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Trump’s Algae Manifests His Arrogance

Trump’s Algae Manifests His Arrogance

Last updated on: June 20, 2026 at 6:00 am by Rev. Rob Schenck

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Trump’s Algae Manifests His Arrogance 2026-06-19T17:58:13-04:00 Rev. Rob Schenck

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God opposes the proud

but shows favor to the humble. – James 4:6

The Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C., which stretches before the Lincoln Memorial—one of our nation’s most symbolic sites—turned an embarrassing shade of green with massive algae blooms just days after President Trump’s $14.2 million renovation was completed. The “American flag blue” coating, applied during the process and promised to make it a “beautiful, beautiful reflecting pool… the way it’s supposed to be,” is now separated from the pool shell, hideously curled up, and floated to the surface.

This is much more than an embarrassment to the President and an eyesore for the public. The green scum and faded blue detritus reveal the central point: Mr. Trump operates from arrogance, certitude, and overconfident isolation–and they are all as gross as algae in a shallow pool on a hot, humid day. What he has said and done throughout his adult life, both privately and publicly, makes it clear that he is convinced he knows more than anyone else and always makes the best decisions about anything.

The Bible presents pride, arrogance, and hubris as fundamental spiritual dangers—often identifying them as the root of other sins. Scripture condemns these attitudes because they reflect an inflated sense of self-sufficiency that rejects dependence on God, or anyone or anything else. Instead of relying on divine wisdom and humbly seeking others’ counsel, a prideful heart exalts human will and looks down on others.

The overarching biblical message concerning these behaviors is organized into four main themes:

1. The Inevitable Downfall

Scripture warns that pride brings destruction and disgrace, often blinding individuals to their own failings (Proverbs 16:18, 11:2; Obadiah 1:3).

2. God’s Opposition

Arrogance is considered an “abomination” because it pits the individual against God; consequently, scripture states God directly opposes the proud (Proverbs 16:5; James 4:6).

3. Biblical Examples of Hubris

* Satan: Isaiah 14:12-15 depicts Lucifer‘s downfall resulting from his desire to elevate himself above the “Most High”.
* King Nebuchadnezzar: Daniel 4:30 details his loss of sanity and status after boasting of his own strength, highlighting the danger of hubris.

4. The Antidote: Humility

The Bible advocates for “sober judgment” (Romans 12:3), valuing others over oneself, and acknowledging that all strength comes from God, rather than focusing on self-aggrandizement (Philippians 2:3; 1 Peter 5:5).

Arrogance often trumps expertise, and that is what happened here. Trump dismissed the site’s decades-long algae problems and ignored the environmental realities that any local expert could have explained. He received warnings about the complex water treatment system and the pool’s history of leaking 16 million gallons annually, but he moved forward with overconfidence. This isn’t just about a dirty pool holding 6,750,000 gallons of water. It is about a leadership style rooted in hubris that leads to failure when certitude replaces careful consultation.

Note: In my humble opinion (pun intended), there is no better short-form treatment of humility than my good friend Mike Austin’s book, Humility: Rediscovering the Way of Love and Life in Christ. I highly recommend it!

What Happened at the Washington Reflecting Pool

“It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.” — Ansel Adams, American photographer and environmentalist.

Trump announced in April 2026 that he would fix the Pool. A visiting German friend had complained about it, calling it “dark and disgusting.” His solution revealed his swimming pool mentality. “I have a guy who’s unbelievable at doing swimming pools up the road,” Trump declared, conflating a shallow historic water mirror designed for solemn reflection with a deep backyard leisure feature.

That “guy” was Atlantic Industrial Coatings, a Virginia company that had worked on a swimming pool at one of Trump’s golf clubs. Trump’s administration handed them a no-bid contract and bypassed competitive bidding by invoking an exemption meant for urgent situations. The only urgency appears to have been Trump’s desire to claim credit before the July 4th celebrations.

Trump promised the work would cost $1.8 million and take one week. The project wrapped up six weeks later. Costs had exploded to $14.2 million. The contractor received a 20% profit margin, compared with the typical 6-12% on federal construction contracts. A National Park Service analysis found this “inflated and excessive”.

The contractor’s initial attempts to seal the pool’s leaking expansion joints failed two separate tests. Workers still proceeded with the blue paint job.

The Character Flaws Behind the Debacle

“Arrogance doesn’t lead — it dominates. And domination isn’t leadership.” — Luis Rafael Moscote-Salazar, MD, Author and Medical Doctor

Trump operates from a belief system in which expertise is seen as weakness rather than wisdom. I was there in Cleveland, Ohio, at the 2016 Republican National Convention when Trump declared, ‘I alone can fix it,’ as he accepted his party’s nomination. This wasn’t campaign rhetoric. It was a conviction that has guided his approach to everything from pandemics to the now-ruined Reflecting Pool.

His gut supersedes data. ‘My gut tells me more sometimes than anybody else’s brain can ever tell me,’ Trump told the Washington Post in 2018. This rejection of expertise produced predictable results at the Reflecting Pool. Engineers who understood the complex water treatment system and the pool’s chronic leaking problems were sidelined, and a swimming pool contractor took their place.

Research shows arrogance as ‘disparaging behavior towards others’ and associates it with ‘poor in-role task performance’. Trump’s pattern fits this description. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he stripped the federal government of its scientific advisory committees and eliminated over 700 panels. He censored scientists, suppressed federal reports, and manipulated CDC guidance to accommodate political supporters.

Arrogant leaders create what researchers call a ‘Chief Disengagement Officer’ dynamic. They overwhelm teams and ignore feedback. Credit goes to them while blame gets deflected elsewhere. The pool contractor’s sealing attempts failed two tests, yet work continued anyway. Nobody questioned the swimming pool guy’s competence because questioning Trump’s judgment wouldn’t be tolerated.

In direct contradiction, the Bible strongly encourages seeking counsel, advice, and feedback, viewing such practices as marks of wisdom, safety, and humility. Scripture contrasts the person who listens only to themselves with the wise person who actively welcomes input from others.

The biblical teachings on this topic center on four key principles:

1. Safety in Numbers

The Bible repeatedly states that plans succeed and people find safety when they consult multiple advisors, rather than relying solely on their own limited perspective (Proverbs 11:14, 15:22).

2. The Mark of a Fool vs. The Wise

Scripture explicitly equates a refusal to take advice with foolishness, while defining the willingness to listen to feedback as a core trait of the wise (Proverbs 12:15, 13:10).

3. Personal Growth and Refining

Feedback is presented as a necessary tool for personal improvement and sharpening one’s character, famously compared to iron sharpening iron (Proverbs 19:20, 27:17). Criticism, or constructive critique, offers useful feedback, while flattery, indulgence, and obsequiousness offer no constructive help and often are destructive in effect.

Why Trump’s Pool Failure Matters Beyond This One Incident

Trump’s Washington reflecting pool disaster demonstrates a clear pattern of leadership. In contrast, studies show that transformational leaders who consider individual expertise and adapt their approach achieve project success 63% more often than those who don’t. Likewise, Trump’s leadership style mirrors what researchers classify as a laissez-faire-authoritarian mix, a toxic combination that undermines team collaboration and leads to project failure.

Trump’s COVID-19 response followed the same playbook. Social conservatives, populists, and individualists who distrust expert advice showed substantially higher rates of ignoring medical professionals during the pandemic. Trump reinforced that distrust by censoring scientists and manipulating CDC guidance to fit political narratives rather than public health realities.

The cost of ignoring expertise compounds over time. Marginalized voices and early warnings don’t disappear when dismissed. They accumulate into crises that eventually require attention, whether through incidents or regulatory action. By then, conversations shift from prevention to blame.

There’s another reason to examine this through the lens of symbolic politics. Trump became skilled at what political scientists call symbolic manipulation, where surface-level actions trigger emotions while substantive problems remain unaddressed. The blue paint job symbolized action, while the algae growth revealed substance, or rather, its absence. This pattern repeats because Trump mistakes confidence for competence and prefers swimming pool contractors over engineers who understand the Reflection Pool’s design, use, environment, and complexities.

Conclusion

The green algae blooming across the Washington Reflecting Pool represents far more than poor maintenance. It exposes a dangerously problematic leadership philosophy in which arrogance defeats expertise and gut instinct replaces careful analysis. Swimming pool contractors get chosen over engineers who understand complex water systems. Questioning, which can often surface problems before they become unsolvable, is not allowed or punished. Accountability that could expose incompetence is avoided.

This kind of isolation, sole action, and certitude without competence does not constitute strength. They instead indicate a serious and consequential character flaw that turns renovation projects into national embarrassments and public health guidance into political theater. Confidence means nothing without the wisdom to recognize what you don’t know— and a sufficient level of modesty to respect those who know what you need to know in order to be effective.

Key Takeaways

The Washington Reflecting Pool’s algae outbreak after Trump’s $14.2 million renovation illustrates how leadership arrogance produces predictable failures when expertise is dismissed in favor of gut instinct and political optics.

• Expertise matters more than confidence: Trump hired a swimming pool contractor for a complex historic water system, bypassing competitive bidding and ignoring engineers who understood the pool’s chronic leaking and treatment challenges.

• Arrogant leadership creates costly failures: The project ballooned from a promised $1.8 million one-week job to $14.2 million over six weeks, with inflated profit margins and failed sealing tests that workers ignored.

• Dismissing expert advice compounds problems: Research shows leaders who ignore expertise achieve 63% lower project success rates, a pattern Trump repeated from the COVID-19 response to infrastructure projects.

• Symbolic action doesn’t replace substance: The blue paint job symbolized quick action for July 4th celebrations, but the algae growth revealed the consequences of prioritizing appearance over functional solutions.

This incident exemplifies a broader leadership pattern in which certitude replaces consultation, resulting in preventable failures that transform renovation promises into national embarrassments.

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