President Narcissus and the Fetid Reflecting Pool

Ms. Cottle writes about national politics for Opinion.

Public service announcement for anyone planning to visit Washington in the immediate term: Steer clear of President Trump’s hot mess of a reflecting pool. Don’t dip a digit in its emerald water. Don’t play with its “American flag blue” strips of peeling paint. Don’t get too close to the federal workers struggling to repair this refurbishment from hell. In fact, maybe skip the landmark altogether, lest you, too, get cuffed and hauled off by the park police for allegedly desecrating the president’s most half-baked vanity project to date.

Bungling the $14 million-plus redo of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool,........

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