Donald Trump wants people arrested for his incompetence

At 12:09 a.m. this morning, while the sky was pitch black outside and most Americans were asleep in their beds, the President of the United States was wide awake, hiding away from the world inside one of the most secure compounds on Earth. Facing another night of erratic sleep, Donald Trump opened his personal social media platform, Truth Social, and began what would become a day-long stream of increasingly bizarre posts, reposts, polls, grievances, and attempts to rewrite reality from inside the secluded mountains of Camp David.

Instead of spending his weekend focused on salvaging the fragile agreement that was supposed to bring an end to the Iran war, Donald J. Trump sat awake sharing polls about himself, promoting praise from supporters, arguing about a reflecting pool, attacking his critics, and trying to convince the American people that one of the most embarrassing weeks of his presidency had actually been one of his greatest successes.

By the time the day was over, the posts had piled up by the dozens. The message behind them was always the same: don’t believe what you saw. Don’t believe the criticism. Don’t believe the headlines. Don’t believe your own eyes. But our eyes work just fine. And what we saw this week was a president in retreat on every front, cornered by his own decisions, humiliated by his own allies, and losing control of the very things he told us would make him and us great.

The story of Trump’s Saturday wasn’t hidden behind the gates of Camp David. He broadcast it himself. By 7:00 a.m., he was already ranting about Iran: “Radical Left fools and Dumocrats realize how well we have done in our War against Iran, with their Country being completely defeated militarily. Obama just kept giving them $Billions in cash, and never used our then depleted military for what should have been done to reign in the World’s number one sponsor of terror, Iran. They had ZERO respect for him. They thought he was, like Sleepy Joe Biden, a weak and ineffective leader, and on this they were 100% correct. Iran got away with ‘murder’ for 47 years, until I came along. Then it all changed. AMERICA IS BACK!!! President DJT”

Less than an hour later, at 7:55: “Funny how the Dumocrats like to say that Iran is in a stronger position today than they were three months ago, despite the fact that they have been defeated militarily, with no Navy or Air Force. That’s why I call them the Dumocrats!!! President DJT”

By mid-morning, he had moved on to a poll that asked the public: “POLL: Which do you prefer, Dumocrat or Dumbocrat? In one case, you simply exchange the ‘e’ for ‘u,’ so simple and precise (Many people don’t know, or assume, that DUMB ends in ‘b’). In the other case, you spell out DUMB, but it seems to lose some of the identity to Democrats when done this way. Which is better? Thank you for your attention to this very important matter! President DJT.” The President of the United States actually posted that from Camp David.

And then came the poll about renaming ICE. At 11:58 a.m., Trump posted an incoherent proposal to change the name of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to “NICE” by adding an “N” for “National.” His reasoning: it would “totally discombobulate Crooked, Dishonest, and Unpatriotic Reporters and Journalists. For them to say, ‘We went to a NICE Facility today,’ as opposed to ‘ICE,’ or, ‘NICE Agents have deported a Violent Drug Dealer,’ they won’t be able to handle it, they will go totally crazy!” He ended that post the same way he ended nearly all of them: “Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DJT”

And it only got stranger from there. Because what happened next was about far more than paint, algae, or someone reaching into the water. It was about a President of the United States who appears completely incapable of admitting failure, even when millions of people can see it with their own eyes.

The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool renovation has turned into a disaster, both for one of America’s most important monuments and for Donald Trump. He has treated it like a personal achievement, a symbol of his restoration of the nation’s capital. And then the water turned green when an algae bloom consumed it. Workers poured bottles of hydrogen peroxide into the pool to kill the algae, and that chemical treatment caused the American Flag Blue paint liner to begin peeling away. Interior Department staff had already raised concerns about the speed and quality of the contractor’s work before the paint ever started coming off. And instead of admitting that the project was poorly executed, instead of firing the contractor or ordering it quietly fixed, Donald Trump did what he always does. He found someone to blame.

He started his attacks on Friday night, when he posted on Truth Social: “We’ve had some real problems with Vandalism at the beautiful Reflecting Pool. Just like three days ago, they destroyed the grass outside of the Pool, they’ve also done everything possible to hurt the inside surface that was just installed.” He blamed “Radical Left Lunatics, most likely Dumocats,” and said law enforcement was investigating. He accused ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl of “sticking his hand into the Pool” and “trying to rip the rubber off of the surface.” And then today, from Camp David, he escalated further: “The United States Park Police have arrested multiple individuals for vandalizing our Nations magnificent Reflecting Pool. Who would do such a thing? These are very serious crimes having to do with the destruction of National Monuments. Years in jail! Work will begin immediately on its repair. President DJT” Years in jail. For touching a reflecting pool that was already falling apart because of his administration’s own failures.

And then, at 8:36 tonight, he posted again, this time at length, spinning the failure into something even more unhinged: “Many additional people have been arrested having to do with the disgraceful Vandalism of our beautiful Reflecting Pool. It hasn’t looked or worked like this since 1922, when it was originally built, but even then, it leaked badly, and didn’t work. Ours worked perfectly, including the mirror like finish, perfectly reflecting the two Great Monuments, which it never had before!” He went on to claim that vandals “took some form of knife or blade, and put a 250 foot long gash into the beautiful facade of what took so much work, competence, and money to build and complete. They also poured corrosive and destructive chemicals into the Pool.” He ended the post: “We are very proud of what we have done with this magnificent structure, and we will get it repaired, quickly, to an equal level of Beauty. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP”

The chemicals he is accusing vandals of pouring into the pool are, by all available evidence, the hydrogen peroxide his own contractors poured into the water to kill the algae bloom that developed after the renovation. The “gash” he points to as evidence of sabotage appears to be the liner separating and peeling away after that chemical treatment stripped paint from the bottom of the pool. In other words, Donald Trump is taking the visible consequences of his own failed renovation, the consequences that experts warned could happen, and trying to create some sort of criminal conspiracy theory. The damage he is describing is not evidence of sabotage. It is evidence of failure, and rather than admit that failure, he is threatening American citizens with prison for noticing it.

One of those arrested was David Hearn. He is sixty-seven years old. He is a three-time Olympic canoeist who competed for the United States at the 1992 Barcelona, 1996 Atlanta, and 2000 Sydney Games. He won world championships. He was on a 64-mile bike ride on Friday and stopped at the Reflecting Pool to see what it looked like after the renovation. He noticed a piece of the liner already peeling off and floating in the water. He reached in to feel it.

“I didn’t vandalize anything,” Hearn told The Washington Post. “I didn’t destroy or break or peel anything. By the time I realized what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs.” He was detained for nearly five hours. He was charged with a misdemeanor of destruction of government property. He is due in D.C. Superior Court on July 9. When asked why he touched it, he said: “I’m a curious citizen. I reached down to see what it felt like. It was very rubbery.”

A three-time Olympian was arrested and held for five hours for touching a piece of paint that was already separating from the pool that the President of the United States personally ordered renovated with $14.7 million of our tax dollars. A project that failed because of the administration’s rush to finish before July 4th. And now this man faces a court date because Donald Trump cannot bring himself to admit that he broke something, so he is blaming it on everyone else.

The Reflecting Pool was not the only thing Donald Trump broke this week. Giorgia Meloni should have been one of his safest allies in the world. The conservative Prime Minister of Italy attended his inauguration in January 2025. She worked to maintain a relationship with his administration even when other European leaders kept their distance. She often found herself acting as a bridge between Trump’s America and the rest of Europe. And then Trump decided to break their relationship when he tried to humiliate her.

In an interview with Italy’s La7 network, Trump claimed that Meloni had “begged” him for a photograph at the G7 earlier this week and suggested she should be grateful that he had spoken with her at all. According to video from the G7 summit, the two were simply engaged in what appeared to be a typical diplomatic conversation between world leaders and did not appear to involve any begging for pictures. The story Trump told was not just unnecessary. What makes this even odder is that Giorgia Meloni is not a progressive. If anything, she is exactly the kind of foreign leader he should want on his side. Yet he could not help himself.

Just as he could not admit failure at the Reflecting Pool, he could not allow whatever transpired between them remain routine. He had to make himself the center of the story. He had to portray himself as the powerful figure granting favors while diminishing someone who had spent years trying to maintain a productive relationship with him.

Meloni’s response was swift and unusually direct. She called Trump’s account “completely fabricated” and said she was “frankly astonished” by his comments. But it was what she said next that revealed how much damage had been done. “I don’t know why the president of the United States behaves this way toward his own allies,” she said. “I can only say that it’s a shame he doesn’t show the same determination with the enemies of the West, with the enemies of the United States, with leaders with whom he is far more accommodating.” Her ending thought to all of this was to say, “There is one thing he must remember. Italy and I do not beg.”

Donald Trump keeps breaking things that should matter to him. Alliances. Relationships. Credibility. Trust. And then, just as he did with the Reflecting Pool, he acts as though someone else is responsible for the damage. And Trump’s response from Camp David on Saturday? He doubled down. He posted that Meloni had asked, “over and over, for a picture with me.” He attacked her popularity. He attacked Italy for not supporting the Iran war.

Meloni responded on Instagram, in English, directly to him: “These constant, unprovoked attacks are senseless. As for my popularity, being your friend certainly has not helped it, nor does it depend on my relationship with you. My popularity depends on my ability to defend Italy’s national interest, and that is exactly what I have always done.”

She defended her refusal to allow U.S. military use of Italian bases: “Their use is governed by agreements that we have always respected, and that cannot be violated as long as I am Prime Minister. Italy remains a sovereign nation.” And then she closed: “In any case, my popularity is none of your concern. I suggest you focus on yours.”

And while Trump was losing his closest European ally over a fabricated photograph story, the deal he signed three days ago to end the Iran war was already falling apart. On Wednesday, Trump signed the Iran war memorandum of understanding, and by this morning, Iran declared the Strait of Hormuz closed again, citing Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon that killed at least 16 people, including two children. The IRGC warned ships to stay away. Vice President JD Vance departed for Switzerland to try to salvage negotiations. The man who signed the deal was at Camp David, posting polls about whether to rename ICE to “NICE.” That is where his priorities are.

And at 3:15 on a Saturday afternoon, while his vice president was boarding a plane to try to clean up his mess, Donald Trump posted this: “There will be NO TOLLS in the Hormuz Strait for 60 days during the Cease Fire Period, and there will be NO TOLLS after the 60 day period has expired, unless they are imposed by and for the United States of America, should the deal not be completed, for services rendered as the Guardian Angel to the countries of the Middle East for purposes of both past, present, and future reimbursement of costs. Thank you for your attention to this matter!!! President DJT”

Before Trump ordered the bombing of Iran on February 28, the Strait of Hormuz was open. No nation charged a toll. Nearly twenty percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas moved through that narrow passage every day, as it had for decades. Global commerce depended on it, and most people never thought about it. Now everyone does.

What makes this an even bigger disaster for Trump and the world is that he may have taught Iran something it didn’t fully realize before. For months, he has portrayed Iran as weak, isolated, and defeated. But every disruption, spike in oil prices, and emergency meeting among world leaders has reinforced something Iran now knows with absolute certainty: it sits beside one of the most strategically important waterways on Earth, making its country a much bigger power than previously recognized. In trying to demonstrate American power, Trump demonstrated Iranian leverage instead.

We provide the President of the United States with everything a person could need. The finest medical care in the world. Around-the-clock security. A personal staff of hundreds. Access to the most advanced intelligence and communications systems on Earth. We give them all of this so they can do the job we elected them to do, so they can serve 330 million people with clarity, focus, and purpose. And we give them use of Camp David, a retreat with a history as heavy as the presidency itself. Jimmy Carter brokered the Camp David Accords there in 1978, the peace agreement between Egypt and Israel that still holds today. Eisenhower, Reagan, Clinton, both Bushes, and Obama all used it for diplomacy, strategy, and decisions that shaped the direction of nations. It is a place built for the serious work of leadership.

And Donald Trump, the man who once told European journalists that Camp David was “very rustic” and that you would like it for “about 30 minutes,” is there this weekend for only the second time in his entire second term. His public schedule for the day listed nothing but “executive time.” We do not know exactly why he is there. There are speculations flying. Maybe it is related to his health, after a G7 summit, where he gripped India’s Prime Minister’s arm just to climb a single step for the group photograph. Maybe it is related to the Iran negotiations that are now stalling. Maybe there are meetings happening behind closed doors that we will never learn about.

What we do know is how he spent his Saturday there. Attacking, spiraling, asking Americans to weigh in on whether “Dumocrat” or “Dumbocrat” is the better insult. He can post all day and all night. He can threaten jail for anyone who touches his failures. He can call himself a guardian angel and pretend that the chaos is strength. But reality does not care how many times he hits “post.” Reality does not negotiate. It does not flatter. And it does not look away. The walls are closing in. And we are the ones who keep pushing on them. That is why I still have hope for America. And you should, too.

I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather

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This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Picture of the day: My daughter sent me this from the Bay Area today after someone handed it to her. I love these moments because they remind me that there are thousands of people out there doing small things to save our country from this authoritarian takeover. None of us can do everything, but all of us can do something. That’s how movements are built.

Sources:
https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/20/politics/reflecting-pool-lincoln-memorial-algae-renovation
https://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/article/former-us-olympic-canoeist-david-hearn-arrested-for-allegedly-vandalizing-lincoln-memorial-reflecting-pool-231513873.html
https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/49130363/ex-olympian-arrested-allegedly-vandalizing-reflecting-pool
https://thehill.com/policy/international/5931853-giorgia-meloni-trump-g7-summit-photo/
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/italys-meloni-pushes-back-on-trumps-fabricated-claim-as-top-diplomat-cancels-u-s-trip
https://abcnews.com/International/wireStory/meloni-slams-trumps-claim-begged-photo-italys-top-134026683
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/20/iran-reportedly-closes-strait-of-hormuz-again-raising-doubt-over-talks.html
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/6/20/trump-vows-iran-will-not-charge-strait-of-hormuz-tolls-but-says-us-might
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-06-19/trump-heads-to-camp-david-as-iran-talks-falter
https://www.ms.now/news/trump-blames-radical-left-lunatics-and-an-abc-reporter-for-reflecting-pool-issues