Why I Joined Team Algae

Never in my life have I rooted so hard for algae. In fact, I’ve never rooted for algae at all. Yet the sight of those tiny green organisms floating in the Reflecting Pool, absorbing sunlight, multiplying their little hearts out and living their best (presumably very short) lives, fills me with joy.Among the Trump administration’s many debacles, the greening of the Reflecting Pool is uniquely delightful. Every other Donald Trump farce contains elements of tragedy. Whatever schadenfreude we might otherwise feel from the president’s haphazard “Liberation Day” tariffs or cycle of threat and submission toward Iran is leavened with concern or even horror for the collateral damage. We feel bad for our country, however tremendous the content may be.The Reflecting Pool episode captures most of Trump’s governing pathologies (corruption, incompetence, authoritarian menace, absurd lies) without any of the normal attendant consequences. It is pure, meaningless fun.Meaningless to everybody, that is, except Trump.[Read: Science has a name for what’s plaguing the Reflecting Pool]Starting in April, the president began to boast, over and over, about his renovations. The new pool would be “beautiful,” “incredible.” The president had the foresight to line the bottom with a sealant that would last at least 50 years, perhaps 100. He showed reporters a chart depicting the pool dwarfing skyscrapers in size (if you laid the skyscrapers on their side, which obviates their most impressive attribute). This was a strange subject to obsess about in the midst of a war, yet the president’s enthusiasm for the topic seemed contagious. MAGA accounts on social media gloried in the incredible triumph of turning the pool blue.But soon green algae appeared on the water. Workers were dispatched to pour bottles of hydrogen peroxide into the basin. The impermeable sealant began peeling off, possibly because of substandard quality, or perhaps because hydrogen peroxide is used as a paint stripper.Reporters di