the nation’s most powerful conventional weapons and sprayed ammo all over the Middle East. He and his boss announced climactic victory multiple times. But it turned out this was a case of premature obliteration.” (Yes, this story is a much more serious version of the one above. And yes, we probably would be better off if Trump had appointed his pool guy as defense secretary.)
