President Donald Trump has made many changes to Washington, DC, since returning for a second, non-consecutive term. One such change is visible from space.
In April, Trump announced that he had chosen Atlantic Industrial Coatings — a contractor he initially said worked on his Virginia golf club before later walking back that claim — to renovate the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool ahead of America's 250th anniversary, telling reporters its "filthy" water was "not representative of the country."
The $14.2 million project, which Trump initially estimated would cost between $1.5 and $2 million, included sealing and painting the bottom of the 2,030-foot-long pool an "American flag blue" to better reflect the Washington Monument.
In a satellite image of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool taken on March 10, 2026, before the renovation began, the water appeared green due to widespread algae growth.
A satellite photo taken on June 7, a day after Trump said the project was completed, showed the pool's darker surface.
Indeed, the reflection of the Washington Monument could once again be seen on the water in a photo taken at the site on June 9.
In a Truth Social post on June 6, Trump celebrated the refreshed reflecting pool and touted his other planned White House renovations and additions to DC's landscape.
"It was originally opened in 1922, but never functioned properly — now it does!" he wrote. "Thank you President Trump, thank you Department of the Interior — AND THE BEST IS YET TO COME with The Trump Promenade at The Lincoln Memorial, and The Triumphal Arch, which will be, along with the White House Ballroom, when completed, the Greatest Structure in Washington."
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Talia Lakritz is a Life correspondent at Business Insider. Talia covers politics and power through a lifestyle and visual storytelling lens. She has reported from the White House as well as military installations, mansions, and museums across the country, bringing readers inside the people, places, and systems that influence American life through immersive features.Previously, she wrote for The New York Jewish Week and SciShow Space.Talia holds a BA in English with a concentration in Creative Writing from Barnard College of Columbia University and ordination as an interfaith minister from One Spirit Learning Alliance. She hopes to one day visit all 50 states and all 14 public presidential libraries.Talia can be found on LinkedIn, Instagram, and X.Politics and power:
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