For more than a century, the area around the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has served as a staging ground for civic participation. With its grand scale but subdued character, it is a place where much of the meaning is made by the people using it: the millions of visitors who have descended upon 'America's Front Yard' for marches, tourism, and celebrations. But in recent weeks, the western end of the National Mall has become a construction zone, the latest spectacle in President Trump's effort to imprint his legacy on Washington, D.C., by renovating it. Workers in protective suits have completely drained the water and are now coating the concrete basin with a vivid blue, while tourists gawk at the tarped-off project rather than the monuments that the pool was designed to mirror. In Trump's view, the makeover, which he hopes to complete before the nation's 250th birthday, on July 4, is coming along swimmingly. Last weekend, he shared photos of a sample test that crews conducted in...
learn more
