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Trump drives across Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to inspect new blue coating he's putting on it

President Donald Trump has visited the Lincoln Memorial to see the reflecting pool he's painting in a color he calls “American flag blue.”
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Trump drives across Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to inspect new blue coating he’s putting on it​

President Donald Trump on Thursday went on an unannounced trip to the Lincoln Memorial to see the Reflecting Pool after he had it coated in a color he calls “American flag blue.”
He did more than just see it — the Republican president was driven across the new coating before he got out of his SUV to make a statement and answer questions from reporters who had been taken there to await his arrival before the sun set.
The new blue coating will hide the pool’s gray stone, a color Trump said was “never good.” The project cost nearly $2 million, he said.
“It never had the color people wanted, but now it’s going to have the great color,” he said, standing in the pool surrounded by some of his Cabinet secretaries, including Doug Burgum of Interior and Markwayne Mullin of Homeland Security.
Trump had similar feelings about the gray granite exterior of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House, describing it as a “really bad color” last year. The president wants to cover the building in white paint and two federal agencies are reviewing his proposal. Trump said he is also working on the memorial to President Abraham Lincoln itself, but he offered no specifics, saying only that “we have a beautiful plan” in mind.
 
Some signs of the (out of touch) times from this administration....

Sean Duffy Filmed Reality Show Over Past Seven Months

What’s stopping you from celebrating America’s 250th birthday by loading your whole family in the car and road-tripping across this great nation? Work obligations? A boss who won’t let you come and go as you please? The fact that gas now costs more than $4.50 a gallon?
Or do you just need a little inspiration? Well, don’t worry, Transportation secretary Sean Duffy is here to help! Not by, like, doing anything to lower fuel costs, but by sharing a family road-trip reality TV show he’s been filming over the past seven months.
Friday on Fox & Friends, the secretary and his wife, Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy, revealed that they celebrated the semiquincentennial by traveling the country with their nine children. And they filmed the whole adventure for a reality series called The Great American Road Trip, which launches on YouTube next month. On one level, this makes a lot of sense. Duffy, who was on MTV’s Road Rules: All Stars, noted, “Rachel and I actually met on a road trip on a reality TV show.” On another level, it doesn’t make any sense at all, since Duffy is supposed to be running the Department of Transportation. So how exactly did he do his job and film a reality show?
“Over the course of seven months we just kind of found these moments where I might be able to do some work, I could take the kids with me, do a road trip,” he explained.
Apparently, Duffy’s boss was totally cool with him doing “some work” while frequently driving around the country with his family and a full film crew. President Trump even gives the family a send-off at the start of the show. “We went to the Oval with the kids. By the way, who gets to do that?” Duffy marveled. Good point!
Let’s say you aren’t a Cabinet secretary with a bizarrely chill boss and a shockingly flexible schedule. Can you still take the family on a road trip this summer? You might actually be a bad parent if you don’t! The Duffys lamented that too many Americans are letting their kids sit on the couch looking at screens and pitched road trips as the antidote. “I’m going to be really honest. We live in a PornHub world,” said Rachel Campos-Duffy. “This is really wholesome good, family stuff.” (Presumably she was referring to the travel itself, not watching her show on YouTube.)
And the great thing about driving, Sean Duffy noted (with absolutely no acknowledgment of skyrocketing gas prices or general affordability concerns), is that “it fits any budget to do a road trip!”
The trailer for the series — in addition to teasing all kinds of wild reality-TV drama, from a gender reveal to a kid being gravely injured while skiing?! — suggests financial concerns might actually be addressed.
At one point, Sean Duffy tells his daughter, “Someone’s got to pay for this operation. I’ve got to go to work.”
The girl shoots back, “Someone’s got to pay for this operation. But we all know it’s Mom!”
Surely, hosting Fox & Friends Weekend pays well. But the list of sponsors on the Great American Road Trip website suggests Mom might have had a little help: So what exactly is going on with the money behind The Great American Road Trip? Who provided all those beautiful hotel rooms, snowmobiles, waterslides, and sweeping drone shots? It’s unclear! And unfortunately, I won’t be able to do any reporting on the topic, as the Duffys have inspired me to embark on my own all-American, Toyota-sponsored family vacation.
Screenshot 2026-05-08 181046.png


 
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Trump's plan to paint the Eisenhower office building could cost at least $7.5M, the White House says

President Donald Trump's plan to coat the granite exterior of a historic building next to the White House with white paint could cost taxpayers at least $7.5 million.
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Trump’s plan to paint the Eisenhower office building could cost at least $7.5M, the White House says​

President Donald Trump’s proposal to put a coat of white paint on the exterior of a 19th-century historic landmark building next to the White House could cost taxpayers at least $7.5 million, a White House official involved in the project said Thursday.
Ryan Erb, the construction operations and facilities manager in the White House Office of Administration, which is spearheading the proposal, discussed details with members of the National Capital Planning Commission as the federal agency opened its review process.
The commission did not approve the project on Thursday, instead directing the White House to provide the agency with additional information at a future date.
The proposed painting of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building is one piece of a broader plan the Republican president has said will make Washington more beautiful.
The White House has put forward two proposals: painting the entire gray granite exterior of the Eisenhower building white, or painting most of the building white while leaving the granite base as is. Painting the entire building is preferred, officials have said.
Trump last year said the gray is a “really bad color.”
Erb said Thursday that the paint is being tested on granite samples from a quarry in Maine because no testing can be done on the Eisenhower building itself. He stressed that the samples are new stone and not aged like what is on the building, which opened in 1888 after 17 years of construction.
“The initial data was encouraging for this process,” he said.
But the proposal has alarmed preservationists, architects, historians and others who argue that granite is not meant to be painted and that paint would trap moisture and deteriorate the stone.
“Painting the granite facade of the building white will adversely and permanently alter this important landmark, and should be rejected,” said Priya Jain, of the Society of Architectural Historians. She was among 11 people who commented at Thursday’s meeting. Most urged the commission to reject the proposal.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation said the “subtle and rich colors” of EEOB’s granite exterior are “central to its historic significance” and that the proposal would fail to protect those character-defining features. The nonprofit organization has sued over the White House ballroom.
More than 2,000 public comments submitted to the agency and available on its website were also strongly opposed to the plan. Commenters criticized the expected cost as a waste of taxpayer dollars and argued that a white Eisenhower building would throw off the visual balance along that portion of Pennsylvania Avenue and overwhelm the White House. Some suggested improvements to landscaping, lighting, and other measures to enhance the building’s appearance.
The capital planning commission, chaired by top Trump White House aide Will Scharf, approved staff comments on the proposal. That means White House officials will have to present additional information to the agency on a future date, including details about the type of paint to be used as well as alternatives that could improve the building’s appearance without painting it.
A separate federal agency — the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts — is also reviewing the proposal and recently asked the White House to present additional information, including about paint testing, before a vote to approve it.
The Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which sits across a driveway from the White House, is a National Historic Landmark. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
A lawsuit against the proposed paint job is also pending in federal court.

 

Nearly 600,000 Trump Mobile Buyers Still Waiting as $59 Million in T1 Phone Deposits Sparks Backlash​

From https://www.btimesonline.com/articles/177300/20260509/nearly-600-000-trump-mobile-buyers-still-waiting-as-59-million-in-t1-phone-deposits-sparks-backlash.htm

Nearly 600,000 customers who paid deposits for the Trump Mobile T1 smartphone are still waiting for a device that has yet to materialize almost a year after launch, fueling mounting backlash among supporters of President Donald Trump and prompting renewed scrutiny over the company's promises, refund policies and "Made in the USA" marketing claims.

The gold-colored T1 smartphone, unveiled in June 2025 by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump at Trump Tower, was pitched as a patriotic alternative to Apple and Samsung. Priced at $499 with a $100 deposit requirement, the Android-based device promised American manufacturing and premium branding tied closely to the Trump political movement.

As of May 2026, however, no verified customer shipments have been publicly confirmed.

The growing frustration intensified this month after updated Trump Mobile terms of service made clear that placing a deposit "does not constitute a completed purchase and does not create a binding legal contract." The revised policy, published on 6 April, states that deposits merely provide "a conditional opportunity to buy the device if Trump Mobile eventually chooses to sell it."

For many customers, that language confirmed fears that the long-delayed project may never launch at all.

The delays have accumulated steadily since the product's announcement. Trump Mobile initially promised deliveries by late summer 2025 before repeatedly shifting timelines to November, then December, and later the first quarter of 2026. A key March 2026 carrier certification deadline reportedly passed without resolution.

By April, Trump Mobile quietly removed all shipping estimates from its website entirely.
Click to expand...
Media organizations tracking the rollout reported widespread confusion inside Trump Mobile's customer support system. NBC News, which placed its own deposit to monitor the process, said support representatives repeatedly provided conflicting timelines during calls placed between September 2025 and January 2026.

At one point, customer service staff reportedly blamed a 43-day federal government shutdown for manufacturing delays, despite analysts noting that smartphone production is largely private-sector driven.

Technology journalists described the preorder process itself as deeply disorganized. Investigative reporter Joseph Cox of 404 Media wrote that his credit card was charged incorrectly, no shipping information was collected, and promised follow-up notifications never arrived.

Cox later described the rollout as "the worst experience I've ever faced buying a consumer electronic product."

Technology publication Android Authority, which also placed a deposit, wrote in January that it expected to "never get a phone" and "never see the $100 deposit again."

The political symbolism surrounding the project has amplified the controversy.

Trump Mobile originally marketed the T1 as "MADE IN THE USA," a claim that quickly became central to its branding. But within days of launch, the wording quietly disappeared from promotional materials. It was replaced first by "American-proud design" and later by phrases including "Brought to life right here in the USA."
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Supply-chain experts questioned whether those phrases had any meaningful manufacturing significance.

By February 2026, company executives reportedly acknowledged that most production would occur overseas, with only limited final assembly taking place in Miami. Meanwhile, Trump Mobile began offering refurbished iPhones and Samsung devices through its platform, despite their foreign manufacturing origins.

The mounting criticism has now attracted political and regulatory attention.

In January, Elizabeth Warren and 10 other Democratic lawmakers sent a formal request to the Federal Trade Commission urging investigators to examine whether Trump Mobile engaged in "bait-and-switch tactics involving deposits for products never delivered."

The lawmakers also questioned whether the company's "Made in the USA" advertising violated consumer protection laws.

"The American people deserve to know that consumer protection laws apply equally to all businesses, regardless of political connections," the letter stated.

As of this month, the FTC has not publicly confirmed whether a formal investigation is underway. Trump Mobile has not responded publicly to multiple media inquiries regarding refunds, delivery schedules or production timelines.
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Guess who is not bankrupt?
 
thettctransitfanatic said:
Did you miss the election integrity part? He's saying they're gonna deploy ICE to the polls basically.
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My only comment is that I do not read his missives, even if you post the whole thing. A brief summary and a link to the original (or the screenshots) would be more valuable to me.

I read Heather Cox Richardson's daily letter, so I do get a snapshot of DJT's rantings
 
thettctransitfanatic said:
Did you miss the election integrity part? He's saying they're gonna deploy ICE to the polls basically.
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I would first have to read them. I don't see them as being worth reading. People's comments here? Absolutely, but if I wanted to read his stream I would simply go to wherever he posts them.

I could have told you ten months ago they would be deploying ICE agents to polls during the mid-terms.
 
So it okay for Alabama, Louisiana, Florida and Texas to redistrict for "reasons". But it's not okay for Virginia to redistrict for "reasons"...

...funny how The Constitution applies only to some states and not to others.

Mihairokov said:
I could have told you ten months ago they would be deploying ICE agents to polls during the mid-terms.
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I would say that would be illegal. But Roberts and company might disagree with that point... /bleah
 
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