I have to admit that I am throughly enjoying the debacle over the Lincoln Pool. It shows the utter incompetence and grift of the Trump administration and how his grandiose schemes fall apart. I can enjoy this one because unlike his other debacles, this one has not cost lives nor injuries nor harm to ordinary people. True, it is a waste of taxpayer money but on a much smaller scale than his other colossal wastes and (as far as we know) it has not gone into his own pockets like his other grifts, though I would not be surprised to learn that he or his family got a kickback from the contractor ,because we know that no amount of money is too small for him to try and get his greedy hands on it.

It is not just the algae in the pool turning it green that is causing problems. It appears that the blue paint is peeling off like a layer of plastic. What is best about this fiasco is that it cannot be easily covered up, like the way he had a tarp cover the removal of his name from the Kennedy Center. The pool in all its algae-infested green glory is visible to everyone. In their attempts to suppress information, they even arrested some random guy who merely tried to touch the peeling paint.

Three-time US Olympian David Hearn told CNN that police arrested him Friday after he said he touched a flap of blue material partially detached from the bottom of the pool. Hearn, who says he has a background in material science, told CNN he checked it out following a bike ride after reading reports of algae in the water and paint or sealant peeling off the bottom.

Hearn said he was curious about a partially attached blue flap he saw at the bottom of the Reflecting Pool. Upon reaching into the water, Hearn said he “sort of felt the end” and “bent it around a little bit.”

Hearn said a US National Park Service staffer instructed him not to reach into the water. After Hearn returned to his bike, he said was soon encountered by National Guard members and eventually arrested by the US Park Police. He said he was charged with destruction and defacing government property and disobeying a government employee.

The Olympic canoeist denied vandalizing the Reflecting Pool and said his actions were that of a “curious citizen.”

“There’s nothing about the Reflecting Pool that was in any different condition after I left there than it had before I went by there yesterday. I didn’t remove anything. I didn’t break, tear, peel, or rip, or destroy anything,” Hearn said Saturday.

Typical hyper-aggressive behavior by Trump’s thugs.

But this reporter was able to touch and even bend back the layer as can be seen in this video.

Apparently what was used to coat the pool was a special paint formulation that is akin to rubber and is supposed to bond with the surface. But bonding is a delicate process requiring careful preparation of the substrate. That needs to be done carefully especially over such a large surface as the pool. But like all Trump projects, this was rushed and given to a company that he knows without any competitive bidding or oversight and they seem to have botched it big time.

Although I am no pool expert, there seems to be no alternative but to drain the pool, remove the old paint, and start over. Of course that will never get done in time for the July 4th celebrations. So like Trump’s big planned concert that got canceled because the scheduled acts pulled out, this one is also going to be a mess. Instead of a big concert and a blue pool, we are going to have a Trump rally and a pool that looks like a sewer. The only other thing that could go wrong is if the fireworks display sets fire to the National Mall.