Hillary Clinton has a blunt answer for anyone wondering how the man who beat her has changed, and the reflecting pool is her exhibit A.
CNN anchor Anderson Cooper asked Clinton, the former secretary of state and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, to measure the candidate she debated a decade ago against the president who had spent that afternoon at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, holding forth on his renovations, his plans and his decorating. The interview aired Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, on “Anderson Cooper 360,” one day before the midterm elections.
“Look, I think that he’s lost the plot,” Clinton said. A decade ago, she said, Trump “had a theory of the case,” knew how he wanted to come across and had aides who could still check him or tell him no. Now, she said, “He’s totally unfettered and unhinged.”
She said President Donald Trump stood at the pool and presented it as a triumph when the renovation ranks among the biggest failures of his effort to remake Washington. From there, she said, he worked through the rest of the building program — the East Wing torn down, the arch he wants to raise, which she said would interfere with air traffic control and with navigation in and out of the capital.
“He wants to build tributes to himself, in the image of himself,” Clinton said. “I mean, he’s truly lost the plot of being president for the American people.”
An Hour on Drainage and Algae
Trump’s final event before the midterms lasted close to an hour, most of it spent on the pool’s drainage, its surface and its appearance. The work had been dogged by delays, algae and peeling surface coatings. The final bill came to more than $16 million, far above the administration’s original estimate.
Trump defended the project and praised the improvements. He joked that the landmark might one day carry his name, then said immediately that he was not serious.
What He Still Wants to Build
Beyond the pool, Trump has championed a new White House ballroom, a triumphal arch close to Arlington National Cemetery and makeovers of other Washington landmarks. He has called the projects long-overdue improvements to the look of the capital. Critics have challenged their cost, their place on the administration’s list of priorities and what they do to historic sites.
Clinton’s argument runs the other way: the buildings are the point, and the country is not.
The Checks She’s Counting On
Clinton then turned to what happens after the votes are counted. “I do worry about how much more out of control he might get,” she said.
Congress, the courts, state attorneys general and others working to limit the damage he could do will be important, she told Cooper.
The CNN appearance capped a stretch of commentary from a figure who has not stayed quiet during Trump’s second term. Earlier that day, on “The View,” she said that if Democrats win both the House and Senate, Trump is “going to get even more out of control.” In October 2026, she launched the “High Stakes” podcast with Kara Swisher, with the midterms a major thread of the conversation. In April 2026, she drew attention to what she described as his “unhinged” social media posts.
Republicans were trying to hold Congress in the Tuesday, Nov. 3, vote amid voter concerns about the economy, rising living costs and the conflict with Iran. Trump is not on the ballot. He spent the closing stretch of the campaign appearing at events for Republican candidates and pressing his supporters to turn out.
Before the interview was over, Cooper steered Clinton back to the 2016 debate stage, and she offered the line she could have used on Trump then. “Back up, you creep,” she told Cooper.