President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he is personally overseeing a rapid renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, pledging to transform the 2,000-foot-long waterway with a striking new coating and completion before the nation's 250th birthday celebration on July 4.
Trump said the project was inspired when a visiting German friend remarked on the pool's deteriorated state. "He said, 'it's filthy, dirty. The water is disgusting looking. It's not representative of the country,'" Trump recalled at a White House event. He later posted a video on Truth Social detailing his vision for the restoration.
The pool has sat empty for an extended period, Trump explained, because it was leaking severely and in poor condition overall. Rather than undertake the original plan to remove and replace the granite, which would have cost $300 million and required more than three years, Trump said he enlisted private contractors to pursue a faster alternative.
The revised approach involved scrubbing and regrouting the existing granite, which has been in place since 1922. Trump said the work took roughly two weeks. Once the surface was restored, contractors would apply an industrial-grade coating in what Trump described as "American flag blue."
The entire project is expected to run between $1.5 million and $2 million, far below the cost of a full replacement, and should be finished within weeks according to Trump's timeline. "In another couple of weeks, we're going to have the most beautiful reflective pool between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial that you've ever seen," he said.
Trump had signaled his intention to repair the pool in a Truth Social post last month, writing that he and Interior Secretary Doug Burgess were collaborating on fixing what he called the "absolutely filthy" landmark. The pool, historically significant as the site of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech, last underwent major renovation in 2012 through a $34 million initiative that took nearly two years.
The reflecting pool project is one of several construction initiatives Trump has launched across Washington. He is also advancing plans for a $400 million ballroom and military bunker addition to the White House's East Wing, along with a substantial Kennedy Center renovation.
Author Sarah Mitchell: "Trump's speed-to-execution on the pool is politically savvy, but whether an industrial coating can match the permanence of the 1922 granite remains to be seen."
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