Algaefa: a puddle of green stagnant water, much like this country today

Reflecting Pool in 2023
Ali Khan, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

In recent days we've watched the Reflecting Pool in Washington, DC turn into a long, narrow breeder of algae. But it's really much more than that, if you think about it: it's an example of just how far along so much of the US government is, in the process of its self-destruction.

Starting from the top. Der Trumpenfuhrer (as good as anything to describe the barely functioning occupant and defiler of the Oval Office, hereinafter often abbreviated as DTf) has somehow ended up as the authority, for some people, on most any subject. Including pools.

I recently came across this excerpt from The Trumpland Diary, which, I think reveals his special relationship with swimming pools. This is someone who, in classic Dunning-Kruger fashion, knows nothing about much of anything, but will force others to follow his commands, no matter how destructive the results. Since no one dares say "no" or defy him, which has likely been true since he was a child, destruction, chaos, injury and death follow.

In the case of "Trumpland," Mar-a-Lago guests at DTf's pool ran running from chlorine fumes, as the pool maintenance guy did as he was ordered to do, dumping a bucket of powdered chlorine into the pool with guests in the pool, and the one swimmer who didn't flee was later admitted to a hospital.

This is how Washington and the US government now limp along. Flattening the East Wing took just a few days, never mind that eliminating a treasured national landmark without any discussion or forethought just shouldn't be happening. Slapping his damned name and face all over government buildings never meets with any resistance at all. Same goes for what happened recently with the Kennedy Center, in its latest iteration, one side of the building will remain covered because if his name isn't on it, neither will its formal name be fully visible.

So it goes with the reflecting pool. DTf thinks he knows all about pools, never mind that the Reflecting Pool is 2,030 feet by 167 feet (619 m by 51 m), larger than any pool he's ever owned, and is likewise shallower than anything other than a wading pool 18 to 30 inches (46 to 76 cm) deep.

Using the Wikipedia article as a reference, it's clear that algae has already been a recurring issue in the Pool. Renovations under the Obama administration eliminated the need for potable water from the city's water supply, by recirculating river water with an ozone disinfecting system which initially needed some adjustment.

But of course under Der Trumpenfuhrer's Fascist dictatorship, anything that came before is either to be ignored or destroyed, as is the usual mode of narcissists who obtain vast power. Certainly anything initiated by a President of color under this white supremacist regime must be forgotten, disregarded or destroyed, including basic features like water treatment to avoid the well-known problem of algae growth.

So weeks after, on his likely direct orders, the water supply and treatment system are trashed and the likely intentionally leaky pool is sealed with garish swimming pool polyurethane coating, the inevitable happens: algae from end to end, side to side.

Now even more fun begins. Since I've seen it calculated by various experts on the subject that 8000 gallons of 12% or more hydrogen peroxide would be needed to successfully kill off all that algae, and more would need to be added periodically to keep the algae away, what do we see instead?

Some poor fools with 4 pack boxes of gallon bottles of hydrogen peroxide pouring them into the pool, resulting in a slight reduction in the density of the algae where that was dumped in.

Likely, again, on orders of DTf or some other ignorant fool somewhere in the chain, not someone who has the slightest clue how to deal with, or experience handling, this situation.

As unlikely as it might be, this episode that thus far ends with a trashed Reflecting Pool full of algae is a perfect example of what has already transpired many times over, and will likely continue, with similar events and consequences that will likely be as unlikely or unthinkable as this one has been.