President Donald Trump shared an AI-generated photo of himself lounging in the Reflecting Pool on Washington, D.C.’s National Mall.
The photo showed Trump floating in a gold-colored pool inflatable alongside a smiling Vice President JD Vance, who gave a thumbs-up. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also appeared in the photo, along with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.
The Reflecting Pool has been drained in recent days to allow for construction workers to come in and repaint the bottom with a protective coating — in “American Flag Blue” — ahead of this summer’s events celebrating the United States’ 250th birthday. The coating is supposed to stop a number of leaks and help to avoid more costly repairs to the monument in the future.
The updates, according to the White House, are expected to take about one week to complete and have a price tag of $2 million — and add to the series of major renovations and updates being made by the Trump administration all around the White House and the nation’s capital.
Not everyone is happy with the updates, however. Charles Birnbaum, former coordinator of the National Park Service’s Historic Landscape Initiative, complained that the blue color made the reflecting pool look more like a swimming pool than a historical monument.
“The reflecting pool is hallowed ground,” he told POLITICO. “It shouldn’t resemble a swimming pool.”
“It will look far more beautiful than it did in 1922,” Trump argued, adding, “It was filthy dirty, and it leaked like a sieve.”
The Department of the Interior, headed by Burgum, also championed the effort to “restore and preserve America’s most iconic landmarks.”
The Reflecting Pool, according to the National Park Service, is classified as a memorial and is designed solely for viewing. Wading or swimming in the pool are illegal, as is walking in the shadow water.
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