[WaPo] Trump plans $200M overhaul of East Wing in significant change to White House

It's a pretty significant historical symbol, so it should be repaired properly through a proper contract to look nice. It should not be a no-bid contract awarded to a firm tied to the administration, and the fixes should make sense. It's just a shallow pool and shouldn't cost much.

(Painting it blue is a silly shortcut, as if water is invisible and of course, awarding it as a no-bid contract to a friendly contractor is not a good look.)

 

I was a terrible pool owner too. That **** always turned green. Glad I moved.

 

My neighbor, who we sold 17 acres to (on the other side of a public road), has one water well that's too salty for much...the only thing he can do is fill his swimming pool with it. Saltwater Pool = zero algae, zero chlorine.

 

My salt cells kept dying on me. Then my pool turned into a swamp and I would have to spend another $250 on chemicals.

 

Salt pools aren't chlorine free. The system removes the sodium from the salt molecule, which leaves behind pure chlorine.

 

My salt cells last two years tops, even when I "maintain" them with an occasional muriatic acid bath. Then I have to drop another grand for a new one. So you might be better off going with the chemicals. Still, chlorine tabs are pretty expensive as well. There is no cheap way to keep the water in a pool clear. Imagine trying to do that on the scale of the Reflection Pool, with an ancient piping system.

 

Trump administration quietly shifts $352m in federal funds for White House ballroom
Donald Trump's administration has quietly redirected $352m in federal funds designated for the Secret Service toward the president's controversial White House ballroom project, despite repeated promises by Trump that the construction would be financed by private donations

The funds were drawn from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Trump's signature tax legislation passed last summer on Republican-only votes. The law stipulates the money may only be spent on Secret Service personnel, training facilities, technology and related costs, not construction.

About $340.8m of the funding was placed into an account labeled "Procurement, Construction, and Improvements" on 12 June, according to the office of management and budget (OMB) database. Another account labeled "Operations and Support" was also approved the same day, adding another $10.75m to the budget.

In late March, with estimates doubling to $400m, Trump insisted: "This is taxpayer-free. We have no taxpayer putting up 10 cents."

But those assurances have since frayed. Internal records obtained by the Washington Post from Clark Construction, the firm leading the project, show plans calling for $155m from Secret Service funds, $149m from the White House military office and $3m from the executive residence, all of which is public money, alongside private contributions. The Washington Post has reported total costs could reach $600m.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/trump-administration-quietly-shifts-352m-153628777.html

 

LMAO. If I were Trump, I would resign out of shame.

https://www.reddit.com/r/UnderReportedNews/s/5IRbZg59r1

 

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/06/reflecting-pool-green-blue-trump/687573/

. . . .

I took it upon myself to clear up any murkiness by speaking with some of the country’s foremost experts on algae. They were in universal agreement: There’s no conspiracy. All of this was utterly predictable. Trump undertook this transformation during the hottest part of the year, when algae flourish, and he made the cement dark blue, which retains even more heat, turning the shallow pool into an algae incubator.

“Algae, particularly blue-green algae, like it hot. So this time of year is their optimal growth period. It’s sort of Biology 101,” Hans Paerl, a professor of marine and environmental sciences at the University of North Carolina, told me. “This is not rocket science.” Don Anderson, the director of the U.S. National Office for Harmful Algal Blooms at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, told me that the shallow water in warm weather created the perfect conditions for algae to flourish, and he’s baffled why no one appeared to anticipate that, either by using water with fewer of the nutrients that help algae grow, or by sealing the system to prevent residual algae from seeping back into the pool. “This is a pretty simple system to control,” he said. “It’s the same idea as keeping a swimming pool clean, but it’s much larger.”

It would have been better to do a project like this one in the fall or winter. As it is, Paerl said he was doubtful that the situation could be reversed. Hydrogen peroxide is one option, he said, but it is expensive to use effectively in a 4-million-gallon pool. In warm weather, multiple applications and enormous quantities may be required. Climate change, he noted, has made these problems only more acute.

“I think we’re just going to have to appreciate that it’s green right now,” he told me. “And it’ll turn blue later. And hopefully the algae blooming in there are not toxic.” Oh yes, there’s a chance this situation gets even worse. The experts I spoke with were uncertain what species of algae has been growing in the pool but warned that some could be harmful to pets and other animals if they drink it, especially when it’s laced with hydrogen peroxide. And that hydrogen peroxide? It may be killing the algae, causing them to release pigments that make the water more blue, but not without side effects. “When you get dead algae in water, there’s lots of other problems. It can get stinky,” Paerl told me. “It sounds like a horror story that never ends. But it will, in the winter, when the water cools.”

Again, all of this was avoidable, Wayne Carmichael, a professor emeritus of biological sciences at Wright State University, told me. “The rush to get it done combined with not using a company that understood pool-water management, plus a serious injection of political hubris, allowed the bloom to happen,” he said.
. . . .

 

Lololol, I wish I were joking but this is the low rent MAGA trash who ripped off the US with his no bid algae pool contract, literally straight out of a 1970s movie



You'll all be surprised to learn that this gentleman, John J Cafaro, is a convicted criminal having pleaded guilty to various corruption & Bribery charges

 

lol, MAGA in a nutshell. Blame antifa, Believe anything, then brush it off when you realize you’ve been duped.

I would add “But it could have been true…”

not with a bang but a whimper

props for admitting the truth at least.

 

Believable story though

 

Though it's not true, I'll believe it again next time.

 

Yep. Play the odds

 

It makes sense if you don’t think too hard about it.

Fascists are the masters of commerce and efficiency and make the trains run on time.

This anti-fascists are the masters of nature and leisure and make algae appear in man made bodies of water.

Spoiler: Antifa Leader

 

Looking good @Commodore you maga slop guzzling piggy - more **** for you to eat