Trump Is Repainting the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and It’s Going to Look like a Luxury Hotel Pool
“It’s not supposed to look like you’re going to dive in and swim; it is intended to reflect the great geometry of the classical temple that is the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument.” — Judy Scott Feldman
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was designed in 1922 by Henry Bacon, the same architect who designed the Lincoln Memorial itself. It was built as part of the McMillan Plan to symbolically connect George Washington with Abraham Lincoln, the father of the country with the preserver of it. The dark, achromatic basin was engineered for precise geometric reflections. A 1999 National Park Service Cultural Landscape Report identified the dark water as fundamental to the site’s solemn, hallowed character.
It was the backdrop for Marian Anderson’s 1939 concert after the DAR barred her from Constitution Hall. It was where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963. It was where Vietnam protesters gathered in 1970.
Trump announced the repainting on April 23, 2026, after personally rejecting a turquoise sample as too “Bahamas.” He picked “American Flag Blue.” He has called the pool “absolutely filthy” and shared an AI image on Truth Social of Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and Nancy Pelosi swimming in what appeared to be human waste, captioned “Dumacrats Love Sewage.” He has also driven a motorcade across the drained basin and posted another AI image of himself, JD Vance, Marco Rubio, and Doug Burgum lounging in the new blue version.
The Cultural Landscape Foundation, led by president Charles Birnbaum, filed suit arguing the administration skipped both the NEPA environmental review and the National Historic Preservation Act Section 106 process. The no-bid contract was issued under a federal exemption intended for emergencies that would cause “serious injury” to the government. At a House hearing, Rep. Joe Neguse of Colorado asked Interior Secretary Doug Burgum what the injury was. Burgum didn’t answer the question. He pointed out that almost 20 fountains in DC don’t work.
On May 13, after the cost and cronyism questions blew up, Trump posted on Truth Social that he “didn’t give out the contract,” that “Interior” did, and that he doesn’t know Atlantic Industrial Coatings and has “never used them before.” Weeks earlier he had praised the same company as his “unbelievable” pool guy from the Sterling golf club.
The administration says the project isn’t decorative paint but an industrial-grade waterproof liner that permanently fixes the chronic leaks and algae, will produce clearer reflections than the old gray stone, and costs a fraction of the $300 million-plus granite rebuild that would otherwise be needed. They’ve tied the timeline to the July 4, 2026 deadline for the country’s 250th anniversary.
The last major renovation, completed by the Obama administration in 2012, cost $34 million. It drove 2,133 wood pilings 40 feet down to bedrock to stop the basin from sinking and leaking 500,000 gallons a week. The current project was first announced at $1.8 million. Federal records now show it at $13.1 million, a sevenfold increase the Interior Department attributed to the accelerated timeline.
The hearing on the injunction is Thursday. The judge is Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee. The contractor is the one that did the pools at the president’s golf course. The deadline is July 4, the country’s 250th birthday.
