Trump's $14M Reflecting Pool Paint Job Is Now Peeling Off And Floating To The Surface
4 days ago by inclementimmigrant to c/politics
There are no words on how stupid and corrupt this administration is.
Truly, we are a decadent empire.
Kain is deified
Just drain it and then clean the paint off and sand it down to smooth out the stone again.
Then you can fill the pool with water that has been treated properly.
It's not hard, it just takes competent people being in charge of it. Not someone's "pool guy"
It’s not that simple. They’ve already sand blasted and pebble blasted a couple of times, and this is even after the whole granite reflecting pool was torn out and replaced by concrete several years ago.
The truth is, and this is in no way to defend Trump, fixing the problems with the reflecting pool have been an ongoing issue for more than 25 years now. To those knowledgeable on the issue, what makes Trump‘s failure particularly spectacular is that he was so public about it, spent so much money on it, and clearly had such an incredibly ignorant understanding of the problems at it faced, and what is really required to fix the problems, that it only magnified his already Trumpian buffoonery. Although, I am kind of enjoying this ridiculous failure.
The problems with the Reflecting Pool are both numerous and old. It’s a complicated system that is fed by the nearby Potomac River, has a complicated pumping and filtering system, and just a whole bunch of other bullshit that clearly Donald Trump does not understand. A lot of very intelligent people have spent a lot of time and a lot of money trying to fix it, and have still had trouble.
It Trump - with zero knowledge at all (even of its name) thought he could fix it, and hired the most corrupt pool guy he ever met to try – and it has failed so hilariously. Ran on his birthday, too, when a whole butt load of tourists are in Washington DC to see his failure.
The joke here isn’t that Trump failed, which, of course he would, it’s that he failled so publicly and loudly after spending so much time making such a big deal about giving everyone else who did a better job than him shit for not doing what he, himself, has also failed to do.
Like another poster said, it's truly a microcosm of the MAGA/Republican governing style. Pay a buddy way too much pretending that the problem is easy to solve. The buddy grifts by cheaping out on everything. They fuck up the system so badly it becomes a cesspool. And result is that it gets worse and becomes even more expensive to fix.
The thing is, as far as I'm aware, he wasn't even trying to fix the problems. He was, in almost the Trumpiest way possible (the only thing more Trump would be to use fake gold), just trying to gild the lilly. It was purely about appearance, not function.
It can't possibly cost much more than 14 million to just turn it into a normal chlorine pool, with a normal pump.
I'm reading Maintenance of Everything: Part One by Stewart Brand (of Whole Earth Catalog and the WELL fame) and it makes a great companion piece to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
Anyway, reading this book at the same time as watching this colossal fuckup by know-nothing blowhards like Donvict is quite interesting. For instance, I just read the part about the reconstruction of the Statue of Liberty and what was involved, and the discussion on the war on rust.
I'm sure a thoughtful writeup on the problems here and the attempts on fixing it would be a great thing for other parts in the series. I might even reach out to him to suggest it...
I mean, my pool guy knows a decent amount about the science, and how pumps work. If you have an issue, he can probably tell you how to fix it, or get it fixed
did they actually fuck it up from sheer incompetence?
Fucking things up with sheer incompetence has been a hallmark of this entire administration. At this point, I'd be astonished if it was just a run-of-the-mill accident.
According to the article
No complaints have been reported, however, from the local ducks, who have been conducting business as usual.
Apparently, they don't mind the hydrogen peroxide. But maybe that's just the article trying to be funny.
Is that a serious question?
With this country, at this point you can say ‘yes, they fucked it up because if she incompetence’
The it in the sentence can be almost everything…. Only a few things are also because of evil
I just realized my first reaction to this was “SURELY it can’t be this shady contractor that fucked up, it had to have been the US government” and the fact there’s a decent chance that this is correct is somehow still amazing to me.
The fact that this is essentially a swamp has to be one of the craziest things yet. in terms of life imitating art. I mean, it's exactly what you'd expect out of a book. Absolutely beautiful IRL symbolism and irony
Well, where else would he drain it to?
To be clear, that's more my reflecting pool than it is Trump's. I pay more taxes than he does and that's 14mil taxpayer money.
Ha! I fucking called this not even a week ago! And two people down voted it, btw.
Everyone called it
People are pretty shitty with downvotes tbh. They use them as a more passive middle finger. Just a quick "feel bad, because you are bad" signal. I wish I didn't care about them but my human nature gets the best of me. If switching instances was easier I'd probably go to one that has them disabled.
Background: Firm Tied to Trump Donor Got No-Bid Contract to Clean Reflecting Pool and Reflecting Pool Contract Has ‘Inflated’ Profit Margin, Government Analysis Finds
So if you think $14 million is too much money for what is basically a paint job, you would be correct. Trump gave his buddy a no-bid contract at way too high a price. And it turns out they were incompetent too. Additionally, I would be surprised if Trump did not get a personal kickback from they $14 million in taxpayer dollars paid to the incompetent firm.
I think the original contract was for under $2 million. But (at least partially) because there was no bidding process, we ended up with Trump's pool guy who then went on to increase that contract amount by 700% to $14 million.
Presumably, change orders needed to be issued to increase the contact amount. Meaning multiple people, including engineers presumably, reviewed and approved these changes. Most places would also have an environmental review, but somehow I sincerely doubt that happened.
Every single person involved in this process needs to be, at the very least, suspended pending an investigation.
For any real contract for capital projects, a 700% increase in contract amount through change orders would never be approved, and the entity paying the contractor for the work would do everything they could to kill the contract and ensure that they don't need to spend 700x the amount they agreed to. Because it would fuck their budget completely, among other things.
I fully expect the cowardly engineer who approved will be the fall guy.
As I understand it, the paint caused the pool to heat up causing the algae to bloom causing the pH to go up causing the paint to peel. So hypothetically not the painters job if he expected the counter measures that should have been in place to work, but realistically that should have been addressed and confirmed well before the pool was even emptied.
We don't know the specifics here, but yes, engineers should have designed and approved the plans and specifications. Those engineers should have been available throughout construction to address possible issues. But given how fast they started doing this, and now seeing the results, I don't think that happened.
That said, for the amount of money they received, they should have had sub contractors who aren't painters, but are maybe more experts on plumbing, or algae reduction, etc.
In a real capital project, where everyone involved actually gives a fuck about the outcome and the quality of work, there would have been ongoing discussions between the contractor and the design engineers to make sure that the final product isn't riddled with these stupid, foreseeable, problems.
But yeah, don't think that happened. And it's not because they didn't have the budget.
If I worked for the federal government, and was tasked with rubber stamping this bullshit, I would have said "go fuck yourself, fire me."
Everyone involved in letting this happen should be ashamed of themselves.
Yup. Dark blue is a fine color for a small pool people are going to swim in, but in a huge pool like this, it absorbed tons of sunlight, heated up the water and just made the algae grow faster.
So that whole reflecting pond is pretty much ruined now?
They reflect like a motherfucker it's just that they reflect on how to enrich themselves over anything. We really are in the death throes of Rome, aren't we? I mean the long rambling nonsensical speeches, the opulence, the pointless wars, crying about barbarians and appointing of horses and tv hosts as cabinet members... Literal fucking gladiator fights at the Palatine Hill.
One of these days people will come and ransack the fucking thing.
I mean the fuss about it is the blantant corruption of a no bid contract and the fact that it is a very visible/public demonstration of Trumps inability to do anything correctly.
Oh absolutely, but when ~40% of Americans support ICE and the Iran war, sometimes these smaller things can help make the failures of this administration more blatant.
I wish things like rounding up people illegally and detaining them in concentration camps was enough, but it seems like conservatives in america aren't swayed by those kinds of abuse of power.
A blue mirror.
Probably used some crappy house paint instead of properly prepping and sealing cement and then applying a 2-part epoxy meant for continuous contact with water.
The contractor pocketed the difference.
Now we have more plastic type waste, wasted money, wasted news cycle about the dumb job. Have no fear, though, they’ll waste no time at all auditing the job.
Everything trump touches dies.
Probably used some crappy house paint
This was comedy yesterday: https://youtu.be/Wz_JVFW83iY?t=554
It's not nearly the first time an absurb, stupid take on something gets played to extremes for laughs only for that the be the actual path taken despite all the warnings/math/science/reality that have to be ignored. It won't be the last, either.
(edit because clarity is important, this is only what I have heard, I don't have a source other than some short form content I watched about it that claimed it.)
It was hydrogen peroxide, and from what I remember it was 13% (most of the stuff you use at home is 2%, 13% will burn your skin) so the theory I heard is that it might have been eating away at the paint, or getting between the paint and the actual structural layer and causing it to peel off
It was peroxide. You can see the boxes in the video, they’re labeled and say 12%. Apparently bleach was used too, but I haven’t seen the videos of that.
It was hydrogen peroxide. Which is what I said. Although it is 12% not 13%.
That is what billionaires are. They're parasites! The idea that they're intelligent or contributing to the community is a myth they've propagated. This is the rule, not the exception.
The reflecting pool is turned green to represent Red White and Green of Iran on the occasion of Iran's victory.
At least it will be easy to remove after he's gone
Back to his home planet, hopefully
To hell
If I had to guess, it'll be closer to like, "I heard Mamdani and Obama were hanging out by the reflecting pool at 2am last week, and they were seen dumping large amounts of something into it. The very next day, I was reading stories about the paint peeling."
Edit: oh look, https://www.theguardian.com/...
One step away from saying it was his Democratic opponents
Just going to point out the obvious here and say that this is exactly the type of thing that always happens in autocratic countries.
Dear leader gives a bucket of money to a mate for "a contract". Mate spends 10% of the money on the job and pockets the rest. When the job goes wrong they just deny and blame.
It would be hilarious.
But Taxpayers spent $14MILLION on this? That would make it a WASTE if this were True and we KNOW Republicans HATE Waste which is why they're trying to ELIMINATE Unemployment Benefits!
I'd trust ACME more than I trust Trump's people.
I guess he didn't want to pay extra for the waterproof paint lol
Peroxide wouldn't damage the paint, only used to kill algae. It's even safe for fish in smaller doses. In my large aquarium, I have black beard algae blooms because of so much daylight, that I'll dump a bottle of peroxide in there too hero kill it then scrape it off and a couple days later clean out my filters.
...and run that into the ground as well, in order to preserve the brand image
It does look like a nice color in the pic
The very best color
Iranian green?
As litigious as he is I’m assuming he’s suing this shoddy company for the benefit of the bargain, that is, THEY’LL be on the hook for covering the proper fixes done by a competent company?
The company has 20k in assets. The money paid for the original work has already been spent on various "consultants" and other nontangible expenses. Many to people or companies that only exist on paper and all funnel back to a few individuals.
The company is found liable, but doesn't have the resources to pay for restorations and folds. No money is ever returned. No repairs are made. The $14m is "gone" in the bank accounts of the corrupt.
A new pool company is opened, the assets from the first are sold at bargain prices to the new to liquidate it's measly assets to satisfy courts and bankruptcy requirements. All are ready for a new grift.
Let’s bring back debtors’ prisons then. I’m fucking sick and tired of all the “there’s nothing we can do” bullshit. There ARE things, but no one has the stomach for them.
Debtors prisons are pretty terrible and hurt the vulnerable.
Remove a lot of the legal separation between a corporation and those that own and run it. Make the owners and leadership liable and don't stop at the articles of incorporation.
Perhaps the vulnerable should’ve showed up at the polls to avoid all the rest of this bullshit then. I’m at the point where protecting the dumbasses is secondary; put the hurt on the jackasses at all costs.
Yeah the administration reflects the country, unlike the pool now
They’ll vote him in again a third time if they’re given the chance
Honestly that would probably happen to me.
Any paint experts know the trick to paint not peeling off? I feel like there's a secret code that can't be found unless you're unionized
Read the manual, use the right product, do things properly, don’t be a lazy half-ass.
Clean the surface to get any slime and loose dirt off. Use a primer that adheres to the type of material that the pool is made of, Killz or Zissner. Then apply the paint color in enough layers to the desired tone. Doing it right takes longer, but it'll last longer.
The paint in the pool would have stripped regardless without cleaning and priming which I'm guessing they skipped. The hydrogen peroxide just sped things up.
Hiring experts wouldve been a good start...
Well, unless you're a large painting contractor with prior experience doing similar projects (something that's typically considered during the bid process), you should never be in a position to fuck something like this up.
But also, it seems like you care about the quality of your work, so you if you ended up out of your depth, you would have hired proper subcontractor(s) who are experts on this type of thing. You would also be actively communicating with the design engineers who approved the plans and specs to get clarification regarding materials, paints, etc. so if this did end up happening, you'd have a paper trail showing that you did everything in your power to prevent something like this.
Why is that government fault? The company which made the floor fucked up their job up.
Edit: Yep, it's entirely Trumps fault.
No bid contract?
Usually a couple different contractors would make bids for how much they could do the job for. Then you'd pick the one you think could do the best job for the price they're offering.
Instead trump just hand picked this guy and gave him $14 million. Very unusual process and the company was hand picked by trump. This is why it's the governments fault.
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A great success: the dirty, smelly, green pond with chunks floating on the surface from some cowboy MAGA contractor whose work lasted one week will be a perfect symbol of the USA on its 250th birthday.
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