Why, why, why don’t these people *think*??!! Why doesn’t anyone know the word debris? Why weren’t they paying attention on the last day of the Not Great State Fair Trump Rally? The lack of thought is getting ridiculous. The “missing the obvious” is ridiculous, and there is rage pouring out through my keyboard. This was so, so stupid and never should have happened. This was a poorly planned end to a poorly planned Trump rally. Some birthday party. Jeeze! From the pages of Raw Story:
President Donald Trump’s massive Fourth of July fireworks show fouled the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, choked Washington with record air pollution, and sent dozens to hospitals. Trump’s nonprofit Freedom 250 launched nearly 850,000 fireworks shells from 10 sites on the National Mall, including the Reflecting Pool itself. “Best fireworks show, EVER!” Trump wrote on Truth Social after the display.
Best, my arse. It was underwhelming. Too much of everything for 40 minutes. The smoke was really noticeable. NO ONE was wearing a mask, which was seriously stupid. Not surprised people ended up in the hospital from that and the heat. This entire debacle was horribly planned and abysmally executed. It’s possible to start making a list of everything wrong without even being there. Then add in cutting corners and hijacking the celebration of America’s 250th birthday by Trump and his crap. What the hell were they thinking?
The morning after, workers were wading waist-deep in the pool to scoop out burned debris floating across the murky green water. Scorched fireworks casings and netting were piled along the walkway by the dozen. The cleanup continued into Monday, when photos showed a large amount of trash in the Reflecting Pool. “Shooting off fireworks next to the Reflecting Pool was a spectacularly stupid idea,” D.C. photojournalist Joe Flood wrote on X. “This is the result.”
Remember, there were also fireworks set up in the Pool itself, on top of peeling paint and criminal algae. I think about all the outdoor shows I’ve done, and get either really angry or really depressed in turn for this bullshit. There was absolutely a different way to do the fireworks. There was a way to catch stuff falling into the water. They’re going to have twice as much to clean up now because debris will get into the piping system. It’s not necessarily the paper. It’s going to be the fine debris from the gunpowder to propel the explosives up into the air, then there will be ash from the fallout and … I’m ranting.
Washington briefly became the city with the worst air quality on earth after the 40-minute show. Officials issued a Code Red alert, warning the air was “unhealthy for seniors, kids, people with medical conditions.” Emergency responders recorded 96 patient contacts and 40 hospital transports from the National Mall. //// MeidasTouch correspondent Scott MacFarlane put it plainly: “Another problem in the Reflecting Pool.”
“Washington, DC has never looked as bad as it has in the past few months,” attorney George Conway wrote on X, “and it’s not just the reflecting pool.” //// “Antifa vandals strike again!” novelist Joyce Carol Oates wrote on X, sarcastically. “Now, fireworks debris from the sky. Have they no shame?” //// The pool had just undergone a $16 million renovation paid to a contractor with prior ties to Trump through a no-bid deal. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told CNN the same company will handle the repairs.
Watch me bang my head on my desk. The *same company* is supposed to fix it? How much more will it cost? Are they doing the water lines? Could someone think of a way to make Trump pay for the repairs, or would they just cut more corners? That would mean it would have to be fixed *again* because those bozos have no idea how to do something like this. It’s a different animal. It is not a fountain or a swimming pool.
I can guess that you folks are tired of me ranting about the Lincoln Reflecting Pool. We’ll have to wait and see what happens, it seems. I’ll do my best to calm down. Between the Trump Rally “Fair” and the debacle with the Reflecting Pool, it’s bringing back a lot of memories. It would have been so much easier if everything had been done right. Everything was cheap and flimsy. States were unable to have their own festivities because Trump stole all the money from them. Of course, they couldn’t come and do something at his thing. This was embarrassing. What a 250th birthday for America.
See you tomorrow … er, later today!
Friends, I know everybody begs you for money. I promise you that, of all the outlets bugging you for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest-working. We’re a bunch of old, disabled people, except for one writer in his mid-50s. But the rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the ability to continue our quest to tell the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula
