Donald Trump has unveiled a MAGA makeover of the iconic Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool during a wild rant claiming he drew crowd sizes as big as Martin Luther King’s.
As the war in Iran entered another day, Trump took time out of his schedule to produce a three-minute social media video revealing his latest renovation obsession, followed by 10 minutes of off-script remarks in the Oval Office, boasting about how he scored a cheap deal to fix the “filthy” landmark.
The comments were made during an event intended to focus on affordable health care.
But after hearing his guests sing his praises, Trump pivoted to one of his favorite topics: the beautification of Washington, D.C.
“That’s where Martin Luther King gave his great speech, and he had a million people,” Trump said, a reference to the civil rights leader’s iconic “I Have a Dream Speech,” which drew an estimated 250,000 people as part of the March on Washington in 1963.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. addresses crowds during the March On Washington at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C., where he gave his 'I Have A Dream' speech.
Central Press/Getty“I had the same exact crowd, maybe a little bit more, but they said I had 45,000 people. I have pictures of Martin Luther King’s crowd and my crowd. The exact same everything, but it was 70 years the difference. The exact same crowd, but I actually had more people. But that’s ok.”
The president then went on to outline in painstaking detail how “a friend of mine from Germany” saw the reflecting pool in the National Mall and told him how “disgusting” it looked.
Trump claimed he went to see the pool for himself “with Secret Service in tow” and decided it was “terrible” and needed to be fixed.
As his guests watched on—a smattering of Cabinet secretaries and health care officials—Trump continued rambling about the depth of the pool, how he planned to paint it “American flag blue” and how he scored a cheaper deal to revamp it thanks to three swimming pool contractors he’d known from previous years.
“Over the years, as a developer, I’ve probably built more than 100 swimming pools,” the former real estate mogul said. “I have such great respect for contractors that are good and such disdain for contractors that are bad.”
“They just started today, putting down the material. It’s a machine, it lays it very evenly, beautiful. It goes from one side to the other, it will take about three days, and you’ll end up with a beautiful, beautiful reflecting pool. The way it’s supposed to be, much better than it ever was, actually.”
Built in 1923, the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is the largest of the many reflecting pools in Washington, D.C. Its revamp is the latest project Trump has taken on as he seeks to remake the capital in his image.
Since coming to office, the president has also redecorated the Oval Office with gold decor, paved over the Rose Garden at the White House, installed “Presidential Walk of Fame” complete with golden frames and script signage, and demolished the East Wing to make way for a $400 million ballroom.
At Thursday’s Oval Office event, he also directed the press to look at the granite outside the Oval Office.
“We’re putting magnificent new granite. It’s called charcoal. It’s a black granite against the white, beautiful white walls,” he said.
“We’ve stripped all of the paint off, 200 years of paint, and we’ve redone it, and it’s beautiful.”
