OMG: Trump’s reflecting pool upgrade BACKFIRES with SHOCK update | Another Day
Trump spent millions of taxpayer dollars. refurbishing DC's algae-filled. reflecting pool, and today we have an. algae-filled reflecting pool. This is. just another day. If you're one of those people who. thought this weekend's UFC-a-palooza on. the White House lawn was just too gross. a spectacle to look at, well, you might. want to continue averting your eyes. >> The newly renovated Lincoln Memorial. Reflecting Pool. >> It's in better shape than it was when it. was built. >> But just days after completing that $14.
million renovation, algae is again. blooming in the reflecting pool. >> Ooh, bad news for taxpayers, but great. news for politicians who love to swim in. contaminated waters. People call me the. Michael Phelps of dysentery. Yes, after promising Americans that his. blue-ification of DC's reflecting pool. would cost taxpayers $1.8 million, or as people who tell the truth call it, $13.1 million, visitors to our nation's. capital can now enjoy a brand new.
algae-filled basin. Consider it like a. throwback to the way things used to be, back in April, when America had $13.1. million more dollars to our name. But. not everyone sees it this way. >> I mean, [clears throat] if they were. supposed to look blue, it's pretty green. right now. I feel bad for like like I. said, I feel bad for the poor guy over. here with a broom who's trying to brush. the entire, you know, reflecting pool. back to the same color. It's one guy. >> Well, I don't think that you feel too. badly for him, considering you're. standing just a few feet away talking.
pretty loudly about what a gig he. has. Buddy, either grab a broom and hop. in the muck, or save your commentary for. when you're not within earshot of the. guy scraping algae off the concrete in. 90° heat. But, not surprisingly, it's not just the. thank god this ain't my job guy who's. mildly irked by what's going on in DC. >> It's hard to believe the reflecting pool. showed off its new dark shade of blue. just days ago. Now, the water is green. >> Yes, how hard to believe that a project.
Donald Trump championed as a great. success has turned out to be an abject. failure. I'm struggling to process this. moment in much the same way I'm trying. to wrap my head around how this fine. citizen, who in January ended his. post-fight interview by saying "P.S. Britney Griner is a man." was invited to. the White House where he ended his. post-fight interview by saying "Michelle. Obama is a man." I mean, how do these. horrible things happen? Who could have. possibly foreseen such an offensive. occurrence?
But how did we get here? Millions of. taxpayer dollars spent only to get a. sub-par result? I guess we can at least. take comfort in knowing that we've got. the best price for this job regardless. since federal law requires most. contracts to be competitively bid to. ensure taxpayers get the best value and. avoid favoritism and corruption by. requiring agencies to evaluate bids. using documented criteria. So, that's at. least a bright spot in this dark cloudy. water. >> These are no-bid contracts. The. government is supposed to let multiple.
vendors bid on jobs like this so the. taxpayers get their best best bang for. the buck. In this case, the Trump. administration uh used sort of a special. power to block out all competition and. hand this job directly to a firm that. President Trump says is close to him. He. says this is a company that worked on. the swimming pools at his golf club in. northern Virginia. And so what happens. when you give a contract directly to. somebody with no competition, you don't. really know you're getting the best. deal. You don't know that you're getting. the best person for the job. >> Well, hold on. I'm as uncomfortable with. these no-bid contracts just as much as. the next guy, but I'll bet it was Donald.
Trump's business acumen that pointed him. in the right direction of this company. Surely they've had some previous federal. contracts that make them experts in this. field. >> The contractor for this project your. reporting also showed had no previous. federal contracts. >> Right. Well, surely these contractors. have worked on these types of pool-based. jobs before. >> It's not clear this is a swimming pool. contractor at all. Their website is more. about lining pipes and culverts and fuel. tanks. It's clear that this is a very. different project than the ones that.
they appear to be used to. >> Ah. So, it's not just our reflecting. pool that's green. Awesome. So, no bid. contracts to Donald Trump's. inexperienced buddies. I can't wait to. hear how Doug Burgum, Secretary of the. Interior, explains this one away. >> Is that right? There were no bid. contracts? >> Well, this is expedited contracting to. get this pro- project done in time. >> Does expedited mean no bid? >> Expedited uh I I think that you're. you're implying that if you have an. expedited process that somehow there's. something untoward going on. >> The Times uh said the company doing the.
reflecting pool has a 20% profit margin. Standard is 6 to 12% going through the. expedited process. >> That was a Again, that's I always say. say fake news is too simple, but on. >> not true? >> Well, it's it's true that someone can. say that. >> Sure, it's true in the way that things. are factual, but does that really make. it accurate? You know, I hate to be this. guy, but how did we not get a great deal. on this reflecting pool project when I. seem to remember a few people bragging.
about a certain someone's deal making. bonafides? >> He's a master deal maker. He's a. negotiator. >> President Trump is the bridge maker. >> He is the deal maker. >> I'm different than other presidents. I'm. a deal maker. I've made deals all my. life. I do really well. I I make great. deals. >> To quote the great Jerry Seinfeld, what. is the deal? Trump did absolutely. nothing. He handed a fat check to his. friends with our money and we got. screwed. If anything, that's the deal. Donald Trump pedals a sub par product to. consumers, i.e. the American people. He.
continues to get rich and we all have to. suffer. And if you'd like to lodge a. complaint about this, might I suggest. using a different device than this one? >> The phone looks different from how it. was originally advertised. The original. language on the website said the phone. would be made in the USA. language that. has since been scrubbed from the. website, now saying American proud. design with an American flag that has. only 11 stripes. >> Hey, come on now. Can you really expect. the president's patriotic cell phone to. have the correct number of stripes?
Don't answer that. The reality is that. this man is no deal maker. He replaced. high inflation with higher inflation. He. replaced high cost with higher cost. He. replaced high gas prices with higher gas. prices. He replaced a high Seth Rogan. with a higher Seth Rogan. >> [laughter]. >> No one even thought that was possible. Wasting taxpayer dollars and labeling it. a win is not some bug in the Trump. administration. It is a feature. As J.D. Vance so artfully articulated this.
morning when he graciously updated us on. the Iran deal. >> They say they're going to get $24. billion in frozen funds if they hit. certain benchmarks. Is that true? >> Well, again, Ed, we're open to a lot of. things that are on the table, but that. that $24 billion just doesn't appear. anywhere in any of the text that we've. talked about with the Iranians. One of. the things these these hardliner. elements in their country are going to. do is misrepresent the deal so that they. can sell it to certain elements of their. domestic audience.
>> Wow, can you even imagine what it must. be like to live under that kind of. untrustworthy leadership? Ha! Thank God. our government would never misrepresent. their deals just to get their base on. board. But if there was one sound bite I saw. today that so perfectly embodied this. administration's hopes and dreams, I think it had to be this one. >> What are your thoughts on the pool? >> That looks fine. >> Do you think it looks clean? >> Uh until you look close. >> Exactly. Until you look close is Donald.
Trump's whole strategy. They are praying. you don't look close because from afar, this administration may look like a. group of accomplished professionals, but. if you look close, it is just that easy. to see that it's a murky mess of. corruption and lies. And when it comes. down to who's to blame, >> it's [snorts] one guy. >> I couldn't agree more. Before you go, I'm very excited to. announce that I've written a new book. titled The Day After: How to Wield Power. in a Post-Trump World. The book explores.
what is, in my opinion, the single most. important theme that we're dealing with. in politics today and moving forward: power. Specifically, how Republicans. abuse it and how Democrats refuse to. wield it. This book explains how we got. here and more importantly, how we should. finally wield power if we're fortunate. enough to get it back. It is the. blueprint for progressives who want to. do far more than just restore the status. quo. Please pre-order today by visiting. the link in the episode description or. go to briantylercohen.com/book. You can grab yours from any of the major.
retailers like Amazon or Barnes & Noble. or find an independent bookstore closest. to you. That's also listed on that. website. Thanks so much for supporting. independent media.
