President Trump Shuts Down Critics With Photos Of Reflecting Pool Being Brought ‘Back To Life’

Although he has continually pursued efforts to beautify and upgrade the White House and DC in general while in office, President Donald Trump’s critics are always waiting to disparage such renovation projects just because he’s associated with them.

One prime example involves the iconic Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial, which had fallen into disrepair before the Trump administration’s recent efforts.

Trump took to social media amid backlash from the left, providing evidence of the upgrade.

As The Hill reported:

“Finally, we have professionals doing the right job for a tiny fraction of the money that has been spent, and The Failing New York Times continues to demean the work of these wonderful, talented, and proud construction professionals that are bringing this over 2,000 foot long pool, the largest in the World, BACK TO LIFE!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. 

The president included screenshots of social media posts in which Interior Secretary Doug Burgum accused the news outlet of “ignoring the facts” in its coverage of this renovation project. 

Trump has previously lashed out at the Times for covering the increase in the project’s estimated cost and length. He originally told reporters that the overall budget for the updates was $1.8 million, but that price later hiked up to $13.1 million, the Times reported. 

Excitement among Trump supporters has been building on social media as updates emerge on the project:

🚨 NOW: President Trump shows off a sample of what the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool will look like once it’s finished

How the HELL can liberals be mad about this??!

This will be BY FAR AND AWAY the best the reflecting pool has EVER looked.

TRUMP: “Sample test of the… pic.twitter.com/DNZfwX3iJi

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) May 16, 2026

Here’s the full text of the post above:

NOW: President Trump shows off a sample of what the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool will look like once it’s finished

How the HELL can liberals be mad about this??!

This will be BY FAR AND AWAY the best the reflecting pool has EVER looked.

TRUMP: “Sample test of the Reflecting Pool with the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument in the background – at each end of the Pool – which is, by the way, the World’s longest. Looking really good!

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Should be completed before the Fourth of July, our target date. Have substantially upgraded construction materials, including surface qualities, sandblasting granite, and exterior stone and walkways.

I’ve made this a much larger job than originally contemplated for purposes of Beauty, and a much longer life.

Also, went to a higher quality sealer with more reflectivity. Check it out before the Opening — It’s a very exciting project!

President DONALD J. TRUMP”

He is restoring it to it's original glory so we can feel proud of our country's landmarks. Here is how it looked in 1925. pic.twitter.com/zu4IFr0KRg

— ThinkTraumaKits.Com (@ThinkTraumaKits) May 28, 2026

The president also thoroughly briefed his Cabinet on the ongoing project during a recent meeting, as reported by the Associated Press:

He offered new details of his construction plans, suggesting for the first time that they’d extend to the fountain at the World War II Memorial.

The president also said that, under his watch, construction crews were working to improve 28 fountains, then bragged about a push to renovate the “reflecting lake” or “reflecting pond” — actually the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool — which he said had been steam-cleaned, fumigated and coated with “American flag blue” paint.

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“Over the years, I built hundreds of pools,” Trump said, recalling his days as a construction mogul in 1970s and ’80s New York. “I always like to build Olympic-sized swimming pools.”

The president noted that, as part of the revamp, cleaning crews had removed “more than 10 dumpsters of garbage.”

“Every corner had massive amounts,” he said, before offering, “I guess that’s the way the tide goes” — even though no tide flows into the pool. 

Trump said the idea was to complete the project by Independence Day and it was mostly on track, except that recent rains in Washington had presented delays.

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( @realDonaldTrump – Truth Social Post )
( Donald J. Trump – May 29 2026, 8:29 PM ET )

The Failing New York Times is doing everything possible to criticize the magnificent restoration of the Reflecting Pool, located between two of America’s most important Landmarks, The Lincoln… pic.twitter.com/36yWy6UGI7

— Fan Donald J. Trump 🇺🇸 TRUTH POSTS (@TruthTrumpPosts) May 30, 2026

Here’s Trump’s full post on the topic, along with screenshots showing the progress being made:

The Failing New York Times is doing everything possible to criticize the magnificent restoration of the Reflecting Pool, located between two of America’s most important Landmarks, The Lincoln Memorial, and The Washington Monument. Hundreds of Millions of Dollars have been spent throughout the years trying to fix it, and even from its inception, in 1922, it never really worked! Finally, we have professionals doing the right job for a tiny fraction of the money that has been spent, and The Failing New York Times continues to demean the work of these wonderful, talented, and proud construction professionals that are bringing this over 2,000 foot long pool, the largest in the World, BACK TO LIFE! It is happening before your very eyes, and will soon be completed at a much higher level, and after doing much more work than was originally anticipated. 

As an example, in addition to doing the interior Pool, we are restoring the walkway surfaces on each side, fixing the water system, drainage, and so much more — The scope of the Project has been greatly enlarged as we became involved because we realized how important it would be to Washington, D.C., and the record number of visitors coming to our now very safe Capital for all of the upcoming events in celebration of our 250th Anniversary. It is one of the most visited and photographed Pools in the World and, when we took it over, it was a disgusting, garbage strewn dump that leaked, smelled, and was an embarrassment to our Country, and two of our Greatest Presidents. 45,000 Gallons a Day of water was pouring out of its broken seams, so that water would have to run continuously just to keep it at the same level. All of that will soon be fixed for a small fraction of the Hundreds of Millions of Dollars that the Obama and Biden Administrations haplessly wasted, only to have a Pool that was in worse shape after they finished the job.

But that doesn’t stop The Times from continuing its quest to hurt the reputation of those involved. The New York Times, which is doing poorly, should spend more of its energy on fixing its broken “shop,” and celebrating America’s Greatness. Attached are statements made by Secretary of the Interior, Doug Burgum, and others, talking about the true FACTS, and how Great and Beautiful a Project this will soon be as it opens prior to our wonderful 250th Fourth of July Celebration! President DONALD J. TRUMP

Here’s a clip of the president’s recent Cabinet meeting remarks: