Newsdata · Florida Politics

ABC, NBC Gleefully Report Greening of Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool

On a busy news day, ABC and NBC made sure to devote significant A-block time in their national evening newscasts to one of the major pressing stories of the day. Of course, we’re talking about the algae bloom at the newly redone Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Here’s ABC’s entry, delivered by Mary Bruce: WATCH: @ABCWorldNews didn't find time to cover the SPLC boss funneling $1.2M to her neo-Nazi lover, the Antifa indictments out of Minneapolis, or to do a follow-up item on the various investigations into the Newsom Machine. Not when there is schadenfreude to be had over the algae... pic.twitter.com/2DluvgI6WJ — Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) June 17, 2026 ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT 6/16/26 6:45 PM DAVID MUIR: Back here in the U.S., and to the reflecting pool on the National Mall. After President Trump spent millions in taxpayer money to have it painted blue, the water is now green and workers were on site today. Here's Mary Bruce. MARY BRUCE: Tonight, the National Park Service out in force trying to clean algae that's turning the reflecting pool green, just days after President Trump spent nearly $15 million to repaint it, quote, "American Flag Blue.” DONALD TRUMP: You have something you're going to be very proud of, and it’ll last for 50 to 100 years before you have to do anything with it. Very strong, powerful substance that we used. And we picked a color called American Flag Blue. BRUCE: Workers spotted this morning dumping hydrogen peroxide into the pool. TOURIST: It was supposed to look blue. It’s pretty green right now, so I don't know. I’d ask for a refund or something. BRUCE: It's one of several Trump renovation projects being paid for by taxpayers now under scrutiny. On a judge's orders, Trump's name stripped from the Kennedy Center, which he had tried to rename after himself. But tonight, the entrance still shrouded in a tarp. And there are new questions about his massive ballroom. He's promised it would be paid for entirely by private donations. TRUMP: We have no taxes. It's taxpayer free. We have no taxpayer putting up ten cents. BRUCE: Tonight, the Washington Post reports the contractor building the ballroom gave it one estimated price tag of $600 million, more than half of that reportedly coming from taxpayers. And David, The White House tells us the ballroom project is, quote, “inextricably tied to the security of the President, The White House grounds, and the certain security infrastructure assets.” As for the reflecting pool, they tell us that the Park Service is using a, quote, “high tech, nanobubble ozone technology to kill that algae. MUIR: All right. Mary Bruce at The White House. Mary, thank you. Bruce led with the reflecting pool, before moving on to the Kennedy Center and the latest proposed costs of The White House’s ballroom. The report didn’t have to be snarky or over-the-top. The story itself serves to cast the Trump administration in a negative light. NBC’s wasn’t much better. And there was snark: WATCH: @NBCNightlyNews didn't find time to cover the SPLC boss funneling $1.2M to her neo-Nazi lover, the Antifa indictments out of Minneapolis, or to do a follow-up item on the various investigations into the Newsom Machine. Not when there is schadenfreude to be had over the... pic.twitter.com/C2yHpvsjE5 — Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) June 17, 2026 NBC NIGHTLY NEWS 6/16/26 6:43 PM TOM LLAMAS: Back in Washington, one of the president's D.C. renovation projects facing criticism tonight. After millions of dollars were spent to turn the reflecting pool blue, it is now very much green. Ryan Nobles reports. RYAN NOBLES: President Trump has made the overall of the iconic reflecting pool on the National Mall a top priority. DONALD TRUMP: We used a dark blue. It's called American Flag Blue. NOBLES: Trump promising a new blue base, designed to be seen through crystal clear water, even driving the presidential Beast over the empty pool to tease the changes. But now, visitors are surprised by what they find. TOURIST: It's- the first thing we noticed was that it was green. NOBLES: Were you expecting green? TOURIST: No, not at all. NOBLES: Haha! Is this- would you want to swim in that water? TOURIST: No. NOBLES: The goal was to have this pool a shimmering blue in the time for the 250th anniversary of the country. It’s obviously green. But crews are fiercely working to make that a reality. Dumping hydrogen peroxide into the water. Vacuuming up new algae blooms. The Department of the Interior promising new technology will eventually clear things up. Experts warn completely killing off algae in such a large stagnant body of water at the height of summer is no easy task. ROSALINA CHRISTOVA: When the conditions are favorable again, high temperature, high light, high level of nutrient ability, they just grow. NOBLES: The $14.6 million dollar pool project, one example of the Trump administration's effort to update several D.C. landmarks. And while tourists are hopeful the renovations will work, some are skeptical the price tag and the intense effort into the reflecting pool will ultimately deliver. DC RESIDENT: It doesn't really look like anything’s changed. DC RESIDENT: Gotta work on the algae control. It’s hard to prevent. NOBLES: Ryan Nobles, NBC News, Washington. There was no framing the Reflecting Pool with the other projects- just Ryan Nobles on site yukking it up with tourists and locals. We haven’t seen this much detail into a report on algae blooms since Florida beaches were hit with Red Tide a few years back. Then, as now, nature is merely a vehicle towards framing a Republican administration as incompetent. Both of these items ran on A-block, before the first run of commercials. And you may ask yourselves: what did these newscasts not report in order to make time for algae? Excellent question. For starters, there’s news of the SPLC boss funneling a staggering $1.2 million to her live-in neo-Nazi lover. Per The New York Post: A top Southern Poverty Law Center official is accused of helping funnel $1.2 million in donor money to an informant in the National Alliance white supremacist group — who was also allegedly her lover. The Department of Justice filed a superseding indictment against the SPLC accusing it of funneling donor cash to hate groups they were then telling donors they were fighting. One figure, referred to as “Employee-2” in the indictment, is described as a “person who would become Director of the SPLC’s Intelligence Project.” The report goes on to note that two thirds of the monies funneled into the joint account were used for living expenses. The networks mostly omitted the original indictment, so it doesn’t come as a shock that they’d also blow off the superseding. Then there are the indictments of Minnesota Antifa radicals seeking to disrupt immigration enforcement operations which, to their credit, was covered on the CBS Evening News. WATCH: The sole broadcast network evening news report on the Minneapolis Antifa indictments was aired on @CBSEveningNews- a tiny brief. TONY DOKOUPIL: We turn now to Minnesota, where federal prosecutors have charged 15 people but with not just protesting ICE earlier this year... pic.twitter.com/swAXFhZMS0 — Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) June 17, 2026 TONY DOKOUPIL: We turn now to Minnesota, where federal prosecutors have charged 15 people but with not just protesting ICE earlier this year but conspiring to, quote: "violently oppose immigration law enforcement." That sparked new protests outside the federal courthouse in St. Paul. Demonstrators clashing with U.S. Marshals after Homeland Security rounded up most of those charged. The U.S. Attorney says they are connected to an Antifa group that used metal beams and other barriers to block roadways. Additional detail, per Fox News: The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Minnesota on Tuesday announced that 15 Antifa members have been indicted for their alleged roles in conspiring to hinder federal immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis earlier this year. The suspects, 12 of whom are in custody, are all charged with conspiracy to impede or injure a federal officer, according to a 94-page criminal complaint, and some are charged with further crimes. Federal prosecutors allege that each suspect took part in a conspiracy to obstruct federal immigration enforcement officers, including ICE personnel, through force, intimidation and threats. The suspects are alleged members of the Antifa cell Direct Action Minnesota Network (DAMN), a radical far-left group accused of coordinating operations against federal immigration officers. We were reliably told that the Minnesota immigration protests were organic and peaceful, and not the work of well-organized and funded leftist goon squads. This inconvenient story proves otherwise, hence it doesn’t make it to air on ABC and NBC. You got stories about algae instead. As we often note, what you don’t see on the evening news is often more important than what makes it to air.