Donald Trump’s renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool gave Joe Biden all the material to mock him. The former president used a Saturday night Democratic fundraiser in Maryland to criticize his successor.
Joe Biden slams Donald Trump over Reflecting Pool and Kennedy Center
Joe Biden went after Donald Trump on several fronts. From the troubled Reflecting Pool restoration, the removal of Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center following a court order, to a planned $600 million ballroom replacing the White House East Wing, and a proposed triumphal arch bearing the president’s name. “It’s not just his vanity projects,” Biden said (via The Hill). “Even hiring his own pool guy to fix his Reflecting Pool. … Whoa, what a loser,” he added.
The Reflecting Pool project has struggled since work began. An algae bloom took hold after repainting, and officials have also dealt with alleged vandalism at the site; hardly the polished image the administration had touted.
But Joe Biden’s criticism was reserved for what he called corruption at the heart of Donald Trump’s presidency. “It’s the brazen, blatant corruption — corruption on a scale never seen before in American history in any administration,” he said.
Biden went further, accusing Trump of personally profiting from the office. “Trump has made billions of dollars since his return to the White House. Making money off the presidency is one of the reasons he wants to be president,” he added.
Saturday’s appearance was notable in its own right. Biden has largely stayed out of public view since his prostate cancer diagnosis, which came after he left the White House. The Maryland gala was one of his more direct and sustained attacks on Trump since the transition of power.
In February, following Donald Trump’s record-length State of the Union address, Joe Biden joked to a South Carolina gathering that he wondered if his successor was “still talking.”
Originally reported by Devanshi Basu for Mandatory.
