REFLECTING FOOL

Trump, 80, Goes on Insane Ramble as Republicans Fear Landslide

With Congress hanging in the balance, Trump returned to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to declare his renovations were finally complete, 203 days after announcing the project.

Donald Trump has made his election-eve pitch highlighting a vanity project that cost taxpayers millions of dollars and became a potent symbol of voter frustration over his priorities.

With control of Congress hanging in the balance, the president returned to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Monday to declare his long-awaited renovation had finally been finished—exactly 203 days after he first announced plans to paint the landmark “American Flag Blue.”

Despite polls showing voters are angry about soaring costs and the war in Iran, Trump gave an extensive speech highlighting the pool’s past algae problems and leaks, showing pictures of broken pipes and grass as he boasted about how beautiful his new makeover looked.

He also suggested he might rename the iconic site after himself, but immediately insisted he was only joking.

“We fixed the leaks. We resurfaced the bottom,” he said, standing meters from the steps where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his historic 1963 “I Have a Dream ” speech.

“They call it American flag blue, but it’s very dark, and if you had a regular blue … then you wouldn’t have any reflection. It wouldn’t be reflecting blue.”

After spending 23 minutes talking up the pool and his other beautification projects around D.C., the 80-year-old finally moved on to the election, calling it “the most important midterm in our lifetime.”

Claiming that Democrats had nominated the “most dangerous candidates ever,” he took aim at Michigan Senate candidate Abul El-Sayed, insisted the U.S. was “winning” the war in Iran and repeated his pledge to give every American adult $5000 if Republicans won both the House and Senate.

Such a move would add about $1.5 trillion to the national debt, and Trump is yet to explain where the money would come from.

“It’s the golden age of America,” he said. “We have a country that we can be proud of again. We were laughed at all over the world for four years. We were laughed at like we were stupid people.”

exclusive

JUST DESSERTS

Trump’s Secret Stake in Cheesecake Factory Is Revealed

Farrah Tomazin

But after about seven minutes focusing on the midterms, Trump then returned to his beautification projects, with a brief interlude by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum lauding his efforts.

“President Trump has chosen and proven that with leadership, we can choose to have beauty, we can choose to have safety, and it can be done, but it takes a leader. It takes a leader like President Trump,” Burgum said.

The speech was billed as a chance for Trump to deliver closing remarks to voters ahead of election day, with polls showing Republicans could lose control of both the House and Senate at tomorrow’s election.

PAR FOR THE COURSE

Judge Deals Humiliating Blow to Trump Goons Over Golf Course

Farrah Tomazin

But the decision to have the event at the Reflecting Pool raised eyebrows, including within GOP ranks, given the project has become a lightning rod for government spending and mismanagement.

“I give him credit for trying to fix it for America 250, but he needs to figure out something else to do besides working on all these various construction projects,” veteran GOP consultant Chris Nicholson told the Daily Beast.

Barack Obama also took aim at the president’s obsession with renovations as he campaigned for the Democrats this month, accusing Trump of making the White House look “like Saddam Hussein opened up a Cheesecake Factory.”

The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was first drained in April after Trump announced plans to repair leaks and color the pool “American Flag Blue”—insisting the renovation would cost about $1.5 million and take just a few weeks.

But the contractor Trump hired to fix the pool was awarded the job without a competitive bidding process, and the cost has now ballooned to nearly $20 million.

The administration charged former Olympian David Hearn with damaging the site after Trump repeatedly claimed vandals had sabotaged the renovation.

But his handpicked prosecutor, Jeanine Pirro, moved to dismiss the case, saying prosecutors later learned the damage was caused by a botched job by Trump’s own contractor, who rushed to finish before the president’s America 250 celebrations.

Trump was furious, accusing Pirro of “folding like an umbrella” and summoning her to the Oval Office to explain herself.

He later acknowledged “some contractor error,” but maintained it accounted for only a small portion of the damage.

Play Video

On Monday, he continued to insist the pool had been vandalized.

“The vandals went to work, but we went to work on the vandals,” he said.

“A lot of people tried to protect the vandals - but we got it done.”

See more of our coverage in your search results.

ADD THE DAILY BEAST ON GOOGLE

Farrah TomazinPolitical Correspondent

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.