{"id":1323,"date":"2026-06-14T14:09:33","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T14:09:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=1323"},"modified":"2026-06-14T14:09:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T14:09:33","slug":"the-reflecting-pool-photographic-and-other-lies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=1323","title":{"rendered":"The Reflecting Pool: photographic and other lies"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Democrats have a nasty habit. Actually, they have plenty of nasty habits, but this one is enduring. They use imagery to deceive. They\u2019ll take photos of a mostly empty arena or an outdoor gathering and announce a Republican event\u2014particularly a Trump event–was poorly attended. The photo was taken hours before the event began, but they leave that out.<\/p>

Read more When diplomacy becomes identity politics<\/a><\/p>\n

The Democrat media reproduce images of supposed war crimes by Israel or America, provided by our enemies, without bothering to investigate first, and when we point out\u00a0they\u2019re faked and\/or staged, never apologize, or they print a retraction long after the fact and as quietly as possible.<\/p>\n

More recently, they\u2019ve represented photos of the wing of the White House, including the new ballroom, under construction\u00a0and implied it is the finished product\u00a0or is indicative of some disaster.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They\u2019re up to it again. This time it\u2019s The Washington Post<\/em>\u2014what a surprise\u2014claiming Trump\u2019s wildly successful renovation of the Reflecting Pool looks little different than the algae-choked, green and brown, malodorous, badly leaking, refuse-strewn swamp of the Obama and Biden past:<\/p>\n

\n

The Washington Post faced backlash, including from the Trump administration, after suggesting that the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool “looks almost the same” following President\u00a0Donald Trump’s\u00a0renovations:<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Graphic: X Post<\/p>\n

\n

“After Trump’s $10 million renovation, the Reflecting Pool is full again \u2014 and looks almost the same,”\u00a0The Washington Post wrote\u00a0alongside an image comparison of the Reflecting Pool in 2022 and 2026 on X Tuesday.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Uh-huh. If you use a 2022 photo with proper Photoshop filtering. Here\u2019s the same photo with more accurate filtering. Quite a difference, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Graphic: X Post<\/p>\n

\n

The paper also shared an article from last week on the renovations in an X post that read, “The Reflecting Pool on the National Mall has been refilled following President Trump\u2019s renovations. The project ultimately took six weeks and cost more than $10 million, far more than Trump initially projected.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Obama wasted some $34 million on it and didn\u2019t fix it. \u201cFact checkers\u201d are trying desperately to pooh-pooh that figure\u2014you have to read 13 paragraphs into this long Snopes \u201cfact check\u201d\u00a0to discover Obama actually paid $35.3 million. Trump brought it in on time and on budget\u2014he\u2019s known for that\u2014and essentially stopped the massive leaks, made it beautiful again, and installed systems to keep the water treated and beautiful.<\/p>

Read more How Gavin Newsom becomes the Dem frontrunner for 2028<\/a><\/p>\n

Democrats are desperately trying to find \u201cauthentic\u201d men to run for office and have wound up with Graham Platner and James Talarico. Donald Trump invited the authentic men who renovated the Reflecting Pool to the Oval Office,\u00a0where he signed hats for each of them and thanked them for their work. That\u2019s authentic, American manhood.<\/p>\n

Note that The WaPo\u2019s<\/em> comparison showed the pool in 2022. Here\u2019s a much more recent photo:<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Graphic: X Post<\/p>\n

And another:<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Graphic: X Post<\/p>\n

And another taken from a different position and angle. Those things matter with photography:<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Graphic: X Post<\/p>\n

This is the most accurate comparison, taken from the opposite side of the pool from The WaPo\u2019s <\/em>deceptive take:<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Graphic: X Post<\/p>\n

There is no question the Reflecting Pool, like much of DC,\u00a0has\u00a0been in desperate need of renovation for a very long time. It was leaking around 500,000 gallons of water a week, was choked with algae, and stank like a swamp. It\u2019s built on the shifting, swampy ground of the rest of DC, so absolutely stopping all leaks may be impossible, but it\u2019s certainly a dramatic improvement.<\/p>\n

And now, as Paul Harvey used to say, you know the rest of the story.<\/p>\n

Become a subscriber and get our weekly Friday newsletter with unique content from our editors.\u00a0These essays alone are worth\u00a0<\/em>the cost of the subscription.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, lifelong athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer, and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is<\/em>\u00a0Stately McDaniel Manor.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>

Read more Legislators move to criminalize some selling of children<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Democrats have a nasty habit. Actually, they have plenty of nasty habits, but this one is enduring. They use imagery to deceive. They\u2019ll take photos of a mostly empty arena or an outdoor gathering and announce a Republican event\u2014particularly a Trump event–was poorly attended. The photo was taken hours before the event began, but they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1316,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[221,2],"tags":[591],"class_list":["post-1323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-donald-trump","category-politics","tag-related-topics-donald-trump-washington-d-c-trump"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Reflecting Pool: photographic and other lies - Interstate Logistics Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=1323\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Reflecting Pool: photographic and other lies - Interstate Logistics Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Democrats have a nasty habit. 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