In June 2026, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump finished its renovations to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Soon after it reopened, however, the water turned green with algae. Before long, Trump blamed the reflecting pool's problems on vandals.
People on social media have since made various claims about how the Trump administration was handling the reflecting pool. For example, one Facebook user posted (archived) an image of what purported to be the pool filled with green water and surrounded by barbed wire fences and guard towers. Text on the image read, "Everything he touches turns to crap."
Users shared the image elsewhere on Facebook (archived), as well as on Reddit (archived) and X (archived). Snopes readers sent emails and searched the site wondering whether the image was real.
Barbed wire fencing and guard towers were not present in authentic photos of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in major news organizations' photo archives. Additionally, there is evidence within the image that it was generated by artificial intelligence tools. Therefore, we've rated this claim fake.
Among the 77 Getty Images photos (archived) of the reflecting pool from June 24 and 25, when the image in question was first posted online, none featured guard towers or barbed wire. Alamy has just six photos (archived) of the pool during those two days, none of which depicted guard towers and barbed wire fencing.
There are no guard towers or fencing in Reuters' 49 photos (archived) of the reflecting pool from those two days. The same is true of The Associated Press' 56 photos (archived) and global news agency Agence France-Presse's photos (archived).
It's unlikely that all of those photo repositories would not include a photo of guard towers around the reflecting pool if there were any around it at any time.
This is supported by the image itself, which features evidence of AI generation.
Most definitive is the text on the "Restricted Area" signs on the fence, which can be better seen in higher-quality versions of the image. The signs, despite looking as if they are meant to be the exact same, feature inconsistent text — and often gibberish, a telltale sign of content generated with artificial intelligence.
Another piece of evidence is the size of the reflecting pool itself. In the guard tower image, the pool is far smaller than its real-life counterpart. The actual size from ground level can be better seen in this Reuters photo, in which the Washington Monument appears more distant.
For further reading, Snopes has previously researched a number of claims regarding the reflecting pool, such as Trump's claim that it was damaged by vandals.