Trump's $14M Reflecting Pool Paint Job Is Now Peeling Off In Chunks

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Yahoo! News/Huff Post

Updated Thu, June 18, 2026 at 3:29 PM EDT


President Donald Trump positioned himself as a swimming pool expert, having put in "more than 100" over his career as he touted the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool renovations he ordered this year.

But after spending $14 million, the reflecting pool now looks arguably worse than it did before.

Aside from the green hue of the water, the product of what is reportedly one of the largest algae blooms in recent years, the "industrial-grade swimming pool topping" that Trump chose is already peeling off in sheets.

Visitors took notice of the floating material on Thursday. A man who gave his name as Sean told HuffPost that he had experience working on swimming pool coatings in the past, and did not seem surprised to see the peeling. "This is an epoxy," he said of the coating. "This is something you would do on a concrete — on a shot concrete sort of pool where you have leaking.

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/trumps-14m-reflecting-pool-paint-192905392.html

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TheRealThelmaJohnson
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The 14 million dollar paint job is peeling after algae treatment. If the Reflecting Pool isn't a metaphor for Trump's presidency I don't know what is.
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Last edited
10:45 AM · Jun 18, 2026

[underpants]

1. As noted here, That's what you get when you hire those two guys in the beat-up pickup

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=21314115

[reACTIONary]

2. Who woulda thought?

I'm guessing we all had this as a possibility in the back of our mind.

[marble falls]

5. When there are structural faults that contribute to the look, paint is not the answer. It's like an ...

... Earl Schreib "I'll paint any car for $29.99" job over Bondo and steelwool to make a quick sale.

[lavoosh99]

24. It Was Well Known Around Chicago

that Scheib would paint over bird shit, tree sap, tar, and anything else that was not cleaned before painting.

[PatSeg]

12. Well, we all know his track record as a builder.

He's known for these kinds of debacles. As always, he won't apologize or take responsibility, but it is likely he will find others to blame.

All his great successes exist only in his mind.

[Bengus81]

3. Trump just grifted the entire $14M. Those clowns will never get a cent

Such a shock...........

[marble falls]

4. A great metaphor for this administration,

[mopinko]

6. they were in such a hurry to fill it up, too.

i was already pretty skeptical of painting granite in a climate w a regular freeze/thaw cycle.
but then they rushed to fill it up and i knew they were making a mistake. u have to let epoxy cure. even a week w some hot sun wd have made a difference.
then u pour harsh chemicals rt in there…

a metaphor, fersher.

[twodogsbarking]

7. That's about the length of six football fields lined up, including end zones. The surface area is immense and it

is shallow so there is no buffer to the sunshine plus the magnification from the water surface. Does it boil, stink, unmanageable, weird color? Sounds like Trump algae to me. It is very costly to eliminate if it can even be eliminated.

[EarthFirst]

8. Perfect.

That’ll be fabulous for the Big Beautiful Backyard Barbecue or whatever he’s calling his disaster scheduled to commence a week from today

[LetMyPeopleVote]

9. This made me smile

Link to tweet

[Laffy Kat]

10. That's what you get for giving your buddy the job.

A no-bid contract for You-Know-Who's "pool guy." Everything the prez. touches turns to shit.

[eppur_se_muova]

11. When the contractor knows Trmp habitually stiffs contractors, he's not gonna try that hard to do a good job. nt

[twodogsbarking]

13. A reflection of his Presidency

[paleotn]

14. Let us repeat for the 400th freaking time!!!

THIS IS NOT A POOL!! DON'T CALL A POOL GUY TO FIX A PROBLEM THAT DOESN'T EXIST AND WHO'S NEVER DONE ANYTHING EVEN REMOTELY THIS SIZE!! The stupid is monumental! What's next? The damn thing bursts into flames?!

[Beartracks]

15. Heckuva job, Donnie!

[Beartracks]

16. The only thing "industrial-grade" about the whole affair was the bullshit. n/t

[Aussie105]

17. Pool maintenance 101:

Hit it with chlorine, about 1 ton in this pool.

Then filtration.
If the current system isn't up to it, some industrial sized pumps and filters parked next to the pool.
Let the filtering run for weeks.

Once the water is not green but clear, look at the paint job.
If that is flaking off . . . back to square one, drain, machine back to bare substrate, do over.

In short, money and time wasted as is.

But if you hire contractors whose only qualification is that they voted for Trump, you get this.

[JHB]

18. Every one of his cotractors should, once he's out, be considered part of his criminal empire and subject to RICO

Bet that this entire project was just a kickback scheme.

[lonely bird]

19. Um, the odds are very good that it is not an epoxy

A quick look at the Atlantic Industrial Coatings website leads me to think they used polyurea. I know the manufacturer they mention on the website.

Polyureas whether pure or hybrid are usually fast setting and quick return to service unless they are built for different applications. Like any coating/lining system the correct resin must be selected and the correct surface preparation must be done. The application of polyureas are generally but not always done using heated, plural component spray equipment because they have no pot life. The mixing of the A and B occurs at the gun. If the material is off ratio then failure will occur.

Btw, epoxies are used in regular swimming pools and in constant Immersion in various cargos. It depends on the chemicals to determine which type of epoxy is used.

[IronLionZion]

20. MAGA levels of greatness means some douchebag pocketed that $14 million as grift

[Buddyzbuddy]

21. The point was not to actually improve it but to

use it as a means of stealing tax payer money.

That is the motivating factor in everything he ever does. "How can I get over". That was his father's legacy to him and his legacy to his kids. MAGAS are the ones born every day. (sucker).

[SergeStorms]

22. Does Trump have to return....

the $10 million kickback he got from his buddies who painted it?
I'm guessing not.

[Bayard]

23. How much now to fix the problem he caused?

Another trump blunder-- kind of like the Iran War.