President Donald Trump’s official White House press operation was caught on Friday, July 31, cherry-picking a single flattering reaction to his latest Washington overhaul — a gilded makeover of the Arts of War and Arts of Peace statues near the Lincoln Memorial — while quietly discarding a chorus of critical voices who called the project gaudy, wasteful, and reminiscent of bargain-bin spray paint.
Rapid Response 47, one of the White House’s official accounts on X, published a short clip Friday morning spotlighting Amy and Gio, visitors from Topeka, Kansas, who offered upbeat reactions to the 80-year-old president’s gold-plated renovation. Amy said she was startled rounding the back of the memorial: “I was walking on the back side of the memorial, and I was just like, woah, what is that?!” She added that the statues look “super shiny” and “beautiful.”
A Very Selective Edit
Rapid Response 47 omitted negative feedback from the same WTOP News segment published a day earlier. Washington, D.C., resident Steven Davies said he found the renovated statues excessive, while Karen from Maryland called them tacky and compared the finish to cheap gold spray paint from a hardware store. Francis, also from Maryland, questioned why the statues needed such an ostentatious treatment when funds could have been better allocated elsewhere.
When asked why it omitted the critical reactions from its post, the White House did not offer an explanation — it simply reposted the same edited clip it had already shared. Trump regularly walks with aide Natalie Harp, 34, who prints out positive online comments and articles to give him, earning her the internal nickname “human printer” among officials. The practice serves as reinforcement against criticism of his second term.
The selective video promotion carries a particular sting given Trump’s own record on the subject. He sued CBS in late 2024, alleging that the network had deceptively edited an interview with then-candidate Kamala Harris — making selective editing a centerpiece of his legal grievances against a major media organization.
Budget Overruns and Missed Deadlines
The statues project itself has been plagued by the same problems that have dogged several of Trump’s capital renovation efforts. The president had promised the 24-karat makeover would carry a price tag of $2.5 million and be unveiled in time for America’s 250th birthday celebration on July 4. Instead, a no-bid contract pushed the final cost to $5 million — double the original figure — and the statues were not unveiled until Thursday, July 30, nearly a month past the promised date.
That project is just one piece of a far larger and more troubled makeover of the nation’s capital. Trump demolished the White House East Wing to make way for a new ballroom. He initially projected that project would cost $200 million, funded entirely by private donors, but the price tag has since climbed to $600 million, with taxpayers shouldering at least half the bill. Separately, plans call for a towering 250-foot triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery — a proposal that has drawn sharp condemnation from veterans groups — alongside a $22 billion airport renovation at Washington Dulles International Airport and a bid to convert municipal golf links at East Potomac Park into a championship course.
The Reflecting Pool Debacle
No single project has proved more embarrassing than the renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. What began as a $1.5 million promise ballooned to $16.4 million by June, according to Associated Press reporting. Ohio-based Green Water Solutions, also known as Greenwater Services, received a $1.7 million contract for a water-purification system. A Virginia contractor, Atlantic Industrial Coatings, secured $14.7 million to apply fresh coatings and waterproofing to the pool’s concrete base. Trump promised the result would be “American flag blue” and endure for a hundred years. Within days of the pool being refilled in early June, an algae bloom turned the water a murky green and pieces of the new coating began peeling off the bottom.
The pool, built in the 1920s and stretching 2,030 feet between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, was drained again after Trump blamed vandals for the deterioration, claiming without evidence that someone had slashed a gash in the new liner and poured chemicals into the water. Five people were arrested for vandalism and five others received federal citations, according to US Park Police. Former Olympic canoe racer David Hearn was arrested and charged with destroying government property after he was seen touching a piece of dislodged coating; Hearn pleaded not guilty and said he simply reached in to examine an already-loose fragment. At least three other people were charged with misdemeanors for allegedly removing paint pieces, and all three also pleaded not guilty.
By July 16, with the pool drained a second time, an Associated Press reporter viewing it from atop the Washington Monument observed that the liner had noticeably faded from its original shade — now appearing closer to gray than the patriotic blue Trump had promised. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the department would repair the vandalism and refill the pool, according to his remarks to conservative podcaster Katie Miller.
For critics, the selectively edited statue video released Friday is less an isolated communications blunder than a window into how the administration prefers to package a renovation record that, measured against its own promises, has consistently run over budget, behind schedule, and into unexpected trouble.