Let Us Reflect
Why Greenwatergate has stuck when so many other incidents have not.
As the sun breaks on our 250-year-old republic, the overwhelming energy with which it daily bathes the earth now fills the chlorophyllic bellies of billions of tiny phytoplankton—which is to say, algae—in the iconic Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on the National Mall. Despite the best efforts and chemical interventions of National Park officials, the unblinking eyes of hundreds of cameras, and the increasingly deluded ravings of our head of state, the best anyone seems able to make of it is a shifting arrangement of blue and green smears; Rothko considers the Seattle Seahawks.
The Reflecting Pool has long served as a shimmering, dark mirror for our national myths. It fills the background in images of Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Jenny and Forrest reunited there in “Forrest Gump.” Its waters are placid. Just shy of totally still and just short of black when seen from above. It fills the space between the monuments of Washington and Lincoln like a void, inviting us all to see ourselves stretched between the founding of our republic and its salvation—a masterfully simple use of space that compels sober contemplation.
On June 14, 2026, Donald Trump took the occasion of his birthday to turn the Lincoln Memorial into a catwalk for the fragile machismo of the American right. Immediately thereafter, he turned the mirror at Lincoln’s feet into a man-made swamp. A touch of the capital’s primordial nature unleashed, perhaps, upon the face of one of the country’s most carefully cultivated spaces. …
Continue reading this article by Justin Briley, “Let Us Reflect,” here: https://www.liberalcurrents.com/let-us-reflect/