Trump rages at NYT over coverage of his reflecting pool project

President Donald Trump on Tuesday excoriated the New York Times over its coverage of his planned renovation of the reflecting pool on the National Mall.

Trump has sought to overhaul the reflecting pool by resurfacing it with an "American flag blue" coloring. The pool was last renovated in 2012 under President Barack Obama in a $34 million project.

In a Truth Social post, Trump defended his plans to overhaul the monument, asserting that it would cost less than the Obama-era renovations, and deriding the Times for its attempts to defend his predecessor's efforts.

"[T]hey are now trying to justify Obama and Biden’s expensively botched attempt at fixing the long broken, unsightly, and unsanitary Reflecting Pool that NOW sits majestically between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial," Trump posted. "They squandered at least 55 Million Dollars haplessly trying, with no chance of success, to get the Reflecting Pool to work. Instead, they made it worse, keeping it closed for years, and ending up with a leaking, smelling, ode to both of their failed Administrations. It was an embarrassment to Washington, D.C., and to our Country, itself."

"Now, along comes 'TRUMP,' who is asked by many patriots if I can fix it. The answer is a resounding, YES, and for a 'tiny' fraction of the cost!" he added. "I worked with our now strong Department of the Interior and explained to them that we should view this as a highly sophisticated swimming pool, not the leaking, dilapidated facade, joints and all, of a building. Instead of taking 4 years to build, at a cost, granite pavers and all, of 400 Million Dollars, we could construct a far superior Reflecting Pool for 5 or 6 Million Dollars, and could complete the project in 2 weeks rather than 4 years."

He further took aim at reporter David Fahrenhold, whom he derided for labeling his plans as a "paint job" and fumed that he did not receive any credit for saving money on the project.

Trump's renovation of the Reflecting Pool has attracted a legal challenge from the Cultural Landscape Foundation, which alleges that the project violated the National Historic Preservation Act.

Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent at Just the News. Follow him on X.