When asked what his takeaways from the Iran war were, Trump said he believed there were no limits to his power. But the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool tells a different story. The president has spent $14.2m trying to clean the 'filthy' pool, only to see algae return within days. This mirrors his approach to Iran: ignoring inconvenient facts and declaring victory prematurely.
DC’s ‘renovated’ pool reflects the Trump administration’s dangerous hubris
It’s been a busy week for the US’s birthday boy. First, there was the cage fight on the White House lawn, in honour of the United States’ 250th anniversary and Donald Trump’s 80th. Then, after watching sweaty men fight, the president flew to France to try to sort out the mess he’d helped create in the Middle East. I regret to inform you that despite Trump signing what Jimmy Kimmel called 'the retreaty of Versailles', it does not really look like the Iran war has been sorted out. Still, the president seems happy with himself. After Axios asked what his takeaways from the Iran war were, Trump said he believes there are 'no limits' to his power.
The Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool would beg to differ. In between the cage fights and a catastrophic war, Trump has been waging a very expensive battle with the algae in the famous monument, which was the scene of Martin Luther King’s 'I Have a Dream' speech. The president has spent $14.2m trying to make the 'filthy' and 'dirty' pool into the resort-like water feature of his own dreams. Alas, he has proved quite powerless against the algae blooms.
To be fair to Trump, algae is an aggressive adversary. Ever since the Washington landmark was built in 1922, the 2,000ft reflecting pool has been plagued with leaks and algae blooms that turn the water green. There have been various attempts to fix these issues, including a $34m renovation of the monument in 2012, during the Obama administration, but the problems keep coming back. Enter Trump, a walking case study in the Dunning-Kruger effect, who vowed to fix the problem once and for all. During an event in April, Trump explained that he’d 'probably built more than 100 swimming pools' and had 'a guy who’s unbelievable at doing swimming pools'. The reflecting pool is not actually a swimming pool but forget about that little detail. According to Trump, he’d do what no other president had been capable of doing and clean up the whole thing in 'two weeks'. He reiterated this 'two week' timeline at events on 7 May and 11 May.
About eight weeks later, a firm employed via a dubious no-bid contract has painted the bottom of the pool 'American-flag blue' and turned on some nanobubblers. The renovation is over and Trump has declared victory in the Trumpiest way possible. 'The advanced nanobubbler technology very effectively killed the algae … ,' the interior department press team wrote on X. 'The Reflecting Pool water is crystal clear, and our National Park Service team is now vacuuming up the dead algae resting on the bottom of some parts of the Reflecting Pool – just like the destroyed Iranian Navy resting on the bottom of the Persian Gulf.'
Whether it’s Iran or a reflecting pool, Trump seems to think you can just ignore all the inconvenient facts on the ground and unilaterally declare victory. Alas, the world doesn’t actually work like that. Iran is now arguably stronger than it was before Trump waged war, and the reflecting pool does not look much better than before the president started his renovations. Indeed, the pool is green again, and peeling paint has been seen floating in the water. The algae appear to be very much undefeated. According to the Washington Post: 'Within days of the renovation’s completion, the Reflecting Pool had more algae in it than at any recorded point in the month of June for at least five years.' Trump has effectively spent a lot of money creating a giant swamp in DC.
It’s all just a little bit too on-the-nose, isn’t it? There are obviously more important things going on than the president’s ill-fated attempts to clean up the reflecting pool but the entire endeavor is a perfect reflection of the Trump administration’s dangerous hubris.
Giorgia Meloni says Trump ‘totally invented’ story that she begged him for photo
'She wanted a picture with me so badly,' Trump told the media after chatting to Italy’s prime minister at a G7 summit. 'I wouldn’t have taken it, but I felt sorry for her.' Meloni, who was once a big Trump fan, is fuming about these remarks, and the Italian foreign minister announced he was cancelling a planned visit to the US next week.
Japanese mayor takes maternity leave – and starts a debate
'I didn’t expect it to be so controversial,' Shoko Kawata, Japan’s youngest female mayor, told the Guardian after her decision to take maternity leave in May caused a national brouhaha. 'If more women are involved in leadership and decision-making,' she said, 'we will be able to implement more social systems to support balancing a career with family life.'
HPV vaccines massively cut the risk of dying from cervical cancer
A new study funded by Cancer Research UK estimates that a girl who gets the HPV jab when she’s 12 or 13 has an almost-zero chance of dying of cervical cancer before the age of 30.
Nearly 160 people sick with flu at military base after Pete Hegseth ends mandatory vaccines
In April, the defense secretary announced he’d end mandatory flu vaccination because of the importance of bodily autonomy. 'Your body, your faith and your convictions are not negotiable,' the defense secretary said. Unless you’re a woman, I guess: Hegseth’s self-identified Christian nationalist pastor Doug Wilson has opposed a woman’s right to vote and said: 'Women are the kind of people that people come out of.'
Shania Twain is afraid of using the F-word
'I don’t see myself as a feminist,' she told the Times in a recent interview. 'I see myself as a very independent thinker and not necessarily because I’m a woman.' A few days later, she wrote to the Times to say 'feminist' is 'a tricky word for me' but she aligns with 'the values and morals' of feminism. This is not the first time the Canadian singer has walked back an awkward comment. Back in 2018, she apologized for telling the Guardian she would have voted for Trump if she could have.
Medication abortion restored in Missouri
This comes after a long legal battle.
‘The British state has redefined civil disobedience as terrorism’
Last week, four Palestine Action activists who smashed military equipment at an Israeli arms manufacturer’s UK factory were sentenced as terrorists. This is a chilling ruling that opens up the path for direct-action protest targeting property to be classified as terrorism. Writing in the Key, Geoffrey Robertson, a renowned lawyer and founding head of Doughty Street Chambers, proclaims that the 'British state has redefined civil disobedience as terrorism – lengthening sentences, stripping prison privileges, and marking dissenters for life – as a result of a finding made in secret by a judge'.
The week in pawtriarchy
Romeow, Romeow, wherefore art thou, Romeow? A cat in Turkey decided to find out for itself by wandering onstage during the final scene of a Romeo and Juliet purr-formance by the Imperial Russian Ballet Company. It sat down next to a 'dead' Romeo and sniffed his head for a bit before getting distracted by Juliet’s dress. Onlookers were highly amewsed.
