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PaperclipPerfector  6d ago (text post)   2618 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for June 21, 2026

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Before I waste any more of my time thinking about this, is there any evidence that the degradation of the new reflecting pool coating was caused by vandalism as opposed to run-of-the-mill incompetence?

I don’t really care about the algae. That seems like a fixable problem.

I've seen video of sections of liner coming off the bottom, and they certainly appeared to be cut/torn away from the concrete. Like, roughly a roughly straight-line rectangular section about a foot long and maybe six inches wide, with ragged edges near corners.

In one of the arrest videos you can see this woman reach into the pool and pull against something with some force, twice, before getting her phone to take a picture of whatever she's doing, before she looks up and sees the plainclothes park cop standing above her taking a picture for evidence. Some people have also posted photos of chunks they've torn off. Vandalism is definitely happening, who knows whether that's the main cause or just a contributing factor, my priors are indubitably right and your priors are wrong and evil etc.

100% of time spent on this is wasted, but at least 6 people have been arrested for vandalism, with another 10 or so citations or police reports. No details yet, AFAIK.

I personally think it's incompetence. And even worse, it's incompetence due to corruption.

But in an effort to be charitable: somebody certainly made "giant ‘8647’ markings on National Mall" and that's vandalism, so can't rule out the same for the pool as well.

Here's CNN reporting that the water in the pool has elevated phosphate. My understanding is that one of the more straightforward ways you'd get elevated phosphate in the water is by dumping phosphate fertilizer into the water. Given the other evidence of deliberate vandalism, I'm not sure why incompetence or corruption are supposed to be the leading hypothesis here.

I'm open to being corrected if there's some other explanation.

Why do we need a conspiracy here? Hasn't there been algae in this pool all the time?

“The nanobubbler technology has successfully destroyed the algae bloom that has plagued every pool reopening since 1922—most infamously the Obama-era pool reopening, which resulted in massive algae clumps taking over the pool’s surface following years of construction that cost taxpayers millions upon millions, only for the pool to become broken and disgusting days later,” a spokesperson said.

Also, I assume the national mall is covered in security cameras. Surely they would have caught someone dumping bags of fertilizer in there if that was what happened?

Why do we need a conspiracy here? Hasn't there been algae in this pool all the time?

Because it's not just the algae, it's the water having elevated phosphate levels feeding the algae, per CNN, at the same time that people are definitely intentionally vandalizing the nearby green, and also definitely intentionally damaging the new liner material. Again, I'm open to other explanations, but those explanations really ought to account for the observable evidence.

The phosphate levels are elevated compared to what? To ordinary water, or to this pool that's had algae issues for apparently a hundred years?

those explanations really ought to account for the observable evidence.

You don't have to posit a novel explanation when the phenomenon in question is not novel.

To take the most charitable interpretation possible, Trump should understand, based on how he's been treated over the past decade+ in politics, that everything he does will be attacked and subverted in the dirtiest way possible. As such, not successfully hardening the defenses of the pool against predictable vandalism indicates incompetence on his part.

Of course, had he done that, that would likely open him up to other attacks of incompetence or corruption or other negative qualities.

I'm entirely willing to accept that interpretation, and in fact this is my interpretation of the culture war as a whole: we no longer have a cohesive society, and so attempting to pool resources or coordinate effort or share institutions in any way cannot be expected to work. You cannot build or even maintain memorials in a society that fundamentally cannot agree on what should be memorialized. Ditto for public schools, public libraries, public justice systems...

It does a show a rather concerning inability to exercise control over strategically important bodies of water.

Runoff from the vast area of lawn that drains into the reflecting pool.

Is that how the water system in question works? If so, I'd have thought I'd have heard of it by now, but again, I'm willing to be corrected if there's clear facts available.

It’s now being alleged in official court documents as well:

https://apnews.com/article/reflecting-pool-liner-cut-national-park-service-trump-98e11bfcb5899753c79bf55698dc958f?taid=6a3d5a134493680001f18a36&utm_campaign=TrueAnthem&utm_medium=AP&utm_source=Twitter

Yeah, with how much attention is being brought to it, I think there will be more attempts at vandalism, which would distract from how there really is probably incompetence involved (how much was the damage? "a caulk over the foam sealant that was cut with a sharp knife or razor" might or might not actually create the algae bloom problem)

This should get reposted in the culture war thread. My prior is that leftists believe, a priori, that everything Trump does is incompetent-corrupt, so any evidence that the reflecting pool really was sabotaged has to be fake, or, at least, not the first stone. But I think there's plenty of good evidence that the Reflecting Pool has been vandalized and not very much evidence that it's the contractor's fault.

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