ONLY ONE QUESTION REMAINS: It all comes down to this one question!

MONDAY, AUGUST 24, 2026

But is anyone willing to ask? We'll admit it! At the time when this question appeared, we don't think we ever heard about it:

Did Trump's motorcade drive through the newly painted reflecting pool?   

We admit it! Within the endless tsunami of crazy behaviors characteristic of the Trump era, we don't remember being aware of that question at all!  

Having said that, you're right! The bungling of the reflecting pool seems very "June 2026" at this much later point in time. He wanted it done for the Fourth of July. The bungling was a big deal in June.

That said, we're quoting the headline of a report from the Snopes site—a report delivered by Anna Rascouët-Paz, all the way back on June 23.   

Snopes was trying to determine whether a particular crazy behavior had actually occurred back on May 7. Given the nature of the era, the answer turned out to be yes.

Here's how her report began:    

Fact Check
Did Trump's motorcade drive through newly painted reflecting pool?   

In June 2026, a claim spread online that President Donald Trump's motorcade had driven through the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool after it was painted and sealed as part of a more than $14 million renovation project.

The rumor circulated as the U.S. National Park Service struggled to maintain the appearance of the Washington, D.C., landmark after Trump ordered it to be repainted to "American flag blue" for the country's 250th anniversary. 

Examples of the claim spread on X and Instagram, while the self-described progressive Facebook page Occupy Democrats posted it on Facebook. That post featured an image of five black SUVs driving through the empty pool, and overlaid text suggesting the motorcade may have damaged the paint and sealant before it had fully set, thus later causing the paint to peel off.   

Several Snopes readers also emailed us and searched our website to verify the veracity of the story.

Back in June, a claim—a rumor—was circulating about a possible bit of crazy behavior. Snopes exists to examine such claims—and when Rascouët-Paz fact-checked this claim, it turned out that the claim was perfectly accurate!

Her report continues as shown:

[Continuing directly]
In short, the claim is true and the images are authentic. In early May 2026, after the pool was repainted dark blue and before the NPS began to refill it with water, a White House official posted a video showing Trump's motorcade driving though the landmark. 

[...]

[VIDEO INCLUDED]

Various X posts credited the above video to White House Communications Director Steven Cheung, who posted it earlier that day.

"They see me rolling," Cheung's post reads, referencing rapper Chamillionaire's 2005 song "Ridin'." Cheung added, "President Trump rides in the Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial!"

In real time, the highly volatile Steven Cheung had posted video of the event. You can see Cheung's video by clicking to the Snopes report.   

Did this bizarre behavior play a role in the subsequent failure of the Reflecting Pool project? Rascouët-Paz said she didn't know.  

That said, we don't remember ever hearing about this nutcase behavior at the time it occurred. In part, the reason for that is right there in the Snopes report.   

When this strange event occurred, did major news orgs report the event? The answer seems to be basically no. 

Though she does cite three local D.C. TV stations, Rascouët-Paz lists only CNN, the New York Post and Forbes as national orgs which reported this event. And none of the six links she provides go to classic news reports about this peculiar event. All six links go to brief videos posted on YouTube.

In fact, the AP did report this event, in real time, on June 8. The report includes several photos of Cheung's gonzo act of ridin' and rolling on the surface of the Pool, with the president himself aboard.   

That said, and as best we can tell, this behavior didn't receive a whole lot of coverage. There's been so much weird behavior in this unraveling second term—and there's so little interest in coming to terms with the meaning of this state of affairs—that relatively minor acts of inanity have tended to slide between the cracks—have tended to be disappeared.   

We'll now admit to a terrible fact. Video of these nutballs rollin' the length of the Reflecting Pool instantly reminded us of video of you-know-who, rolling into various capitals during his seizure of Europe 

For you, flash reactions may differ. Setting our mental flash to the side, Cheung did manage to generate substantial coverage last week with his furious and ugly reaction to What Jon Ossoff Said. 

Should Senator Ossoff have said what he said? Opinions on that will differ. But Cheung responded as he routinely does, with the ugly fury and the ugly rage which have become his trademark.   

That furious conduct is also the trademark of Cheung's more powerful boss. In our view, only one political question remains, and that question is this:   

Is something wrong with President Trump? No, really—is it possible that something is actually wrong with the world's most powerful person?   

In our view, that's the only political question which remains—except for this companion question:

Is there even one journalist in Blue America's Potemkin brigade who's willing to stand, in full public view, and ask that obvious question?

Tomorrow: Goldberg gets it right