The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is surrounded by fencing. So is Lafayette Park, just north of the White House. The Great American State Fair, on the National Mall, is encased by so much fencing — several panels labeled with the word “FREEDOM” — that it is difficult to reach several Smithsonian museums or a nearby Metro station.
Presiding over a series of fenced-off or under-construction festivities ahead of the country’s 250th celebration is President Trump, who does not seem to mind that some of the nation’s most enduring symbols of liberty and expression are closed off and militarized.
“Good Morning from the Pool!” he wrote on social media late last week, posting an image of three soldiers standing guard at the pool’s edge, just in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
In his drive to “beautify” the nation’s capital, Mr. Trump seems to have turned portions of the city into either a construction zone or an armed camp as he seeks to prove that he alone can improve a city he interacts with primarily from his armored limousine or presidential helicopter.
His work on the Reflecting Pool, in particular, has brought out a well-established pattern of Mr. Trump’s personality: a tendency to blame his critics and threaten to punish them.
In recent days, confronted with images of peeling rubbery coating and water that had turned from “American flag blue” to Mountain Dew green, Mr. Trump has accused vandals of slashing the sides and bottom of the pool. This comes as internal records show that National Park Service workers had for weeks been concerned about an array of issues related to the refinishing project, including holes in the new layers of waterproofing on the bottom.
Mr. Trump also said that the green tint in the pool had been caused by “criminally made algae.” He has repeatedly threatened 10-year prison terms for anyone caught vandalizing national monuments.
As the hunt for vandals continues, federal officials have effectively closed off access to the Reflecting Pool. The administration put fencing up last week, and now officials say the pool will remain closed off ahead of a large, late-night fireworks show planned for this weekend.
According to a Trump administration official, seven people have been arrested, seven have received federal citations and 19 police reports have been filed related to vandalism at the Reflecting Pool. An official with the United States attorney’s office in Washington said on Tuesday that no records of arrests or citations had yet been produced by the administration or law enforcement officials to support the president’s claims.
Timothy L. O’Brien, a biographer of Mr. Trump, said that what was happening now was in keeping with how Mr. Trump had behaved for much of his life in business and in politics.
“It’s a vivid example of him overestimating his own abilities, the nature of the problem, thinking his magic powers could overcome everything,” Mr. O’Brien said in an interview. “He likes the idea that he will walk out on the stage with a giant presidential wand and end decades of Middle Eastern warfare or prehistorical algae that defies modern chemicals.”
Mr. O’Brien added: “When that doesn’t happen he goes into convoluted and damaging narratives.”
In tackling the Reflecting Pool, Mr. Trump bypassed the normal competitive process and gave no-bid contracts directly to two firms. He originally said that resurfacing the pool would cost only $1.8 million, though the cost of that work has since ballooned to $14.7 million in taxpayer money. A firm tied to a Trump donor was also given a contract to install a water-purification system.
Faced with questions about his choices, Mr. Trump is lashing out at critics — even blaming former President Barack Obama, who left office 10 years ago, for not fixing the pool correctly. Americans have also been introduced to words like “nanobubbles” and “Scenedesmus” to understand the latest spectacle in the nation’s capital.
In late June, David Hearn, a former Olympian and cyclist, was arrested after reaching into the pool to touch the peeling liner and charged with destruction of government property. Norman Eisen, his attorney, said that Mr. Hearn was one of the “real people” who had “been injured and devastated by this pattern of authoritarian conduct.”
“Casting blame on others is one of the core characteristics of this administration,” Mr. Eisen said. “No normal federal law enforcement authority of either party would have ever dreamed of charging an American for touching the Reflecting Pool.”
In response to a question about his case, Taylor Rogers, a White House spokeswoman, called Mr. Hearn a “deranged individual suffering from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
“Thanks to President Trump, the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is restored, crystal clear and reflecting beautifully ahead of America’s 250th birthday celebration,” Ms. Rogers said in a statement.
Hoping to see for themselves, visitors have ventured over to the Reflecting Pool in an effort to get close enough to gaze into the water. They have done so under the watchful gaze of the National Guard.
Last week, when this reporter visited, shards of peeling lining were plainly visible under the surface. Ducklings and their parents seemed to be enjoying the water. In some areas, the lining looked as though it was either disintegrating or caked in algae, most likely as a result of the very technical and complicated factors that have been at play since the pool was completed in 1923.
The pool was built on marshland, and comes with all of the problems associated with building something on top of mud flats, including leaks and sinkage. The pool’s shallow depths, high local temperatures and large amounts of bird poop all work together to create a breeding ground for algae and a perennial problem for presidents.
This week, as visitors wearing shirts and hats celebrating the 250th walked around downtown Washington, several prominent renovation sites were still closed to the public. The Trump administration spent at least $17.4 million on a no-bid contract to renovate Lafayette Park, across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House. It justified bypassing the normal bidding procedures by saying the work had to be done before the 250th.
The work appeared largely done: Long-broken fountains were flowing again. But the park remained closed off by two layers of fencing, with dozens of visitors squeezed into a tiny section of sidewalk that remains open on its north side. Clark Construction, which was given the contract to renovate the park, declined to comment.
Katie Martin, a spokeswoman for the Interior Department, declined to say why the park was still closed, or when it would be open to the public.
David A. Fahrenthold contributed reporting.
