{"id":2207,"date":"2026-06-25T05:37:03","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T05:37:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=2207"},"modified":"2026-06-25T05:37:03","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T05:37:03","slug":"salty-conservative-cant-stop-counting-trumps-swampy-metaphors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=2207","title":{"rendered":"Salty conservative can\u2019t stop counting Trump\u2019s ‘swampy’ metaphors"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A conservative commentator says President Donald Trump\u2019s algae-green renovations of the Reflecting Pool offer a slew of metaphors to define his entire presidency.<\/p>\n

Read more American media culture enables corruption with sanitized language<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe reflecting pool is a microcosm of nearly everything that vexes people about the second Trump term,\u201d wrote The Dispatch\u2019s Jonah Goldberg on Wednesday. \u201cWe can start with the decision to ignore the usual rules and procedures to give a no-bid job to a contractor for the repair and paintwork. Trump said it would cost $1.8 million. The costs have grown nearly tenfold. To deal with the insurrectionist algae, he gave another no-bid job to a Mar-a-Lago crony, campaign donor, and convicted felon who looks like a villain from the old Dick Tracy comic strip.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goldberg added that \u201cThe man who vowed to \u2018drain the swamp\u2019 of D.C.\u2019s corrupt cronyism used figurative swampy means to deliver literal swampy ends.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet in addition to symbolically manifesting Trump\u2019s failure to drain the swamp as he promised to do, Goldberg said that the \u201cpool fiasco\u201d also demonstrates Trump\u2019s inability to deliver on what he promises.<\/p>\n

\u201cA project Trump touted as proof of his genius and expertise becomes proof of unpatriotic enemies undermining him when it flounders,\u201d Goldberg wrote. \u201cWithout any evidence, Trump claimed that the only reason the reflecting pool\u2019s paint is peeling and algae blooming is because anti-American \u2018vandals\u2019 sabotaged it with a \u2018300-foot long gash.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Additionally, Goldberg noted that Trump\u2019s baseless excuse for the Reflecting Pool\u2019s problems \u2014 namely, that vandals sabotaged his renovations (a charge which ignores internal documents proving that the administration had a number of logistical issues during the construction project) \u2014 are as absurd as so many other things he has said during his administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow vandals evaded National Park Police, security cameras, and his own National Guard deployment remains unknown,\u201d Goldberg said. \u201cNever mind how they put a 300-foot gash in a paint job Trump described as, \u2018So very strong. You couldn’t, if you had a knife\u2014I don’t want to give anybody ideas\u2014if you had a knife, you can’t even cut it. So strong, so powerful.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Republican stunned at how hard Trump is working to sink the GOP<\/a><\/p>\n

Goldberg also pointed to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth\u2019s absurd attempt to defend Trump\u2019s renovations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at Washington and Lincoln, these are two men that faced monumental tasks and stood up in historic fashion and delivered for the American people,\u201d Hegseth said. \u201cAnd, when you step back and look at 47 years of what Iran waged \u2026 there\u2019s only one man, over the course of both presidencies, who has stood up and said they will never get a nuclear weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goldberg is not the only right-wing commentator to blast Trump\u2019s Reflecting Pool controversy as emblematic of his presidency. Political commentator David Rothkopf said something similar earlier this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s turned into a tourist attraction in downtown D.C. for people to hate on Trump, right? They come down, and they reflect on what a bad president they\u2019ve got,\u201d Rothkopf told The Daily Beast\u2019s Joanna Coles. \u201cAnd then he\u2019s like, \u2018Holy mackerel, this is a mess. What are we going to do?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

He compared this issue to other Trump failed renovations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho defaced the Oval Office?\u201d Rothkopf said. \u201cWho destroyed the East Wing? Who put a giant claw on the South Lawn of the White House? Who is building a gilded ballroom for billionaires to dance in while Americans starve? Who is building an arch to honor himself? Who\u2019s covering all the horse statues in Washington in gold leaf?\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Combative Trump pastor busted for crossing highway to assault neighbor: report<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A conservative commentator says President Donald Trump\u2019s algae-green renovations of the Reflecting Pool offer a slew of metaphors to define his entire presidency.\u201cThe reflecting pool is a microcosm of nearly everything that vexes people about the second Trump term,\u201d wrote The Dispatch\u2019s Jonah Goldbe…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2206,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nSalty conservative can\u2019t stop counting Trump\u2019s 'swampy' metaphors - Next Address America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=2207\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Salty conservative can\u2019t stop counting Trump\u2019s 'swampy' metaphors - 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