What did Donald Trump do today?

He tried to lie his way out of his latest vanity project boondoggle.

Since returning to office, Trump has been obsessed with what amount to redecorating projects. Some, like his covering the White House in gold-colored plastic gewgaws and mall signage, are merely odd. Some, like his utter destruction of the historic East Wing of the White House, have been catastrophic. And some, like his fixation on a "militarily top secret ballroom"—that is an exact quote—run the gamut from absurd to pathetic to flagrantly corrupt at the same time.

His latest preoccupation, announced just a few weeks ago, is with covering the Lincoln Memorial's reflecting pool in a coating akin to a backyard pool's liner. Work has already begun, thanks to an emergency no-bid contract that Trump rushed through to try to have it completed in time for 4th of July celebrations. In pitching the project to an increasingly angry electorate, Trump made a number of claims. Specifically, he said that

• the project would cost $1.3 million
• it would be done by "his pool guys," contractors who had installed pools at his resort properties and were experts in this kind of work
• it would take "two weeks" to finish
• it would save hundreds of millions of dollars over the cost of replacing the leaky plumbing underneath the pool

As recent reporting makes clear, none of this is true. Costs are already ballooning to over $13 million and rising, and the work is nowhere near complete after more than "two weeks" of work. It may not even be ready by July, which was the whole justification for the "emergency" no-bid contract. 

 

What little work has been done is visibly shoddy. The blue color Trump demanded is uneven and splotchy, and the surface is bubbling and tearing, indicating it's not adhering to the granite and won't be waterproof. In fact, it's likely that the "repairs" will do more damage than they fix, which is the basis for a lawsuit filed this morning to halt the work. That means that the leaky pipes underneath will still need to be fixed at some point in the future, hopefully by a contractor with some experience on jobs like this, which the awardee of the no-bid contract—Atlantic Industrial Coatings—admits it doesn't have.  

Trump also completely changed his story on his "pool guys" today, and now says he'd never worked with them, blaming the Interior Department for hiring them. But his new claim still contradicts the story the White House is telling: Trump now says he'd never heard of them, but Trump's spokespeople are saying he ordering them hired based on what he'd supposedly heard about them "as a builder." 

The conflicting stories means it's not clear how the company obtained the lucrative contract, which is one reason that no-bid contracts are usually illegal.

It wasn't the only awkward moment for Trump today where his vanity projects are concerned. In spite of Trump's constant claims that his "ballroom" will not cost public money, his party is already preparing supplemental budget requests of more than a billion dollars in taxpayer funds. Asked by a reporter about the ever-increasing costs today, a visibly emotional Trump snapped at her, calling her a "dumb person" and insisting that the project (which may never be built) was still "under budget."

Why does this matter?

• Becoming obsessed with strange ideas or pet projects is not a sign of good cognitive health in the elderly. 

• Even if Trump knew what he were doing, this would be a terrible use of a president's time and energy. 

• Just because he's not fooling anyone doesn't mean it's okay for the president to lie to the American people. 

• Donald Trump's aesthetic sensibilities being upset is not an "emergency" requiring the waste of tens of millions of taxpayer dollars.