Drain The Swamp Things

Instead of draining the swamp, Donald Trump literally refilled it for $14.2 million

I wanna do a cartoon about Donald Trump's so-called Iran deal that doesn't look like any sort of deal at all. I also want to draw a cartoon about the Trump regime investigating California Governor Gavin Newsom and his wife. I haven't even dived into that one yet. Finally, I would like to do something about the UFC idiot who said Michelle Obama “is a man” after his fight at the White House. There's a lot to say about that stupid shit. But after writing about the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool yesterday and how the algae have returned, I really could not resist drawing a cartoon about it.

Donald Trump is trying to beautify Washington, DC, even though it was already beautiful before he hit town. If he really wants to make it look better, he should take down the ugly banners hanging from federal agencies featuring his gruesome face. Removing his name from the Kennedy Center is a good start, that is, if they really did remove his name. The tarp is still up.

Washington DC is a very clean and beautiful city. I have always told friends planning to visit the city for the first time that they would be surprised at how clean it was. And when MAGAts talk about how Donald Trump has finally made it safe, the crime rate in the city was on a downward trend long before Trump hit town. I have been walking through Washington, DC, late at night by myself over the past six years without any incidents.

One of Trump's projects was to restore the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. The Department of the Interior argued that it had to be a rush job in time for America's 250th birthday, so a no-bid contract was awarded to friends of Donald Trump to clean the pool and paint the bottom of it dark blue. The original price for the job was $1.5 million, but it ballooned to a price that was over $14 million. The firm received a 20% profit margin on this project, which is well above the typical rate for federal construction projects. Upon the project's completion, Trump celebrated its “beautiful, clean water.”

Just days after the project was completed, the pool turned green with algae. It’s almost as disgusting as a MAGAt’s or UFC fighter’s mouth.

Today, the National Park Service was seen pouring gallon bottles of hydrogen peroxide into the 2,028-foot pool.

The park service is using hydrogen peroxide in addition to an advanced filtration system that deploys ozone-injected nanobubbles to break down toxins and contaminants in the pool, according to a Department of the Interior spokesperson.

Hydrogen peroxide is used in spas and natural swimming pools as a less-harsh alternative to chlorine treatments. Some people gargle with it. The DOI spokesperson said the chemical has “no harmful side effects to marine life or to the environment.” However, A close-up of their equipment revealed that they were using a 12 percent concentrate, a level that can cause problems if inhaled and burns if the chemical touches the skin, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Photojournalists also snapped shots of buckets of Induclor around the memorial, a chlorine compound used to control bacteria, algae, slime, and fungi in water. Do you really believe that Donald Trump gives two poots about the wildlife?

The Trump regime assures us that they are not using bleach, as it would be extremely harmful to local wildlife that likes to take dips in the pool. Bleach, as you know, should never be used where it could hurt wildlife or the environment. It should only be used to clean household surfaces and injected into the body to cure COVID-19.

The pool contains over 6 1/2 million gallons of water, so some poor lackeys from the park service had to make a Costco run and buy a shit ton of hydrogen peroxide. I'm starting to think my plecostomos suggestion should be taken seriously, that is, if the fish could survive such a massive amount of hydrogen peroxide.

Hopefully, with all of these chemicals being dumped into the reflecting pool, it's not as contaminated as Rock Creek in DC, RFK Jr’s favorite swimming hole in the capital.

The truth is that this was a wasteful expense. Donald Trump spent $14 million of our money to make this pool blue when it can't stay that way. Anyone who owns a swimming pool will tell you that you cannot keep algae out of it without dumping massive amounts of chemicals into it, and those people are talking about smaller and more manageable pools. The best that the Trump administration can hope for is that it can make it blue for one day on July 4, but it won't last.

But Donald Trump owns pools. He owns a lot of them, as I'm sure every single one of his resorts has a very large swimming pool. I know he's not out there doing the maintenance himself, but hasn't he learned over his many, many, many decades what it takes to keep them clean? Not only does he have to fight algae from growing constantly in his resort pools, but you know he has to pour thousands of gallons of chemicals into them because MAGAts are peeing in those things. Is he really that stupid, or is he being dishonest with the American public? Visitors to the Reflecting Pool today said that it did not smell bad at all, but this deal that Donald Trump made to clean it sure does.

I believe the no-bid contract to a first-time government contractor and the profit margin warrant an investigation. I don't smell algae, but I smell kickback.

Donald Trump promised to drain the swamp, not create a new one.

Creative note: I think I used eight layers in Procreate for this cartoon.

Drawn in 30 seconds:

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