The Atlantic had a good article that said much the same

by Greg, seemingly ranch, Thursday, July 16, 2026, 13:39 (5 days ago) @ Publicola

For those who can read the full thing, link here: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/06/reflecting-pool-america-250-trump/687716/

A few bits:

Trump’s Reflecting Pool debacle is, by definition, a national embarrassment. But America is no stranger to self-inflicted humiliation these days. (See: Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, Qatar’s gift of a luxury jet to Trump.) Why, then, is Trump crashing out so hard about the Reflecting Pool? Why does it stand out as the enduring metaphor for an incompetent administration that can’t stop providing enduring metaphors of its own incompetence?

Poolgate is something more—a textbook example of how the Trump administration operates. It’s a way that one can explore the anatomy of Trump debacles, which tend to unfold in a (roughly) 13-step process. The Reflecting Pool drama is not all the way through this process yet, but I’d bet good money we’ll get there.

The 13 steps:

1. Devise unnecessary spectacle.
2. Disregard expertise.
3. Bypass normal procedures.
4. Declare victory too early (bonus if done by AI-slop post).
5. Spend way more than estimated.
6. Ignore the haters.
7. Realize it is not going well.
8. Bypass normal procedures once again.
9. Allege conspiracy and sabotage.
10. Redeclare victory.
11. More blaming.
12. Losing interest.
13. Pretend it never happened, and move on to the next thing.

Steps 2, 3, 5, and 8 are where the monetary corruption lies. But whether it's Iran, destroying the East Wing, decimating various governmental departments, accepting a new Air Force One from a foreign government, or [pick a Trumpian moment of your own], this is the basic pattern.

It's just more clear and visible - heh, puns - in the green reflecting pool.

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The 2007 ND-UCLA game was a once in a lifetime experience, I hope