U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that he plans to cover the Lincoln Memorial‘s reflecting pool in “American flag blue,” marking the latest addition to his efforts to revamp several government buildings and monuments.
Trump, in a video shared on Truth Social on Thursday, called the more than 100-year-old monument, which he noted was the site of Martin Luther King Jr.’s iconic 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech, “filthy dirty” and said it “leaked like a sieve.”
The 2,000-foot-long structure is currently empty as it undergoes cleaning for the America 250 celebrations.
Trump said the monument wasn’t working and hadn’t been for many years, adding that he had visited the site with members of the Secret Service to assess its condition and, based on what he saw, was not in an acceptable state.
“Right now, it’s got no water in it because it was in terrible shape,” Trump said in the video.
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The president revealed that there were plans to remove the granite lining of the pool and replace it with stone elements, but that the project would have taken three years and cost US$300 million.
Instead, Trump said he is speaking with private contractors, whom he had hired in the past to build swimming pools, to clean the stone, and add a topping that would make the surface “American flag blue.”
Much of the work has already been done, according to the president, who said, “We scrubbed the surface of the existing granite that’s been there since 1922. We then grouted all of the granite, fixed it up.”
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“It took about two weeks, and now we have a nice, clean surface on which we’re putting an industrial-grade swimming pool topping,” he continued.
The renovation project is expected to cost up to $2 million, and he said and will be finished in “two weeks” rather than three years.
Trump has said he would refinish the pool before. In a March Truth Social post, he said he and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum were “working on fixing the absolutely filthy Reflecting Pool between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument.”
“This work was supposed to be done by the Biden Administration, but Sleepy Joe doesn’t know what ‘CLEAN’ or proper maintenance is — The President and Secretary do,” he added.
The memorial’s last major renovation was in 2012 and cost $34 million over two years, according to NBC News.
The restoration of the Lincoln Memorial follows the preliminary approval of plans to construct a 250-foot-tall “Triumphal Arch,” the revamping of the Kennedy Center, which will close after July 4, and the demolition of the White House East Wing to build a ballroom with an underground bunker, though the latter faces extensive legal and public pushback.
He just wants his name on everything.
Whats wrong with American Flag BLUE??
If the left had it there way they would probably want it Pink.
And to the comment below.
If President Trump was a ” King” nobody would be allowed to protest.
I look forward to the crowe being eatin by the left
Keep in truck’in Mr. President.
If Harris had won, the boarder would be wide open still with millions of more ILLEGAL ALLIENS pouring through. Title 9 would be destroyed, along with Womens Sports.
One should expect at least 10 years out of a 34 million dollar renovation to a large wading pool. – I would have the contractor on that job do warranty work for that price. Also not change the colour on a toddler’s whim. – I await the legal battle over his latest demand as ‘king of the USA”
I also question what war the US is going to be Triumphant about. All the other arches celebrate a victory. Sort of embarrassing…