Prepare for your logic to feel vandalized.
On Wednesday, the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool drama got as thick as the pool’s algae when Park Police posted a notice to X asking for the public’s help identifying an alleged vandal.
“The United States Park Police is seeking assistance in identifying the individual depicted here in connection with a Destruction of Government Property investigation,” officials said in the post, noting that the alleged incident occurred on June 19 at around 3:30 p.m.
Tasos Katopodis via Getty Images
The post also provides a video of the supposed crime. The footage, which is shot from a distance and is pretty blurry, shows a person reaching into the pool and pulling something out — and that’s it.
After watching the seemingly benign footage on X, critics were more eager to mock Park Police than they were to assist officials.
The reason why Park Police seem so invested in finding the person in this seemingly innocent video is likely linked to President Donald Trump’s claims that vandals are to blame for why the $14 million “American flag blue” coating he had installed in the pool is now peeling as algae turns the water a toxic-looking shade of green.
Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images
Trump claimed over the weekend to reporters that the supposed vandals “went in there with a knife” and carved a “290, 300-foot slit right through it, probably a box cutter or a knife of some kind.”
This is despite any evidence of said gash. HuffPost even visited the site Monday and didn’t see anything close to an enormous slit — which seems to grow longer whenever Trump mentions it.
Trump said Tuesday that six people have been arrested over recent damage to the pool. One includes a cyclist and former Olympic canoe racer who says he touched a piece of the peeled-off paint, but denies damaging the site in any way.
