Why Washington’s reflecting pool has gone from ‘US blue’ to algae green
Key takeaways
- US President Donald Trump, who spent $14m relining the iconic pool, claims it has been vandalised by ‘radical left lunatics’.
- On Friday, US President Donald Trump said on his Truth Social platform that the site had been vandalised, suggesting damage was done by “radical left lunatics”, but that the algae that had appeared was being cleaned up.
- “We’ve had some real problems with Vandalism at the beautiful Reflecting Pool,” Trump said.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
US President Donald Trump, who spent $14m relining the iconic pool, claims it has been vandalised by ‘radical left lunatics’.
xwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogle Add Al Jazeera on Googleinfo A United States National Park Service employee works to remove algae from the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, DC, the US [File: Daniel Heuer/Reuters]By Al Jazeera Staff, Reuters and The Associated Press Published On 22 Jun 202622 Jun 2026The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, DC has turned green with algae just weeks after it underwent a major multimillion-dollar renovation to make it shine an “American flag blue” colour.
On Friday, US President Donald Trump said on his Truth Social platform that the site had been vandalised, suggesting damage was done by “radical left lunatics”, but that the algae that had appeared was being cleaned up.