{"id":33353,"date":"2026-10-14T16:36:20","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T16:36:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=33353"},"modified":"2026-10-14T16:36:20","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T16:36:20","slug":"reflecting-on-the-trump-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=33353","title":{"rendered":"Reflecting on the Trump Era"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"wp-block-intercept-editors-note\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-intercept-editors-note__content\">\n<p><span class=\"has-underline\">U.S. District Judge<\/span> Ana Reyes exploded at Trump administration attorneys on Monday after they admitted more than 400 trees had been cut down at a D.C. public golf course that President Donald Trump wants to turn into a championship-level course, like those of his personal properties.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c430 trees!\u201d Reyes raged. \u201cI had said at the May hearing that I didn\u2019t want 10 trees chopped down without someone having notice.\u201d She continued, \u201cIn what universe did anyone in your office think that that was acceptable?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It was refreshing to hear someone erupting at Trump administration minions, if only about the destruction of trees. In a saner world, someone, anyone would be bellowing at Trump or his top officials on a daily basis. There would be real anger about the killing of 238 civilians in extrajudicial boat strikes, the slaying of more than 150 in an Iranian elementary school attack, the deaths of anti-ICE protesters on American streets, and on so many other injustices.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes, it\u2019s difficult to see the forest for the trees, even if those trees have been uprooted against a judge\u2019s order.<\/p>\n<p>But sometimes, paying close attention to the lesser sins of an immoral, megalomaniacal president can tell us something important. Today, I examine what the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool \u2014 which is being refilled as I write \u2014 says about a White House in free fall and a president who can\u2019t win for losing. <\/p>\n<p><em>\u2013 Nick Turse, editor of TomDispatch<\/em><\/p>\n<p><!-- BLOCK(tipline)[0](%7B%22componentName%22%3A%22TIPLINE%22%2C%22entityType%22%3A%22SHORTCODE%22%2C%22optional%22%3Atrue%7D)(%7B%7D) --><!-- CONTENT(tipline)[0] --><\/p>\n<p class=\"tipline-shortcode\">If you haven\u2019t yet,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/dispatch\/\">sign up to receive TomDispatch in your inbox here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- END-CONTENT(tipline)[0] --><!-- END-BLOCK(tipline)[0] -->\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<h2 id=\"h-an-iconic-transformation\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">An Iconic Transformation<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It was dark and cold when I first spotted him, sitting serenely, bathed in soft light.\u00a0The statue of Abraham Lincoln at his memorial in Washington, D.C., sits 19 feet tall and weighs 120 tons \u2014 a white marble monument dedicated to one of the nation\u2019s most intelligent, eloquent, and moral presidents.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I hadn\u2019t come to gaze upon Lincoln but at the reflecting pool that bears his name. It\u2019s been transformed into a different kind of landmark by the inane, inarticulate, and completely immoral man who now holds that same office Lincoln did.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">President Donald Trump wants to remake the landscape of Washington D.C., tearing down the East Wing of the White House to build a monstrosity of a ballroom; adding his name to the Kennedy Center or demolishing it if he can\u2019t; and installing a 250-foot-tall \u201cTriumphal Arch\u201d that will \u201chouse \u2026 large numbers of drones, plus snipers, on both the roof and plaza areas.\u201d This past weekend, the administration even defied a judge\u2019s order and ripped up 430 mature trees at East Potomac Golf Links, a municipal course in southeastern Washington that Trump wants to refashion into a championship-level course, like those of his personal properties.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump\u2019s rehabilitation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool \u2014 planned to be complete for the nation\u2019s 250th birthday on July 4 \u2014 should have been the easiest lift of his planned remodel of the nation\u2019s capital. But it quickly became a monument to failure.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Back in April, Trump said adding a bargain-priced \u201cindustrial-grade swimming pool topping\u201d in \u201cAmerican flag blue\u201d to the reflecting pool would leave it looking \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/rollcall.com\/factbase\/trump\/transcript\/donald-trump-vlog-lincoln-memorial-reflecting-pool-april-23-2026\/\">gorgeous, beautiful<\/a>\u201d and would \u201clast for 40 or 50 years.\u201d Instead, the renovation \u2014 awarded via a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/09\/11\/climate\/reflecting-pool-contractor-trump.html\">no-bid contract<\/a> and announced as America 250 festivities on the National Mall approached \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/justice-department\/trump-administration-was-warned-peeling-reflecting-pool-nearly-month-b-rcna593390\">started to fail<\/a> within days. This was followed by a bright green algae bloom and finally a catastrophic lining failure that saw Trump\u2019s chosen coating <a href=\"https:\/\/cen.acs.org\/materials\/coatings\/reflecting-pool-coating-peeled-blistered\/104\/web\/2026\/09\">blister, peel, and then separate<\/a> from the concrete.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When I visited, the only water in the iconic national landmark \u2014 which Martin Luther King Jr. overlooked as he made his historic 1963 \u201cI Have a Dream\u201d speech \u2014 was a stagnant puddle that stretched out toward a mass of rotting leaves, a motley collection of plastic beverage bottles, a silver-and-blue aluminum can of RAIN spring water, and a pair of heavy-duty spray bottles often used for commercial cleaning chemicals.<\/p>\n<p><!-- END-BLOCK(cta)[0] --><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-nested-failures\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Nested Failures<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What I witnessed was emblematic of a White House far out of its depth and completely overwhelmed by disasters \u2014 large and small \u2014 of its own making. From Washington, D.C., to the Middle East, the Trump administration has been humiliated. It\u2019s a disaster wrapped in fiascos inside a swirling catastrophe, to riff off Winston Churchill\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/winstonchurchill.org\/resources\/quotes\/russia-2\/\">famed line<\/a>. These nested failures are legion. The attack on the elementary school in Minab \u2014 which killed more than 150 people, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dropsitenews.com\/p\/minab-school-massacre-iran-war-children-families\">most of them children<\/a> \u2014 within the larger failure of the Iran war. The extrajudicial <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/06\/10\/trump-boat-strikes-human-trafficking-victims\/\">executions<\/a> of defenseless, <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/12\/23\/boat-strikes-venezuela-hegseth-bradley-legal\/\">shipwrecked<\/a> survivors within the murderous <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/collections\/license-to-kill\/\">boat strike campaign<\/a>. The <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/01\/08\/ice-minneapolis-video-killing-shooting\/\">killings<\/a> of <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/07\/14\/ice-shootings-maine-houston\/\">unarmed people<\/a> by federal immigration agents and deaths in Immigration and Customs Enforcement <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/10\/13\/abolish-ice-dhs-delia-ramirez-ilhan-omar\/\">custody<\/a> during the larger administration project of <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/collections\/the-war-on-immigrants\/\">anti-immigrant cruelty<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The brutal deportation operations have spawned endless wrongdoing: <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/01\/29\/trump-military-deployments-cities-cost\/\">military occupations<\/a> of American cities; the arrest and detention of American citizens, the heartless <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/09\/29\/ice-third-country-deportation-flights\/\">expulsions to third countries<\/a>; the shootings and beatings of protesters and immigrants, the <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/04\/28\/kilmar-abrego-garcia-trump-justice-department\/\">targeting<\/a> of <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/12\/19\/deportation-abrego-garcia-ice-immigration\/\">Kilmar Abrego Garcia<\/a>; the swirl of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/10\/04\/us\/politics\/kristi-noem-planes-donor.html\">corruption<\/a> allegations around then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem; and on and on.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then there is the debasing of democracy and the undercutting of the rule of law through politicization and weaponization of the Justice Department; turning federal law enforcement into a presidential goon squad; gutting of civil rights protections; targeting of political opponents; relentless attacks on the independent judiciary; executive overreach; and the pardoning or commuting of the <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/11\/17\/pardoned-jan-6-child-abuse-molestation-andrew-paul-johnson\/\">prison sentences of insurrectionists<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other scandals and revelations of wrongdoing have been legion: the failure to release the <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/11\/18\/larry-summers-jeffrey-epstein-emails\/\">full<\/a> Epstein <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/02\/10\/epstein-files-american-consequences\/\">files<\/a>; the settling of Trump\u2019s lawsuit against the IRS; the floating of the \u201canti-weaponization\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/05\/19\/trump-anti-weaponization-fund-jan-6\/\">fund<\/a>; the cover-up of the U.S. <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/10\/12\/iran-war-casualties-death-toll-accuracy\/\">death toll<\/a> of the Iran war; <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/03\/26\/signal-chat-yemen-strike\/\">Signal-gate<\/a>; the $400 million Qatari jumbo jet that turned into a <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/07\/14\/jay-clayton-nyt-subpoenas-national-intelligence\/\">security<\/a> liability; <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/07\/13\/gillibrand-crypto-trump-profit-clarity-act\/\">crypto-grifting<\/a>; quid pro quo tariff reductions; brazen <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/08\/12\/trump-media-truthsocial-premium-first-amendment\/\">self-dealing<\/a>; and reckless actions of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/06\/04\/trump-ebola-outbreak-congo\/\">could result in<\/a> more than 14 million preventable deaths globally by 2030 \u2014 including approximately 4.5 million deaths of children under 5 \u2014 all to save Americans about <a href=\"https:\/\/ph.ucla.edu\/news-events\/news\/research-finds-more-14-million-preventable-deaths-2030-if-usaid-defunding\">17 cents per day<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-ft-photo is-style-default\">\n    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/AP26286635071855_0e5259.jpg?fit=3428%2C2292\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/AP26286635071855_0e5259.jpg?w=3428 3428w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/AP26286635071855_0e5259.jpg?w=300 300w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/AP26286635071855_0e5259.jpg?w=768 768w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/AP26286635071855_0e5259.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/AP26286635071855_0e5259.jpg?w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/AP26286635071855_0e5259.jpg?w=2048 2048w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/AP26286635071855_0e5259.jpg?w=540 540w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/AP26286635071855_0e5259.jpg?w=1000 1000w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/AP26286635071855_0e5259.jpg?w=2400 2400w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 1300px) 650px, (min-width: 800px) 64vw, (min-width: 500px) calc(100vw - 5rem), calc(100vw - 3rem)\" alt=\"\" width=\"3428\" height=\"2292\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><figcaption class=\"photo__figcaption\">\n      <span class=\"photo__caption\">The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is blocked off to the public on Oct. 13, 2026, in Washington, D.C.<\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"photo__credit\">Photo: Jacquelyn Martin\/AP<\/span>    <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 id=\"h-a-presidential-crime-scene\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">A Presidential Crime Scene<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool \u2014 dry and barren behind a bevy of barricades \u2014 looked to me like an open-air prison. At its head, the west end by the Lincoln Memorial, several black metal crowd-control fences and a similar lone orange metal barrier guarded two layers of chain-link fencing. The rest of the perimeter was hidden behind a single layer of metal fencing supplied by National Rent-A-Fence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some of the fencing \u2014 which stretched a little less than a mile \u2014 was covered in a dark mesh screen that hid the waterless pool. In other areas, the fabric had fallen or was torn down and lay in unsightly heaps. Closer to the east end, one small section of fence lay on the ground \u2014 a crumpled mess of metal mesh, poles akimbo, looking like a victim at a crime scene \u2014 behind a wall of yellow tape: 27 crisscrossed strands reading \u201cPOLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS.\u201d Beyond that, where the water should have been reflecting the rays of the rising sun, pickup trucks rolled through and workers slowly paced, nodded their heads, and stared out on the hardscape, as if waiting for a factory whistle to sound.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the face of this fiasco, Trump \u2014 as always playing the victim and blaming perceived enemies for his shortcomings \u2014 has repeatedly claimed knife-wielding vandals slashed the pool\u2019s liner. Several people, including former Olympian David Hearn, were arrested and charged with felonies and misdemeanors, but those cases <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/legal\/litigation\/olympian-cleared-vandalism-case-seeks-watchdog-probes-trumps-reflecting-pool-2026-10-06\/\">fell apart<\/a>. The Interior Department <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/us-news\/trump-administration-drops-reflecting-pool-case-blaming-damage-botched-rcna590303\">provided documents<\/a> to the U.S. attorney\u2019s office \u201cindicating that damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in June 2026 was the result of flawed installation by the contractor, Atlantic Industrial Coatings.\u201d\u00a0The Justice Department also called it a \u201crushed and botched installation\u201d and in July dropped charges that it had brought against people accused of vandalizing the monument. On October 1, a judge said federal prosecutors <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/dc-md-va\/2026\/10\/01\/judge-says-us-cant-prosecute-ex-olympian-again-reflecting-pool-case\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cannot refile charges<\/a> against Hearn. But just last week, Trump was still pushing the lies. \u201cWe had vandalism there,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Acyn\/status\/2107550991923196172\">he told the press<\/a>. \u201cOnly sick people do that, and we have their pictures.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Not far from Lincoln\u2019s statue, the administration offered up these same excuses, complete with Trump\u2019s \u201cfilthy dirty\u201d language and vandalism falsehoods. A lone laminated sheet of paper affixed to the fencing read:<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-7387b849 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The National Park Service staff and contractors are repairing areas damaged by vandals and completing a historic effort to clean, fix, and beautify the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Since 1922, prior administrations have neglected this iconic national landmark, evidenced most recently by more than half of the pool\u2019s pipes being clogged and the sidewalks and granite coping stones being filthy dirty. The Reflecting Pool will remain drained while this work proceeds so that it can truly reflect the beauty, dignity, and grandeur of our nation\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-ft-photo is-style-default alignright\">\n<div class=\"photo__container\">\n    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/9781568589374.jpg?fit=600%2C899\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/9781568589374.jpg?w=600 600w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/9781568589374.jpg?w=200 200w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/9781568589374.jpg?w=540 540w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 1300px) 650px, (min-width: 800px) 64vw, (min-width: 500px) calc(100vw - 5rem), calc(100vw - 3rem)\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"899\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><figcaption class=\"photo__figcaption\">\n      <span class=\"photo__caption\">\u201cWork Won\u2019t Love You Back,\u201d by Sarah Jaffe<\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"photo__credit\">Available on <a href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/p\/books\/work-won-t-love-you-back-how-devotion-to-our-jobs-keeps-us-exploited-exhausted-and-alone-sarah-jaffe\/cf07d7c2cdce4172?ean=9781568589374\">Bookshop.org<\/a><\/span>    <\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last week, Atlantic Industrial Coatings announced on its website that: \u201cAll warranty repairs were completed Friday, 10\/2\/2026!\u201d The company added: \u201cIt has been an honor to serve our great nation!\u201d Trump followed by claiming that the reflecting pool re-do was nearly finished. \u201cI think they\u2019re gonna fill it up this week,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/atrupar.com\/post\/3mxa5eui46s2i\">he said<\/a> on October 6. \u201cThe Reflecting Pool is totally complete.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The National Park Service did not respond to numerous detailed questions from The Intercept about the work by Atlantic Industrial Coatings and whether the pipes were completely unclogged and the granite completely clean. Atlantic Industrial Coatings also failed to respond to questions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Monday, a new sign appeared on the fencing as water began flowing back into pool. \u201cThe Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is being refilled as the National Park Service and contractors put the final touches on a historic effort to clean, repair, and beautify this iconic national landmark,\u201d read a sign without any attribution. It also contained a caveat: \u201cAs part of the normal refilling process, the water may temporarily appear cloudy before clearing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whether the Reflecting Pool will again stand as a fitting reflection of \u201cthe beauty, dignity, and grandeur of our nation\u2019s capital,\u201d or suffer another catastrophe that leaves it looking like an eyesore, it is symptomatic of the larger issue of unforced errors heaped upon failures which the Trump administration is powerless to fix and can only sometimes, after multiple attempts, contain. It has become a pitiful, helpless giant, unable to achieve even its most modest goals with the power to do little more than spew out misinformation; cloak misdeeds in secrecy; undermine, sabotage, and destroy government institutions; and unleash pain on the most vulnerable and defenseless, like school children in Iran and undocumented immigrants in America.<\/p>\n<div class=\"newsletter-embed flex-col items-center print:hidden\" id=\"third-party--article-mid\" data-module=\"InlineNewsletter\" data-module-source=\"web_intercept_20241230_Inline_Signup_Replacement\">\n<div class=\"-mx-5 sm:-mx-10 p-5 sm:px-10 xl:-ml-5 lg:mr-0 xl:px-5 bg-accentLight hidden\" data-name=\"subscribed\">\n<h2 class=\"font-sans font-light uppercase text-[30px] leading-8 text-white tracking-[0.01em] mb-0\">\n      We\u2019re independent of corporate interests \u2014 and powered by members. 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Delivered to you.          <\/span><br \/>\n          <span class=\"group-[.default]:hidden\"><br \/>\n            Will you take the next step to support our independent journalism by becoming a member of The Intercept?          <\/span>\n        <\/p>\n<p>        <a href=\"https:\/\/join.theintercept.com\/donate\/now\/?referrer_post_id=525369&amp;referrer_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheintercept.com%2F2026%2F10%2F14%2Ftrump-dc-lincoln-memorial-pool%2F&amp;source=web_intercept_20241230_Inline_Signup_Replacement\" class=\"group-[.default]:hidden border border-accentLight text-accentLight font-sans px-5 py-3.5 inline-flex items-center gap-3 text-[20px] font-bold\" data-action=\"handleDonate\"><br \/>\n          Become a member          <span class=\"font-icons icon-TI_Arrow_02_Right\"\/><br \/>\n        <\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"font-sans text-accentLight text-[10px] leading-[13px] text-balance [&amp;_a]:text-accentLight [&amp;_a]:font-bold [&amp;_a:hover]:underline group-[.subscribed]:hidden\">\n<p>By signing up, I agree to receive emails from The Intercept and to the <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/privacy-policy\/\">Privacy Policy<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/terms-use\/\">Terms of Use<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- END-BLOCK(newsletter)[0] --><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-with-malice-toward-all\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">With Malice Toward All<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump promised to drain the \u201cswamp\u201d of Washington corruption but instead supercharged it and managed only to drain the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool of water and the country of any shred of decency.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In late August, Trump took to Truth Social to <a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/posts\/117179205456937544\">claim<\/a> he was \u201csix times more popular than Abraham Lincoln\u201d \u2014 a reference to a poll of present-day Republicans, of whom 53 percent said the president they most admire is Trump, compared to 8 percent who named Lincoln. That same month, he <a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/posts\/117169687813608839\">ranked himself above<\/a> Lincoln and all other presidents. It\u2019s somehow fitting that Trump wrecked the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in the same way he has soiled the office Lincoln once held.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>Trump promised to drain the \u201cswamp\u201d of Washington corruption. He managed only to drain the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool of water and the country of any shred of decency.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whether Lincoln could have imagined a president as depraved as Trump is unknowable but he did fear, in his own time \u201csomething of ill-omen, amongst us \u2026 the increasing disregard for law which pervades the country; the growing disposition to substitute the wild and furious passions, in lieu of the sober judgment of Courts.\u201d\u00a0He couldn\u2019t have anticipated the boat strikes, the term human trafficking victim, or the fact that the U.S. might <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/06\/10\/trump-boat-strikes-human-trafficking-victims\/\">kill the latter during the former<\/a>, but in that same <a href=\"https:\/\/everscholar.org\/event\/lincolns-lyceum-speech-demagogues-and-aspiring-tyrants-section-1\">1838 speech<\/a> \u2014 when he was just 28 years old \u2014 he understood the perils of such summary executions, noting\u00a0\u201cwhen men take it in their heads to day, to hang gamblers, or burn murderers, they should recollect, that, in the confusion usually attending such transactions, they will be as likely to hang or burn someone who is neither a gambler nor a murderer.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"promote-banner\">\n    <a class=\"promote-banner__link\" href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/tomdispatch\"><br \/><span class=\"promote-banner__image\"><br \/><img width=\"300\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/TomDispatch_logo-promo-banner.jpg?fit=300%2C150\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/TomDispatch_logo-promo-banner.jpg?w=500 500w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/TomDispatch_logo-promo-banner.jpg?w=300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\"\/>        <\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"promote-banner__text\">\n<p class=\"promote-banner__eyebrow\">\n            Read Our Complete Coverage          <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><br \/><\/aside>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump is, however, content to kill without compunction and even recently appeared to invite the nuclear annihilation of Los Angeles and San Diego, although it\u2019s increasingly impossible to divine meaning from Trump\u2019s incoherent ramblings. (He has, though, threatened both cities in the past, <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/07\/16\/federal-troops-la-doing-nothing\/\">deploying troops<\/a> to LA and threatening to do so in San Diego.) Even Lincoln\u2019s armies \u2014 turning to \u201ctotal war\u201d to end a long, brutal, and costly civil war \u2014 did not annihilate the South and decimate its people. And at its close, he sought to \u201cbind up the nation\u2019s wounds\u201d with words Trump would choke on: \u201cWith malice toward none; with charity for all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lincoln did not believe that the U.S. could be felled by a foreign power but did foresee the possibility of America sealing its own fate. \u201cIf destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher,\u201d he said in that 1838 speech. \u201cAs a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.\u201d\u00a0The reelection of a craven criminal who sought to subvert what remains of democracy in America certainly appears to be more than a mere cry for help.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOur progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid,\u201d Lincoln<a href=\"http:\/\/www.abrahamlincolnonline.org\/lincoln\/speeches\/speed.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> wrote<\/a> to his friend Joshua Speed in 1855.\u00a0Some 171 years later, it may well be complete.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The suffering meted out by Trump has been immense. And his penchant for failure may now be his essential quality. He may ultimately be remembered for turning a reckless military \u201cexcursion\u201d into a forever-war failure or as the most debased reprobate to hold the office of the presidency. But Trump\u2019s micro-mismanagement of a local construction project that turned a functioning national monument into a fenced-off blight might be his most illustrative disappointment: a small failure of epic proportions and, in some way, a sorry reflection on all Americans.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>#Reflecting #Trump #Era<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33354,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[246],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33353"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}