The Future of DC After Trump

Over the last few weeks, Sates Christina Cararucci has been thinking about the reflecting pool. More than Jaz in years Christina lives in DC., doesn't really go to the reflecting pool that much anymore Kind of a tourist spot then President Trump made the Relecting pool his personal project. First Trump drained it. thenen he painted a color he calls American flag bllue And then the algae showed up But honestly, Christina's had questions before all that I mean, my first reaction was, is there something wrong with the reflecting pool? It has always looked the same to me and I've never thought that something looked particularly off about it. You mean like, of course he's renovating the pool Exactly. he loves pools. He's, you know, he's the Mar aago guy. He's a pool guy. He loves painting things. He's very I did a piece recently about Trump's obsession with gold and I found this anecdote about how he was painting the balconies of Trump Tower in New York And he kept thinking that the shade of gold was wrong until finally he just pointed out a gold cadillac on the street and was like, that's the color gold I want. And so the contractors had to go and buy, you Cadillac paint to paint all the balconies. Like he has very particular aesthetic tastes And so it didn't really surprise me that he was fixated, you know in the midst of the war in Iran. and Any number of other actually important national issues, he was focused on, the color of this national monument as you perhaps have heard by now It was not long before that bright blue paint began to peel off That meant you had scraps of American flag blue. getting mixed up with the green goo that had started to build up ers got deployed to suck up all this muck Hydrogen peroxide was pumped in and Christina down to check it all out I did put my hand in there to like pick up a flake of the paint just to kind of confirm for myself that it was happening. Okay, but you put your hands like through the algae. I know it was gross into the water. It was really gross, but I did pull out two flakes of the paint that had come up. And just to be clear, you did not take a knife to the pool. You just not your H in and gently plucked a slice of paint. Yes. I saw it kind of floating around the bottom. I pulled it out I felt like it's like I'm picking a piece of trash out of the pool. You know what I mean? It didn't feel like I was vandalizing anything. is important because after Christina left someome visitors who stuck their hands in the pool. were accused of being vandals Despite the fact that there were plenty of workers waading through the pool and scooping up debris. And it was funny I talked to a bunch of the tourists who were there just kind of looking at it And a couple of people had no idea what was going on, but most people had heard about it in the news, but I felt a little bit bad for them. like they had come to see, you know, where MLK gave his I have a dream speech to kind of stand at the Lincoln Memorial, look across this reflecting pool and have a moment of I don't know, solemn patriotism or just a moment of thinking about what America means. and instead, and they're having that moment with a guy with an algae vacuum there. Exactly todayod on the show Why we cannot stop gawking at Donald Trump's Relecting pool mess I'm Mary Harris You're listening to what next Stick around cri of how we got to where we are with a reflecting pool, like Why is the president messing with the reflecting pool in the first place This is a giant you know, slab of concrete and granite or I guess multiple slabs that it's extremely hard to fix these leaks where like, you know, it expands and contracts with temperature. It's an unnatural body of water. Right, exactly. and it's gigantic And so this is not like a small swimming pool where you can exert a lot of control over the materials. And you know, yeah, it's completely exposed to the elements, including super hot DC summers, including freezing in the winter. You know, multiple presidents have tried to fix it. Most recently, Barack Obama spent about thirty five million dollars trying to fix these leaks. He installed a new water treatment plant to try to filter out the algae because algae blooms are always a thing because it's an outdoor unnatural body of water with no aquatic organisms to keep the algae in check. You know, this is clearly an engineering problem that As recently as the Obama administration, we have found it really hard to solve I was surprised by how long the president had been focused on it. L back in November, shared a black and white video on trruth Social highlighting like the water or the green water of the reflecting pool and being like, you're not going to see this Biden filthet inc confidence any longer. Like it's been a metaphorical thing on his mind for a minute Yes, he cares a lot about symbolism, especially in the Capitol. It's been a focus of his. And he was even mentioning something about the Relecting pool in his first term as well, although he never did anything about it But yeah, somehow this got lodged in his brain as, you know a a problem in the capital that he alone could solve. He promised that he would be able to fix all the Relecting pools issues for, you know, under two million dollars. He said he was bringing in his pool guy to do it, which he did not do, right Which is insane. No, he hired on a no bid contract a firm in Virginia that charged you about twice the profit margin as a typical federal contractor because you know they were saying, oh, it's last minute and this is so important and high stakes that we deserve to make a higher profit margin on this I think they're actually like two contracts here where it's like one is fores the coating of it and then like the other is for the water purification. So it's like there's a couple companies involved. So yeah, the big one was the sealant. Yeah, the American flag Bue. Yeah. And the second one is a smaller contract, I think, just between one and two million dollars for this nanob buubble ozone technology that's supposed to kill the algae. And so that's what I witnessed when I went down there were all these hoses running on generators in the pool. It looked like they were spewing white liquid, but when I asked one of the workers there, they were like, no, we're basically just blowing air into this because algae doesn't like a And so now it's the cost has risen to sixteen plus million dollars And the work appears to have been for naught. likeike they're going to need to redo it. They're going to need to redo the ceiling. the presresident said, we're going to drain the pool again So it's like this this is happening. Oh my God Have you seen a picture of the guy who is doing the water purification? the guy who got this no bid contract? I did see a picture of him Because I just want to say like he's so on the nose. He looks like a younger version of the Monopoly man in a double breasted suit Get a little mustache and it's wild. You're like, wow Okay. There is like a way in which this was just a very typical move for Donald Trump. And allegedly, there's, you know, whatever company that owns the pool sealant company was a big donor to Donald Trump. Everything you might think about what this administration is doing regarding this dumb, you know, landmark renovation project, is exactly what's happening. What's happening at the reflecting pole is so obviously a metaphor for Donald Trump's whole approach to doing business. which is rely on insiders move super fast. Like I found a press conference he did at the Reflecting pull backack in May where he's like, we're gonna do this in two weeks And he was so excited. That is like classic Trump approach, like I can do it faster. I got my guy. And then when things are going wrong deny what's going wrong. It's like the exact same approach Donald Trump is taking with Iran, right Yeah, it's a pool And I mean, now the fact that they're actually arresting people in conjunction with it is also very typical where something can start out as sort of like fun and funny and silly story that just feels like an example of the administration's ineptitude and vanity that that actually turns into something pretty sinister and like, no, this is actually punitive. We should say like within a couple of weeks of the Reflecting Bool being like unveiled Algae came back Um It was gross. People started showing up to kind of document that and they had to have a whole Flotilla people come in to try to fix it. and then people started taking pieces of the paint that were peeling off as you did put it back, but You did it. justust saying And people started being arrested, and Donald Trump was accusing them of like using knives to like deface the pool I don't think there's any evidence that they're actual vandals. and the New York Times tracked down One of the people who was arrested, he's an Olympic canoeist who was like, I was here there as a citizen just trying to like document what was going on. And you're like, what is going on? We're like arresting Olympians at the reflecting pool Putting another hand in Like that's what're My theory, I mean, not that I would ever believe that Donald Trump could be convinced of the truth by experiencing it for himself. But I believe that his well documented germaphobia will prevent him from ever putting his own arm in the reflecting pool. If he did, he would see that it's just it's the easiest little thing to like peel off a piece of this. It doesn't take a knife. happened so ridiculously fast, both the renovation, you know, because he was so intent on getting this done by july fourth for America two hundred fifty. and then the like immediately the algae came back and not only did it come back, but Washington Post analysis found that It's the biggest algae bloom in at least five years. Oh my gosh. And so it is greener and grosser than before I don't know that Trump is to blame for that, but some people are saying that because you know with the draining and everything and the painting, the water was staggnant in the pipes for so long that it did allow even more algae to grow. And we should say we left out a step here, which is there was a moment where they were dumping hydrogen peroxide in the pool, which The story was this is what we do in natural pools. It's not dangerous. However In the last twenty four hours, there's been this reporting in the Washington Post. There have been a couple of dead ducks found around the reflecting pool, including like a dead baby duck, which now they're taking away to do like duck autopsies on and figure out what happened, which is just like What is happening? I feel like it's like a fever dream that we've gotten to this zone where we're doing autopsies on ducks and we're arresting Olympians over the reflecting pool. Happy two hundred fiftieth birthday, America it's very satisfying because like you said, it is such a perfect metaphor for everything else the administration is doing that feels more consequential and serious. And so this is a way that we can you know totally encapsulate what he's doing to America in a way that also feels like an FU to him because it's something that he cared a lot about that is blowing up in his face I feel like this metaphor is very clear to you and me Do sort of wonder if like everything else in Trump land Everyone is seeing it the same way You know what I mean? Like if you go to reedit and you go to like are ask Trump supporters People there are kind of mad that they're like, why are you rooting against the reflecting pool? Like why are you team algae? I'm not team algae to be clear But I wonder if when you went down to the reflecting pool, you talked to people who're seeing this more charitably or maybe not seeing this metaphor the same way you and I are. Absolutely. It was a total roorshock test for your political priors. And so I talked to a couple people who were Trump supporters who, you know, one was like, I look at this reflecting pool and sure it doesn't look great, but what I see is effort. Donald Trump is trying to fix this. No other president has tried to fix it. I didn't tell him that Barack Obama did try to fix it. but The one funny part though was This one guy who I spoke to, he was visiting from Australia, a guy about my age. All of the other Trump seeming Trump supporters who I spoke to admitted that the reflecting pool looked gross and that it was not a beautiful, peaceful scene to be watching and listening to all of this algae vacuuming and generators and pumps pumping nanob buubbles into there. But this one guy, you, he was saying, yeah, everyone in America seems so happy that Trump is president and he's really cleaning up DC. He's doing such a great job trying to do this. And I was like, ye, what do you think it looks like? And he's like, it looks beautiful. It looks great And I was like, dang Really, it's like we're seeing completely different things based on the political ideology that's in front of our eyes. The reflecting pool really delivers. It is a reflection of your can only reflect what's in front of it. I think it's become like every single other thing that Trump does, just a way to further, you know, divide people along political lines. Now there are all these conspiracy theories about like, the deep state put fertilizer in the algae in the pool to grow algae and so now we'reming algae lecting people. I know, again, like the news cycle of Trump does something and then immediately, conspiracy theories pop up about it. It's really just following the same pattern as every single other story. The difference is that we can laugh at this one Afterfter the break, it is not just the reflecting pool, getting a makeover in DC So where's that gonna leave the nation's capital in a couple of years reason I wanted to talk to you is as a DC resident You'd already written pretty extensively, not just about the Reflecting pool, but about other changes that have been going on in DC, aesthetic changes And I have to say, when you add them all up, It's a lot Thank you for validating my experience. Can you go through the list of like all the things that the Trump administration is messing with that you sort of see in your day to day life? Like you talked about just like a local park where you wanted to go sit and it was like clothes for Donald J. Trump. and there's a picture of him and like a a construction hat, you know, just like He's going to do the work here and beautify the city What else There's this planned archway that he has devised that would be you know bigger than the Arcta Triumph in between Arlington Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial The Kennedy center is a big one. He, you know, renamed it for himself, put his name off on it. Now it's been taken off, but now also the his self appointed board is saying, well, we actually won't accept donations unless it's named for Donald Trump And now they've set it up to close the Kennedy Center, which is one of our major arts institutions for two years. Again, still in the courts. We don't know what's going to happen with that Um, One of the biggest things is that the National Guard has been patrolling our city for an entire year. It's useful to remind people of that Yeah. I think if you don't live in DC, you don't remember I forgotten because it was huge in the news last summer. And then of course he had surges of Iice and other federal law enforcement officials in other cities. And in DC this whole time, they've just been wandering around any nightlife strip anyywhere downtown, just like random residential neighborhoods sometimes. and literally almost every time I go somewhere in the city that's not my immediate neighborhood, I see them. And it's not only, you know, feels vaguely threatening and like we're being surveilled and kind of occupied, but also is just a reminder of everything offensive that Trump is doing. You talked about how like at crosswalks The National guuardsmen. Oh my God, this is so funny. It's so silly. They to wait at a crosswalk, they will like arrange themselves so that they're all facing out. They're like in an outward facing circle, like so that no one has their back exposed, which is wild because they are not in Fallujah It's the dumbest thing you've ever seen. As soon as they get to a corner, it's like they do a little pivot. and so they're all facing out where I'm like Sir, you're standing outside of like one of the fanciest restaurants in DC at noon on like a Friday. like a beautiful sunny afternoon where like tons of people are just going about their business, like no crime in sight. I was feeling particularly spicy about this the other day because I was having a really nice day, biking around the city. It was beautiful And all of a sudden, this, you know group of National Guardsmen rolls up and does their little like formation on the sidewalk. I was like, what are you guys doing? And they're like patrolling And I'm like For what? And they were like crime just like looking for crime. I'm like, do you see any crime? Does this seem like a crime ridden ne? L literally what are you doing? Go find something. I was like just kind of pissed off. and I know it's not their fault and some of them are nice and some of them are jerks. but It's actually a real head trip to be in a city that's being continually patrolled by the American military. Okay, I'm just gonna list off some of the other things. L, okay, obviously Trump is dealing with the East Wing trying to build his ballroom. There are a bunch of buildings that have his face on them. like Department of Labor, I think is one of them, just big Trump banners. Umf course there was the claw that was erected on the White House lawn. They like big UFC cage There's the Garden of Heroes, which is this like statue thing happening As you laid out in one of your recent articles, O six point five percent of DC voted for Trump. And it's so funny because I printed out your article. and in the margin, when you wrote that I wrote Isn't that the point? And your next line was, that's the point, of course Wow, m mels right know. I was like ICU. It is very it is an extremely powerful statement for him to be able to not just move into the city that hates him most out of any city in the United States but to exert his control over the city in very visible ways. I think it's powerful as a statement to DC, and especially if you think about the fact that plenty of people in DC work for the federal government, which he despises But also it's a powerful message to his base and people who live outside of DC, who can look at this urban center that has been demonized as a decaying cesspool of crime and liberal decadence Um kind of brought to heel under Trump's administration. You did a lot of reading into this. L you read a book about authoritarianism controlling the capitol political dominance in the urbanizing world. And I thought that was just so interesting to kind of Take what's happening, which we're all covering at this surface level, like as it happens and then put it in the context of this bigger thing U what did you learn from that reesearchers have found,, across the world and across time that you know, this observation won't seem like a total revelation, but it's interesting in this context that obviously the capital city an extraordinarily symbolic place. And if you are invading another country or in the context of a civil war, if you capture the capitol, that's seen as like the ultimate victory and you've kind of won the war. And so in authoritarian regimes, if you can bring the capapital City under submission, the capapital City, which is know symbolic of national identity, which is the seat of government and everyone who works there. And so you want to be seen as controlling those people too. Then to everyone outside of it, if you can do that, it's really seen as the end of the ballgame. And I think especially in DC, you know, we've experienced the the greatest impact of doge cuts. There's I think bs of know a few hundred thousand people who are out of work now in the DC Metro area because of that. And so in ways both sububstantive and aesthetic, Trump really has wreaked havoc on our city And he's done so in a way that we haven't seen in any other administration since I've lived here and I've been here, you know, twenty years. Well, it's funny because he's wreaked havoc quite domination. Like I think about the Kennedy Center fight, right? The fact that he put his name on the Kennedy Center and then there was a court fight and now they had to take it down. And I look at it and I think it's instructive. in terms of what it's going to feel like to push back on what the Trump administration has done to DC and to the country wr at large over this second term It's going to feel hard. like that victory of getting Trump's name off the building was hard fought and it feels maybe impermanent because of appeals and you don't really know what's going to happen next. It also feels kind of silly and petty. esssential. You know what I mean? Like it's like you have to commit to it even though it feels hard and maybe silly Be that's the project, really. Well, here's the other lesson that I think we can take from this, which is that he's already starting to get tired of that. the Kennedy Center because it's been such a thorn in his side with all of these all of this litigation that he said a few weeks ago or maybe a month ago, like I kind of want to be rid of this or like, sure, I'll give it back to Congress if that's what they really want or something like that And I think this is a lesson that people who are opposing Trump can take to heart, which is that he does kind of have a short attention span. And if things are really difficult for him and seem to be not going his way, he'll move on to something that seems like an easier win Nobody in DC he's moving on to a Trump rally on july fourth and a Grand Prix race in the middle of Washington DC in August. So I mean that's that's a counterpoint there, which is there's always a new trick up the sleeve for this arch or like you said, this Garden of American Hoes, which will be several hundred probably y as anything statues about, you know of people handpicked by Donald Trump U so Yeah, it's not that he has like will ever reach the end of the ideas that he has to try to DC under his thumb But I think little wins like to taking the name off the Kennedy Center like Algae wreking his lance for the reflecting pool can give people who are advocating against Trump or in charge of the litigation against him The motivation to keep going. Christina is team Egie I'm an objective journalist, actually, I don't take sides on Reflecting Pool, but just like one I guess. downside or another thing that we can learn from the Kendy Center is You know, we don't know the long term impacts of what he has done. So even if advocates are able to push back and successfully dampen his plans. What's going to happen to this arts center when it's been bleeding money for two years? And it has so much repair work to be done. But yeah, it was like hiring staff in terms of figuring out what the center does now, all that sort of stuff. It's like this is just the beginning, like taking the name off of the building The impacts of even these seemingly kind of small or petty decisions that he's making can be long lasting. Do you picture what you as a DC resident do when Trump Lave's office to try to make your city feel more like your home Well, one thing that recently happened was but DC recently had its Democratic primary for Mor and for city cououncil, which in DC is basically the general election because Republicans don't stand a chance here. And we had a basically full progressive sweep of the open cououncil seats. we elected a Democratic nominee for mayayor, Janice Lewis George, who ran in part on a platform of being more aggressive and standing up to Trump than our current mayor, Muriel Bowser, who has been the picture of so called complying in advance And so This is a moment where I think DC is feeling galvanized and excited about our own power and about the possibilities of what can happen when we have somebody at the head of the city who can really stand up to Trump. That said, it does feel Its disheartening to think that DC might just be this pawn that gets passed back and forth from administration to administration where people are coming in and tearing things down and then someone else rebuilds them and then someone comes in and rebuilds their own weird tacky thing in their own style. It's not a city that I feel Excited to live in Yeah. Christina, I'm really grateful for your time. Thanks for coming on the show. Thanks for having me Christina Cararucci is a senior writer here at Slate And that's our show What next is produced by Rob Gunther, Evan Campbell, Madeeline Tames Ducharm, and Patrick Fort. Pi J Osburn is the senior supervising producer of Wet Next and WetN nextxt TVD Milo Beel is our executive producer of podcasts Sere at Late B Ben Richmond is the senior Director of Podcast Operations And I'm Mary Harris. Go talk me down a bllue sky. I'm atatt Mary Haris. Thanks for roistening Catch it back here Next time