Trump Turns Reflecting Pool Into a Literal Toxic Cesspool

The multimillion-dollar renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was done with highly toxic materials.

The contractor that the Trump administration hired used products by the popular truck bed coating company Rhino Linings, according to the company’s website. But a closer examination of the materials used indicates that they could cause serious harm to the local wildlife that frequent the 6.5-million gallon basin.

A barrel of “RHINO 405 A Thixotropic High Viscosity Epoxy Resin” was spotted by the pool during the restoration process. According to an OSHA data sheet, the chemical is “toxic to aquatic life with long lasting effects.” It’s also a strong irritant capable of causing allergic reactions.

It’s only been a couple of weeks since the administration finished its renovation and refilled the pool, but already visitors have noticed and documented areas of the pool lining that are peeling and sloughing off.

Several dead ducks have also been spotted in and around the pool, adding to the massive brouhaha.

Records indicate that the Trump administration spent at least $14.7 million renovating the Reflecting Pool—a project that was, apparently, all for naught. (As well as a far cry from the president’s original promise of a $1.8 million price tag.) The money was spent in an apparently futile effort to rid the premises of a relentless algal bloom. That, too, has already returned to the pool, mere weeks after the monument’s reopening.

Fixing the Reflecting Pool is a headache that’s plagued pretty much every administration since its construction in 1923, because what makes the Reflecting Pool beautiful is exactly what makes it so difficult to maintain. The pool’s expansive length is possible due to the use of multiple large concrete slabs as its bottom. But those slabs are also prone to serious, structural leaks, which require the White House to replace roughly 16 million gallons of water each year. And the pool’s shallow depth—which creates its mirror-like appearance—also detracts from the pool’s health by creating a breeding ground for algae blooms that turn the water green.

President Donald Trump raked in more than $86 million last year from suing media companies.

Trump’s annual financial disclosure revealed just how lucrative the president’s pastime of lobbing lawsuits at media companies has become. In 2025, the president made a total of $86.5 million off of settlements from his lawsuits against media companies. 

His most profitable lawsuits were his First Amendment challenges against media companies that had removed him from their platforms in the wake of the January 6 riot. Trump raked in a whopping $24.5 million as part of a settlement with Meta, $22 million off a settlement with YouTube, and $8 million from a settlement with Twitter.  

Trump also also managed to turn silencing the press into a moneymaking scheme. He made $16 million from his settlement with CBS in a lawsuit over the editing of Kamala Harris’s interview on 60 Minutes in 2024. The settlement was supposedly made to ease Paramount’s sale to Skydance Media—a deal that needed approval from the president. (Months later, CBS chopped up an interview with Trump to make him sound normal.) 

Trump made another $16 million from a settlement with ABC News over a defamation lawsuit spurred by George Stephanopoulos’s use of the phrase “liable for rape” while discussing Trump’s E. Jean Carroll case. The jury in that case found Trump liable for sexual abuse, not rape. The Supreme Court rejected Trump’s plea to review the Carroll case Monday. 

MAGA world is practically apoplectic over the Supreme Court’s birthright ruling.

Speaking with Fox News late Tuesday, deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller suggested that the nation’s highest court had decided to “suicide” the country by upholding the Fourteenth Amendment.

“Here’s a pretty good clue your constitutional interpretation is wrong: If your ruling requires you to suicide your civilization, your reading of the Constitution is wrong,” the Project 2025 adviser said, apparently attempting to school the nation’s highest judiciary on constitutional law.

“President [Ulysses S.] Grant … in the nineteenth century, did not want to create an automatic third-world citizenship requirement for America,” Miller argued. But that’s not exactly true.

Grant played a major role in the codification of the Fourteenth Amendment, fiercely advocating that the burgeoning concept of birthright citizenship should be granted to Native Americans, immigrants, and the millions of men, women, and children that had been recently freed from slavery.

Even then, the idea was controversial and fiercely debated. Opponents to birthright citizenship included former Confederate states, white former slave owners, and racist terrorist organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan.

But the idea was popular enough that Grant won the presidency in 1868, the same year that the amendment was ratified.

Nonetheless, in Miller’s worldview, the 158-year-old legislation is “an abomination.”

“But let’s thank President Trump, because of President Trump’s courage and leadership, we are now on the precipice—yes, we were dealt a setback—but because of his courage alone, we are on the precipice as a nation of being in the position of ending this travesty once and for all,” Miller said.

Trump himself downplayed the Supreme Court decision, claiming that he and his allies could avoid the lengthy constitutional amendment process and “easily make it up in Congress through Legislation,” even though doing so would run afoul of the law.

The U.S. is not unique in granting birthright citizenship: 32 countries around the world offer unconditional, automatic citizenship to people born within their territory, according to a Pew Research Center analysis. Pretty much the entire western hemisphere permits it. Another 50 countries offer something similar. Nor was the U.S. the first to conceive of birthright citizenship: The concept originated in the United Kingdom in 1608 during a debate over whether or not a child owed allegiance to the English crown.

MAGA raged at first lady Melania Trump after she posted a statement in support of the LBGTQ+ community.

Following the Supreme Court’s decision Tuesday to uphold state laws banning transgender women and girls from competing on sports teams that align with their gender, Melania shared a strange message of support for the LBGTQ+ community on X.

“‘As many of you may know, I fully support the LGBTQIA+ community. But we must also ensure that our female athletes are protected and respected.’—MELANIA, #1 NYT Bestseller, (p. 156)” the post read, quoting her own book.

“The U.S. Supreme Court has now legally confirmed this opinion: ‘Under Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, may schools maintain women’s and girls’ sports for biological females? … The answer is yes.’

“America, we can support the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community and also protect opportunities for female athletes. Respect everyone and keep girls’ sports fair,” the post read. “Both ideals are essential.”

Far-right trolls didn’t agree.

“Enough of this virtue signaling BS and bowing to the degenerate mob. Deport her,” wrote Dissident Media, an X account posting far-right content.

“MAGA is to the left of Bill Clinton,” wrote Joel Webbon, a Texas pastor and conservative commentator.

“I support the trans community getting the mental health treatment they need to recognize they are not members of the opposite sex,” wrote X user Matt van Swol.

“What is ideal about men claiming they can become women? What in that do you actually support?” asked X user Debbie, who described herself as #MAGA.

“I’m thoroughly disappointed with this post. LGTBQ+ (alphabet soup) is an Anti-God movement. Sorry to say, but I’ve lost respect,” wrote X user Lori Smith.

It seems that even after Donald Trump campaigned to strip transgender athletes of their freedoms, members of MAGA aren’t convinced that the president and his wife are far-right enough on social issues.

Senator Mitch McConnell was found unconscious before he was rushed to the hospital last month.

Punchbowl News reports that the former Senate majority leader, who is retiring after his current term ends in January, lost consciousness at his Washington, D.C., home at 8:36 a.m. on June 14, before a dispatcher sent over an Advanced Life Support ambulance. Journalist Desiree Townsend posted a recording of the call from the emergency dispatcher Tuesday afternoon to X. 

The audio has not been independently verified, and McConnell’s office has not commented on it. On that day last month, a spokesperson for the 82-year-old said that McConnell was “receiving excellent care,” but didn’t elaborate further. On June 22, his office issued a statement saying he was “working closely with staff on Senate business and Kentucky matters as he continues his recovery.” And this Tuesday, one of his staff members said that he was recovering and working with staff.  

But his office has not said anything about his condition or prognosis, nor if he is still in the hospital. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said June 15 that McConnell “is clearly dialed in to what’s going on. He’s following along with stuff we are doing this week up here. Very much so.”

Is that still the case? This is the second time McConnell has been hospitalized this year, having spent eight days in the hospital for flu-like symptoms in February. And in the past three years, McConnell’s health has severely deteriorated. 

In March 2023, McConnell fell at a dinner event at Washington’s Waldorf Astoria hotel and fractured his rib while suffering a concussion. He suffered another fall in July, and in public appearances that year, froze mid-sentence twice, dissociating for 20 to 30 seconds each time. The attending physician at the Capitol later declared that McConnell hadn’t suffered from a seizure, stroke, or movement disorder, and was likely dehydrated or experiencing the aftereffects of his concussion.

In December 2024, McConnell would fall again at a Senate Republican lunch, spraining his wrist and cutting his face. He also tripped and fell in a Senate building October 2025 while walking with an aide’s help as a reporter asked him questions.

McConnell seems determined to stay in his Senate seat until the very end, refusing to step aside early because of his health. Six more months might be too much for the former Senate leader, and his refusal to step down has drawn the ire of his Republican colleagues and critics of gerontocracy.