Donald Trump has inadvertently created a physical swamp that serves as a potent metaphor for his administration’s corruption and incompetence.
The man who popularized the phrase “drain the swamp” as a vow to rid politics of corruption has failed to live up to his word. Meanwhile, his failed attempt to beautify the Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C., has become the perfect epitome of the president’s ability to deliver funds to his friends at taxpayers’ expense.
As my colleague Steve Benen wrote in April, Trump called the Reflecting Pool “dirty” and “filthy” en route to awarding one of his associates a no-bid contract to beautify it. But just days after the job was completed, at a cost of more than $14 million, algae is in full bloom throughout the pool, giving it the look of a Florida swamp.