Trump melts down after New York Times exposes his corruption
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/5/12/800037573/whitehouse/trump-melts-down-after-new-york-times-exposes-his-corruption/
Trump melts down after New York Times exposes his corruption
President Donald Trump had another online meltdown at six in the morning on Tuesday. This time it was posting a lengthy diatribe complaining about a New York Times report that exposed millions in unaccountable spending by his administration on controversial renovations to the reflecting pool at the Lincoln Memorial.
Trump started his rant by lying once again that he had won the 2024 election in a “landslide,” when in fact he won the popular vote by a miniscule 1.5% while Biden won it by over 5% in 2020.
He then complained that the Times “are now trying to justify Obama and Biden’s expensively botched attempt at fixing the long broken, unsightly, and unsanitary Reflecting Pool that NOW sits majestically between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.”
Trump claimed that his ongoing renovations to the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool are occurring at a “tiny” fraction of the cost of previous projects and that “we could construct a far superior Reflecting Pool for 5 or 6 Million Dollars.”
The trigger for Trump’s whining is a New York Times report published on Monday revealing several details about the Trump-initiated project.
The Times noted that Trump initially claimed the project would cost $1.8 million but that a review of federal records from the Interior Department shows that taxpayers are now on the hook for $13.1 million for the project—627% higher than what Trump said.
Related | Another DC landmark falls victim to Trump’s tacky trickery
The contract was awarded without a bidding process to Atlantic Industrial Coatings, who Trump said he picked because they worked on swimming pools for his Virginia golf course. According to the filing, the company is set to make a 20% profit margin financed by taxpayers. Traditionally, an open bidding process would ensure that the government gets a fairer price for projects like this—but that was circumvented by Trump.
Trump also fumed in his post about one of the writers on the piece, David Fahrenthold. Trump has a longstanding dislike for the writer, who previously worked at the Washington Post. In 2016, it was Fahrenthold who uncovered the fact that Trump commissioned a painting of himself with $20,000 that was supposed to be going toward “charity” efforts.
In addition to the Times expose of his administration’s activities, Trump is also now being sued over the project.
On Monday, the Cultural Landscape Foundation sued the administration, alleging that the project is in violation of federal law. The group said in a release that the change to the color of the pool, from grey to blue, is “a key character-defining feature of the site, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, should be subject to reviews pursuant to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 and other laws.”
Charles A. Birnbaum, president and CEO of the foundation, was blunt in his assessment of Trump’s proposed color change: “A blue-tinted basin is more appropriate to a resort or theme park.”
Trump has a long and detailed history of presiding over scams, bribery, and other deceptive practices and actions. It’s one thing when these shady behaviors involve his companies or other private enterprises, but now his actions are affecting a treasured American landmark in the capital city of the United States.
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