This reminds me of the nonstop commentary when George Bush puked in Japan after some bad fish. Round the clock coverage. This is worse though, since it's so banal one can't even laugh at it.
I beg to differ, this dumb trivia about presidents is what everyone is going to remember! I could tell you very little about Jimmy Carter, but I know he was attacked by a rabbit and had to hit it with a paddle. The two things I know about Ulysses S. Grant are that he was the Union General and that he was a drunk. FDR did some stuff, I guess, which was inspiring because he managed to do it from a wheelchair, while smoking from a cig holder he stole from Cruella De Vil. There was a president who had a giant wheel of cheese hung from the White House rafters(??) I don't remember which president he was, but I remember the cheese. Tariffs are complicated and bad, but I couldn't tell you anything about them. I have a backyard pond myself, and sometimes it gets algae (and mosquito larvae, the bastards!) Once, a fn raccoon came and pulled the filter out and chewed holes in it(?!) So I find this all very relatable.
Ah, thanks! Reading up on it now. I had envisioned it as hanging from a rope like a vast gong or pinata, but it seems like that was just my imagination.
This post is so dense because the reflection pool is only an issue because Trump made it one. He hyped up how he cleaned it for the first time in history & set the high bar of success being a 100% blue. No shit people are point out all the flaws since it is a low stakes meaningless issue that highlights his incompetency and his inability to concede any failure.
In other words: Trump wants us to talk about it, so we talk about it. And now both sides look stupid and obsessed with trivial shit, and normal people tune out.
Like the man said, never wrestle with a pig; you just get dirty and the pig likes it.
As I have commented on Twitter, I think this analysis (Trump is talking about it therefore the media is talking about it) partially explains the phenomenon but in no way justifies the level of coverage I have been exposed to ambiently. The news media are not strictly reflexive organs that have no choice but to report the things Trump tweets out on truth social. They exercise editorial discretion in a thousand ways on a daily basis, they make choices about what to cover, how to cover it, how long to spend on it, etc. There is no moral universe, no objective measurement of newsworthiness, where the pool merits more coverage than the war in Iran for example, yet that is what we observe. At best you could say that they are giving people what they want, that there is significant appetite for this kind of story. But this only reinforces my point about the shallowness and triviality of our political discourse.
I think these stories gain so much traction and commentary because they’re about things people understand. The Left tends to glom on to these frivolous debates while they’ll ignore billions blown on hospice care fraud or obvious insider trading among legislators because it’s easier to imagine a dirty pool not being sufficiently cleaned than some complex system of deception and incompetence wreaking havoc in a community.
And it’ll only get worse. As our minds contract ever more and our imaginations become ever weaker, expect to see more such stories. It’s all our feeble intellects are capable of conjuring these days.
STOP telling me about the pool and START telling me about the East Wing Ballroom!
Is it too big? Is it not big enough? Is it big enough but the scale is out of proportion to the rest of the White House? Does the style of architecture match? What about the interior design? Is the layout ideal for hosting events? Where would dignitaries even enter and exit? Did Trump put his name on it or was it the other thing?
Oh fuck, it was the other thing. Ok STOP telling me about the East Wing Ballroom and START telling me about the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Did Trump put his name on it? Did they take Trump's name off it? Why was there a tarp up? Did they take the tarp down yet? Do you have photos of what's behind the tarp? You do? Quick, quick, show me!
Idk, it's a pretty funny self own. Like nobody asked him to do this, he made a bunch of noise about doing it, and honestly with his background in real estate you'd think one thing he could pull off easily and well is... Renovating a pool?
But I guess fundamentally I agree, the pool is small potatoes, and I would prefer more focus on other embarrassments and failures, such as starting and losing a war in Iran for no clear reason, (paraphrasing T Jefferson) his bad habit of sending "swarms of officers to harass our people", making life difficult for anyone running a business with uncertainty and tariffs, etc. You know, stuff with substance!
The pool would because great short story if you conform the stranger than fiction thing. I'm the "you just can't make this stuff up" category. If you're not entirely amused by this giant screw up your politics have deadened you.
I think it’s kind of symbolic. Trying to keep a stagnant pool of water completely free of plant and animal life is a Sisyphean task. I guess it’s symbolic of the stupidity of trying to force nature into an unnatural state, or something to that effect. They should populate it with fish and lily pads. Dock little boats on the sides and let people pay a few bucks to paddle around in it. The clean dead pool concept is so stupid.
This reminds me of the nonstop commentary when George Bush puked in Japan after some bad fish. Round the clock coverage. This is worse though, since it's so banal one can't even laugh at it.
Senior Bush was held in a POW camp where the guards allegedly ate humans. At least he has a legitimate excuse to feel sick hearing, "itadakimasu."
Also the time he refused to eat Brocolli and had it taken off the White House menu. God I miss that guy.
The same libs who talk how much they miss Bush barely treated him better than Trump.
Not as good of a bush moment as when that dude chucked shoes at him. Fucking loved that
I beg to differ, this dumb trivia about presidents is what everyone is going to remember! I could tell you very little about Jimmy Carter, but I know he was attacked by a rabbit and had to hit it with a paddle. The two things I know about Ulysses S. Grant are that he was the Union General and that he was a drunk. FDR did some stuff, I guess, which was inspiring because he managed to do it from a wheelchair, while smoking from a cig holder he stole from Cruella De Vil. There was a president who had a giant wheel of cheese hung from the White House rafters(??) I don't remember which president he was, but I remember the cheese. Tariffs are complicated and bad, but I couldn't tell you anything about them. I have a backyard pond myself, and sometimes it gets algae (and mosquito larvae, the bastards!) Once, a fn raccoon came and pulled the filter out and chewed holes in it(?!) So I find this all very relatable.
Andrew Jackson, had the wheel of cheese there to feed citizens who came to share their passions and concerns with him.
Ah, thanks! Reading up on it now. I had envisioned it as hanging from a rope like a vast gong or pinata, but it seems like that was just my imagination.
This post is so dense because the reflection pool is only an issue because Trump made it one. He hyped up how he cleaned it for the first time in history & set the high bar of success being a 100% blue. No shit people are point out all the flaws since it is a low stakes meaningless issue that highlights his incompetency and his inability to concede any failure.
In other words: Trump wants us to talk about it, so we talk about it. And now both sides look stupid and obsessed with trivial shit, and normal people tune out.
Like the man said, never wrestle with a pig; you just get dirty and the pig likes it.
As I have commented on Twitter, I think this analysis (Trump is talking about it therefore the media is talking about it) partially explains the phenomenon but in no way justifies the level of coverage I have been exposed to ambiently. The news media are not strictly reflexive organs that have no choice but to report the things Trump tweets out on truth social. They exercise editorial discretion in a thousand ways on a daily basis, they make choices about what to cover, how to cover it, how long to spend on it, etc. There is no moral universe, no objective measurement of newsworthiness, where the pool merits more coverage than the war in Iran for example, yet that is what we observe. At best you could say that they are giving people what they want, that there is significant appetite for this kind of story. But this only reinforces my point about the shallowness and triviality of our political discourse.
I think these stories gain so much traction and commentary because they’re about things people understand. The Left tends to glom on to these frivolous debates while they’ll ignore billions blown on hospice care fraud or obvious insider trading among legislators because it’s easier to imagine a dirty pool not being sufficiently cleaned than some complex system of deception and incompetence wreaking havoc in a community.
And it’ll only get worse. As our minds contract ever more and our imaginations become ever weaker, expect to see more such stories. It’s all our feeble intellects are capable of conjuring these days.
I do not have strong feelings about the pool
I do not have strong feelings about your feelings about the pool.
We’re all sociopaths here
Great post. TDS is so off the charts. I value every second that I spend not hearing about the president. These are usually spent alone.
These are the same people who say "why do you even care so much?" when you oppose some insane idea of theirs
STOP telling me about the pool and START telling me about the East Wing Ballroom!
Is it too big? Is it not big enough? Is it big enough but the scale is out of proportion to the rest of the White House? Does the style of architecture match? What about the interior design? Is the layout ideal for hosting events? Where would dignitaries even enter and exit? Did Trump put his name on it or was it the other thing?
Oh fuck, it was the other thing. Ok STOP telling me about the East Wing Ballroom and START telling me about the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Did Trump put his name on it? Did they take Trump's name off it? Why was there a tarp up? Did they take the tarp down yet? Do you have photos of what's behind the tarp? You do? Quick, quick, show me!
Thanks, Kitten. Now I know even more crap about the reflecting pool that I did not want to know.
That picture kicks ass, though.
Idk, it's a pretty funny self own. Like nobody asked him to do this, he made a bunch of noise about doing it, and honestly with his background in real estate you'd think one thing he could pull off easily and well is... Renovating a pool?
But I guess fundamentally I agree, the pool is small potatoes, and I would prefer more focus on other embarrassments and failures, such as starting and losing a war in Iran for no clear reason, (paraphrasing T Jefferson) his bad habit of sending "swarms of officers to harass our people", making life difficult for anyone running a business with uncertainty and tariffs, etc. You know, stuff with substance!
RE:the nature of Trump Derangement Syndrome. The defining feature of antisemitism isn't hatred, it's obsession. Same goes for TDS
My brother made a point of repeatedly bringing up that pool during a family dinner the other week.
This despite no one interacting with the topic at more than a surface level, and most importantly, that we’re Australian
Penal colonists getting uppity again I see
But ofc, it’d be unaustralian to not be uppity.
What made it even better is that he didn’t even know what the pool was, just that it was *a* pool lmao.
The pool would because great short story if you conform the stranger than fiction thing. I'm the "you just can't make this stuff up" category. If you're not entirely amused by this giant screw up your politics have deadened you.
Im just amused by the stories of random dems sabatoging the pool to dunk on trump. The mental illness is wild.
No need to read the news about it: you can track it using satellite imagery yourself https://let-a-thousand-reflections-bloom.vercel.app/
I think it’s kind of symbolic. Trying to keep a stagnant pool of water completely free of plant and animal life is a Sisyphean task. I guess it’s symbolic of the stupidity of trying to force nature into an unnatural state, or something to that effect. They should populate it with fish and lily pads. Dock little boats on the sides and let people pay a few bucks to paddle around in it. The clean dead pool concept is so stupid.
I dunno can't we just dump a ton of salt in it and make a mini dead sea
The corrosion would be hell on the pipes