The Reflecting Pool roosters came home to rest after Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., opted to drop charges against an alleged vandal who helped turn the pool’s water from blue to green. President Trump, who was the one who originally chalked up Reflecting Pool problems to vandals, is furious over Pirro’s action, which in effect lays blame for the pool’s problems on the contractors who rebuilt it.
According to Pirro’s filing, the court concluded that the bottom of the Reflecting Pool had “[a]lmost immediately” begun peeling after the work was completed, because of “overspraying and a failure of the coatings to bond.” As a result of the filing, Olympian David “Davey” Hearn, the alleged vandal, will go free.
Trump on Truth Social continued to push the vandalism narrative:
“I disagree 100% with Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, on the Reflecting Pool. I don’t know what she was thinking? To me, it was a pure case of VANDALISM, that included the grass, which had a big 86 47 emblazoned in giant letters on it, and other elements of the surrounding area.”
Trump’s pool politics reflect a recurring presidential pattern when confronted with events and situations that reflect poorly on him. I call this Trump’s “Art of the Lie,” which consists of denial and deflection.
Another example came this week when a cyberattack was carried out on water facilities in seven states, allegedly by Iran or Iranian surrogates. Trump chose to ignore the big picture that the attack hit seven states and instead focused just on one Democrat-run state, telling reporters: “I think Minnesota is behind it. I don’t think there was an Iranian cyberattack.”
In other words, Iran could never do such a thing under my watch!
Friday as well, Trump stood up for Russia and China after Secretary of Defense/War Pete Hegseth claimed they were aiding Iran in the war with the U.S. According to Trump:
“President Xi, at our recent meeting in Beijing, China, told me that he would not, under any circumstances, give or sell Weapons to the Islamic Republic of Iran — And that statement included Chinese Companies. Considering our relationship, I take him at his word and, besides, l am doing him very big favors, also. Likewise, President Putin … told me that he would not sell Weapons to Iran.”
L’affaire Epstein provides even more numerous examples, as does just about every crisis or controversy arising under Trump’s watch.
The typical response: First, deny it ever happened, or that the Trump administration had anything to do with it. Then, deflect the blame elsewhere. The usual deflection target is the Fake News, but sometimes it gets personal as well.
The Art of the Lie.
