On Sunday night, John Oliver took aim at President Trump’s sparsely attended Great American State Fair before focusing his anger on President Trump’s other recent disaster, the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
“President Trump’s renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool remains a disaster,” the “Last Week Tonight” host said. “Beset by giant algae pools, large chunks of blue sealant flaking off, and just this week three dead ducks were discovered there, a spokesperson for the Center for Biological Diversity said President Trump was ‘wasting taxpayers’ money by turning the reflecting pool into a giant duck death trap.'”
In addition, the cost of the pool renovation ballooned to $16 million after President Trump awarded a no-bid contract to a company owned by donor John J. Cafaro to install a new water purification system at the pool. Cafaro has been a major donor to Trump over the years, donating $250,000 to the Trump Victory Fundraising Committee in 2020.
“And in response to all of this, Trump went into full blame mode this week, claiming on social media that there was sabotage and blaming against ‘crazy pro-algae (presumably paid) protesters,'” Oliver continued.
Yes, regarding the release liner, Trump claimed without any evidence that an unidentified vandal “cut into it” with “probably a box cutter or some kind of knife,” and when asked for proof, Trump responded, “Let me put it this way: If you cut 350 feet from one end to the other, do you think that’s evidence?”
“No, I won’t!” cried Mr. Oliver, adding: “No, I won’t!” “Experts say the liner was extremely difficult to cut and it is far more likely that the repair was ‘rushed’. It may not have helped that Trump literally drove his motorcade over the pool during that time. Nevertheless, Trump continued to promote the obstruction conspiracy, and his supporters continued to try to sell it despite the evidence being laughably weak. ”
Fox News’ Jesse Watters pointed to grainy footage of a young man and a young woman putting their hands into a reflective pool and asked, “I don’t know who these people are…but what are they doing with their hands in the pool? Are they cutting the lining? Are they stripping the paint? We don’t know if they’re committing a crime. They’ll probably say they dropped their wedding rings.”
“Wait…is that all you can do? That’s pathetic!” Oliver yelled. “As for “I’m going to be told I dropped my wedding ring,” yes, maybe I did. Maybe the people at the reflecting pool lost their wedding rings to a 25-year-old co-worker who left his wife. See, you know what that’s like! In fact, this is one of the many interesting facts you can learn from the Wikipedia page, which states, “In November 2024, Watters was not invited to his mother’s house for Thanksgiving.” (In fact, Watters split from his first wife, Noel Inguagiato, after confessing to an affair with much younger producer Emma DiGiovin.)
“I don’t blame his mother for that,” Oliver said of refusing Thanksgiving dinner. “She’s a child psychologist and she tried her best. Sometimes, she gets the worst! But now it makes a lot more sense that Jesse would be willing to humiliate himself in search of the withheld parental approval he’ll never get.”
