Trump turns a meeting about NATO into a rant about the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool -- demonstrating again that he is a man of grievance, not governance

Trump turns meeting about NATO into rant about Reflecting Pool (NY Times)

 At 11:18 A.M. CDT yesterday, a report moved across the Associated Press (AP) wire under the headline "Reflecting Pool liner was  cut with a sharp knife or razor, National Park Service says." The full story can be read at the link in the previous sentence, but the key section is this:

WASHINGTON (AP) — A liner along the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was cut with a sharp knife or razor this month, causing damage to the foam sealant installed as part of a $16 million rehabilitation project, a top official at the National Park Service says.

The agency reported the June 9 incident to U.S. Park Police, said Frank Lands, deputy director of operations for the park service. Lands made the statement in a court document filed late Wednesday as part of a lawsuit filed by a nonprofit organization to halt the Trump administration's work on the project.

His statement does not say whether the damage is a suspected case of vandalism or identify anyone who might have been involved.

The police report indicates damage to the pool, "including a caulk over the foam sealant that was cut with a sharp knife or razor and destruction of delaminating surface material,'' Lands said. About 70 fence post tops also were thrown into the pool, he said.

The statements were the first time the Republican administration has offered specifics for when and how the Reflecting Pool might have been damaged after work on the project was substantially completed.

The AP is one of the most trusted news sources in the world, but is the above story, and the court document upon which it is based, to be believed? Raw Story has problems with it, as spelled out under the headline "Trump's claim fizzles as Park Service won't back Reflecting Pool 'gash' in court." David Edwards writes:

The National Park Service refused to corroborate President Donald Trump's claim of a 350-foot Reflecting Pool "gash" in a sworn court declaration filed this week.

Frank Lands, the NPS's deputy director for operations, submitted the two-page declaration in an ongoing federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia over the pool's renovation.

Lands described cut caulk, peeling liner material, and roughly 70 fence post tops thrown into the water. He never used the word "gash." He never cited a 350-foot figure.

Is Raw Story nit-picking here? In the real world, the answer might be yes. But in the world of courtrooms, cases can be won or lost based on imprecise language or unclear arguments. In other words, nit-picks matter, and Edwards' statements are true and relevant -- The Lands declaration does not support Trump's claims about a gash in the liner material and a gash (or "slash") over 350 feet.

What jumped out at me was Lands' claim about "roughly 70 fence post tops thrown into the water." Where did that information come from, and who might have thrown parts of fence posts into the water -- apparently without being captured on the 24-7 security cameras that are present in the area?

Raw Story is not alone in casting doubt on statements about the Reflecting Pool from Donald Trump and his subordinates. The Occupy Democrats (Occ Dems) Facebook page does everything but call the administration's various claims "utter horse manure (or words to that effect)." In fact, the Occ Dems post proves to be a hoot, so we are publishing it below in full, with no editorial additions or subtractions from us (other than one or two clarifications; clarifying is a challenge when Trump himself seems to have no idea what he is saying.). We all probably could use some laughs in the midst of the Trump lunacy sucking up the air around us, and this piece provides it -- along with analysis that is semi-serious, emphasizing Trump's inability, in a formal setting, to string together coherent sentences. We highly recommend it:

BREAKING: INSANITY! Trump totally DERAILS an Oval Office meeting with NATO's Secretary General to rant about the Reflecting Pool and the imaginary "vandals" with their "razor blades."

This lunatic belongs in a padded room...

"Will the fencing around the Reflecting Pool be down by July 4th or is that going to be—" a reporter asked.

Trump has erected fencing around the algae-infested Lincoln Memorial Pool to boost his false narrative that vandals have been sneaking in to slash at the lining. In reality, he hired incompetent crooks to do the renovations and then had workers pour hydrogen peroxide into the water. "The pool? It's in great shape. No. Ready? Thugs!" said Trump, barely managing to string his words together. "They just told me a little while ago, six have been arrested, and like six or seven are under investi— They have pictures and everything else. They went to the bottom and it's not a paint job."

There are no pictures or Trump would have already released them. It's still unclear if anyone has actually been arrested, but if they have, it seems all but certain that the cases will be thrown out of court.

"It's very expensive. It's not rubber but it's like rubber," Trump continued. "And they went down with probably a box cutter or a very sharp razor of some kind or knife, and they cut, and then they started ripping it up. You know why? Because they're sick people. . . ."

Again, if this were true, there would be countless videos from tourists or police of the alleged vandalism. The pool is under constant surveillance. There's no way the acts he describes would have gone unnoticed.

As Trump unspooled his deranged lies, Mark Rutte, the Secretary General of NATO, sat silent and stone-faced beside him. This meeting was supposed to be dedicated to shoring up America's alliances and discussing pressing national-security issues. Instead, it devolved into an utterly nonsensical diatribe.

"And then the side of the pool, right at water level, they took razors and they started cutting this, you know, very expensive stuff. It's incredible stuff," Trump continued. "It's beautiful. And it was so... And it's still beautiful. But we have one area where they cut it. It's still holding. It's not leaking. But they hurt it, so in about... Probably maybe after July 4th or maybe before. I don't know. We'll let a little water out because it's at the edge. They'll cut it. They'll replace it, and it'll be as good as new."

"But these people should go to jail for a long time. You know, there's a statute that I signed when I had my first term that if you do anything to hurt statues or monuments, fountains, in Washington, D.C., or federal fountains," he went on. "It's actually federal all over the country. But you go to jail for 10 years, and there's no shortcuts. In other words, it's not five years for good behavior. It's a very tough statute, and so tough that it really hasn't been used very much over the years. But I used it when they had a problem in Washington where they were trying to hurt... You know, the sickos were trying to hurt things, and I announced it."

For the sake of your sanity, we won't recount every word that Trump uttered this time. It was an astonishingly long rant about the Reflecting Pool, and he bounced from one half-formed thought to the next, clearly agitated but unable to fully focus. The allegations of dementia have never been more believable.

At one point, he claimed that one of the supposed vandals is a Democrat who donates to ActBlue. 

"He's a big Hillary supporter. He's a big supporter of Sleepy Joe Biden," said Trump. "No, this is a very political thing. But as I understand it, six are under arrest. This was pure vandalism."

Laced throughout his remarks were attacks on Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and he repeated his totally fabricated claim that they "spent over $100 million" on the pool.

"We spent $14 million or $15 million, and a lot less than that because a lot of these people work for the Parks Department anyway. So, you know, they're going to work. So I would say a lot less," said Trump.

But look at the pool now! It's hideous. Even $1 million would have been too much if this is what it ends up looking like. Trump took our tax dollars, set them on fire, and foisted an eyesore onto our capital in the process.

Trump just kept talking and talking, unable to return his attention to NATO, getting more and more worked up about the pool.

"No, but the water looks great," he said. "But we will do the final fix-up. But just remember this. They took razor blades 350 feet. Coming from where he comes, they don't do that. They took razor blades and knives, and they cut patches like that. 350 feet long. A lot of them are like a foot, a foot, a foot. They cut the lining."

He also alleged, again without a shred of evidence, that leftist activists poured "acid" on the grass around the Reflecting Pool to kill and discolor it.

"Ready? I'm going to end on this," Trump said, apparently realizing that he had been ranting for more than eleven minutes. "I'm so proud of Washington, D.C. It's become one of the hottest cities in the world. But what is the hottest in the world is the United States of America. We have the hottest city. And you know that. You were talking about that."

"Two years ago, we were laughed at. We were a joke. We were a dead country. Now we're the hottest country anywhere in the world. Thank you very much, everybody," he concluded.

While this Reflecting Pool fiasco is entertaining because of how much it clearly enrages and frustrates Trump, it's also a sobering reminder of how deeply unfit this man is to be president. At a time when Americans are struggling to afford groceries, rent, and healthcare, our leader is obsessed with the color of a pool.

America has hit a new low.