President Donald Trump turned a Cabinet meeting on May 27 into a detailed review of renovation projects across Washington, describing the sandblasting and painting of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, the repair of brick walkways at Lafayette Park, and the cleaning of 28 city fountains. The president said the projects were part of a face-lift that had left the nation’s capital “looking beautiful.”
“I love construction. It’s very exciting,” Trump said, maintaining the enthusiasm of his decades as a real estate developer in New York.
Trump said workers had sandblasted the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and then “pebble-blasted” it, which he described as “a bigger version of sand.” The pool was steam-cleaned, fumigated and coated with blue paint he called “American flag blue.” The president said the goal was to complete the work by Independence Day and that it was mostly on track, though recent rains had caused delays.
The president also detailed work on 28 fountains, including a planned renovation of the fountain at the World War II Memorial. He said crews had removed “more than 10 dumpsters of garbage” from city sites, offering an explanation that “I guess that’s the way the tide goes” — even though no tide flows into the reflecting pool.
Trump noted that he had made a personal contribution to redoing Lafayette Park, the park across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House. “That’s the entrance to the White House. And it was an embarrassment that floors were broken,” he said, referring to the park’s brick walkways.
During the monologue, most Cabinet members listened with little visible reaction. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, already known for conspicuously laughing during previous meetings, nodded frequently and enthusiastically throughout. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum offered comments about some of the renovation projects when prompted by Trump.
Trump opened the meeting by saying only a few selected Cabinet members would be allowed to speak in hopes of keeping the meeting moving. “Everybody around here has got a lot to say. But we did that once, and it lasted for like four or five hours. It was a little much,” Trump said. That was an exaggeration, though past Cabinet meetings have featured lengthy comments from top officials, with one meeting last summer running past three hours.
The construction update took up about 10 minutes of the 80-minute meeting. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was tasked with steering the discussion back to the war in Iran. “I think, actually, your efforts on the reflecting pool are actually a great segue,” Hegseth said. “If you look at Washington and Lincoln, these are two men that faced monumental tasks and stood up in historic fashion and delivered for the American people. And, when you step back and look at 47 years of what Iran waged — war against us and our people — there’s only one man, over the course of both presidencies, who has stood up and said they will never get a nuclear weapon.”
Aside from Hegseth’s remarks, the meeting included only passing references to spiking gas prices nationwide and fears about a weakening economy that could affect Republican efforts to retain control of Congress in the November midterm elections.