WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is having the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool coated in a swimming pool surface hued in “American flag blue,” covering up a decades-old granite surface that he said was “leaking like a sieve” and would take years to replace.
The president announced the renovation at an Oval Office event Thursday, saying the coating had already begun. He was inspired to tackle the project after a friend visited from Germany and lamented that the water was filthy and looked disgusting, Trump said.
“And I went over there with Secret Service in tow, and I said, isn’t that a shame? That’s terrible,” Trump said, showing reporters a photo of the site as it undergoes work.
The project is one more makeover refashioning the nation’s capital to Trump’s liking, following others such as the demolition of the White House’s East Wing to make room for a new ballroom.
Lined with stately elm trees between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, the reflecting pool is one of the most iconic sites in the capital. It’s where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963.
In Trump’s telling, the reflection pool project is a case study in business acumen. The president said he scrapped plans to have the granite replaced, which he said was estimated to cost $301 million and would take at least three years.
Instead, Trump said he called a few pool contractors he knows from past real estate projects — “I have a guy who’s unbelievable at doing swimming pools up the road,” Trump said.
The president went with a plan to clean the granite and lay down a new “industrial grade pool” surface for $1.5 million, he said. All told, it would take a few weeks. Trump noted it would be ready well before July 4, when the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of its independence.
Trump brought up the project unprompted and spoke about it for several minutes at a White House event on efforts to reduce drug prices. He said he initially wanted a turquoise-colored surface “like in the Bahamas” but was sold when a contractor suggested “American flag blue.”
“You’re going to end up with a beautiful, beautiful reflecting pool,” Trump said, “the way it’s supposed to be, much better than it ever was.”
