VANDAL-IN-CHIEF

I Know Why Trump’s Slimy Grift is Unraveling: Political Guru

Trump’s disastrous Reflecting Pool revamp has turned into a tourist attraction where visitors reflect on “what a bad president they’ve got,” says David Rothkopf.

President Donald Trump is blaming vandals after his grifty Reflecting Pool renovation blew up in his face. But the real culprit “defacing” the nation’s capital is the “vandal-in-chief” himself, a political analyst says.

“It’s such a symbol of his vandalism, his failure, his inability to take responsibility for anything, his turning Washington into the grimiest, slimiest swamp of all time,” David Rothkopf said on The Daily Beast Podcast. “This is a metaphor for Trump.”

“The reality is, Trump screws up things all the time,” he said, noting that the Reflecting Pool was “fine” before the 80-year-old president decided it needed a more than $14 million revamp.

The administration also awarded contracts tied to the president’s vanity project without competitive bidding.

Trump awarded a no-bid contract to install an anti-algae water purification system to a company owned by John J. Cafaro, a two-time felon, longtime Trump donor, and the president’s Mar-a-Lago neighbor.

But the renovations have turned into a disaster before the nation’s eyes as the water has become infested with green algae and the blue paint has begun peeling off in sheets.

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“It’s turned into a tourist attraction in downtown D.C. for people to hate on Trump, right? They come down, and they reflect on what a bad president they’ve got,” said Rothkopf, the Daily Beast’s Chief Global Affairs Columnist. “And then he’s like, ‘Holy mackerel, this is a mess. What are we going to do?’”

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The president is now blaming his failed project on “vandals.”

“I just inspected it, and could only say to myself, and those gathered around me, WOW, who would do such a thing?” the president fumed in a Truth Social post on Sunday. “SICK, DERANGED PEOPLE! We will fix it?”

Rothkopf argued that “the meta thing” is that Trump himself is “the man who is defacing the nation’s capital.”

“Who defaced the Oval Office? Who destroyed the East Wing? Who put a giant claw on the South Lawn of the White House? Who is building a gilded ballroom for billionaires to dance in while Americans starve?” he asked. “Who is building an arch to honor himself? Who’s covering all the horse statues in Washington in gold leaf?”

Rothkopf added that Trump is “trying to go further,” noting the president’s push to rename New York City’s Penn Station and Washington Dulles International Airport after himself.

“He didn’t do enough damage as the worst, most tasteless developer in America. Now he’s taken it to another scale with tack,” Rothkopf said.

When reached for comment, White House spokesman Davis Ingle sent the Daily Beast a recycled statement: “David Rothkopf is a far-left loser who clearly suffers from a severe and debilitating disease known as Trump Derangement Syndrome that has rotted his peanut-sized brain.”

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Erkki ForsterNight News Reporter

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