Biden calls Trump a loser over Reflecting Pool makeover

Biden seized on a troubled National Mall renovation Saturday night, calling Donald Trump a loser and using a Maryland Democratic Party gala in Hanover, Maryland, to mock what he called Trump’s Washington “vanity projects.” The speech landed on the two-year anniversary of the June 27, 2024 CNN presidential debate in Atlanta, the night that helped set in motion the end of Biden’s own reelection campaign.

The sharpest political target was the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which had already become a symbol of cost overruns and bad management. Reuters reported June 22 that the pool was set to be drained again after algae and peeling paint appeared just weeks after a $14.7 million renovation. By June 25, Senate Democrats were probing the project amid reports that costs had climbed to more than $16 million, and lawmakers including Richard Blumenthal and Jeff Merkley pressed for investigations and explanations over no-bid contracting and the project’s rapid deterioration.

Trump said June 26 that he would repair the Reflecting Pool after July 4, and the National Park Service planned to drain it again after the holiday to make repairs. The contractor involved said the damaged areas were a very small part of the seven-acre project and did not point to a failure of the liner. The National Park Service later said a liner along the bottom had been cut with a sharp knife or razor, deepening the fight over whether the damage reflected vandalism, construction defects or both.

Biden widened the attack beyond the pool, calling out a proposed triumphal arch, the renaming of the Kennedy Center and the demolition of the White House East Wing to make room for a ballroom. The message was less about one fountain and more about a presidency defined by spectacle, with a public works dispute now serving as shorthand for competence, corruption and taste. The Reflecting Pool fight was still unresolved, and the next repair cycle was already set to begin after the July 4 holiday.