The left's Reflecting Pool obsession is absurd | Opinion

Democrats and the mainstream media have a few things in common, but chief among them is that they love to see a Trump administration fiasco coming.

Despite compelling issues like the Iran ceasefire or rampant taxpayer-subsidized fraud in many states, President Donald Trump's attempt to revive the faltering Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool – at a cost of almost $15 million so far – has become the left's newest obsession.

ABC News' Jonathan Karl stood breathlessly by the Reflecting Pool reporting on the peeling paint job. "The Reflecting Pool Appears to Be Rejecting Its Makeover," read a  June 19 headline in The New York Times. The New York Post reported on a duckling found dead following the renovations.

I guess we can all just call Trump "Baby Duck Killer" now ‒ for shame.

Democratic politicians have dipped in the water, too. Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut told NBC News that American taxpayers should feel "absolutely cheated" by the millions spent trying to repair the Reflecting Pool, calling the renovation a "bottomless pit of expense and failure." Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon has demanded answers for the "embarrassing waste of resources."

Why is everyone obsessed with the Reflecting Pool?

I, too, want answers. If Elon Musk can send a rocket into space and parallel park it on Earth with a pair of mechanical arms, surely there's a brilliant American who can ensure that the Reflecting Pool holds clear water for more than five minutes. But if not, perhaps we should ditch the pool, start over and do something better, and cheaper, with our taxpayer dollars? Just an idea.

Even so, setting aside the poor execution of an admirable goal, I'm not sure Democrats' and the news media's fury should be directed at a necessary renovation.

"The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool renovation has turned into a big, expensive failure for Donald Trump," MS Now host Luke Russert said with a smirk on "The Weeknight" on June 19. "The pool is in the midst of its worst algae bloom in at least five years, according to The Washington Post, this turning the water bright green. Yucky."

Russert could hardly hide his delight, explaining that the harsh chemical used to kill the algae has caused the American flag-blue paint coating the pool to peel off "in big, ugly chunks," all while bemoaning the misuse of taxpayer dollars. I guess he forgot about the Obama administration's $34 million rehabilitation of the Reflecting Pool between 2010 and 2012, when a new circulation system was installed ‒ yet algae blooms still recurred.

In a way, I get it. Rooting for your opponent to fail goes back centuries. As the great Chinese war strategist Sun Tzu purportedly said, “If you wait by the river long enough, the bodies of your enemies will float by.”

And boy, does the left wait by the water with glee, despite far more important stories unfolding.

What about all these other stories?

I can think of a few stories that seem more important than the Reflecting Pool renovation.

Take, for example, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard's June 12 report revealing evidence of U.S. taxpayer-funded global gain-of-function research. Gabbard's report raises important questions about Dr. Anthony Fauci's role during COVID-19 and about the coronavirus's origins.

Or consider the estimated $10 billion in taxpayer funds lost through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, in 2024. According to House Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency Chairman Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tennessee, some states are refusing to hand over the data needed to crack down on that fraud.

These stories seem far more substantial, far less partisan and far more pertinent to the American people.

The focus on the Reflecting Pool is a perfect metaphor for the way the left and much of the media have handled the Trump administration. For all his failures – and he's had plenty of them – Trump governs more like a business-oriented problem solver than an average process-oriented legislator.

Sometimes this backfires, but not always. He saw crime in Washington, DC, so he ordered troops to restore order. He saw the border was chaotic and porous, so he secured it. After assassination attempts, he saw proof that there's no safe, secure permanent place from which the president can host large events, so he started building a White House ballroom.

Time and again, Trump's solutions to problems are met with criticism, mockery and disdain, and the Reflecting Pool is no exception.

The real story isn't that the Reflecting Pool turned green ‒ it's how quickly so many people ignored larger stories and Trump's previous fixes to make this the center of the national conversation.

Nicole Russell is an opinion columnist with USA TODAY. She lives in Texas with her four kids. Sign up for her newsletter, The Right Track, and get it delivered to your inbox.