{"id":22757,"date":"2026-06-24T15:25:02","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T19:25:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/?p=22757"},"modified":"2026-06-24T16:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T20:52:09","slug":"do-i-look-like-a-radical-left-lunatic-vandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2026\/06\/24\/do-i-look-like-a-radical-left-lunatic-vandal\/","title":{"rendered":"Do I Look like a \u201cRadical Left Lunatic\u201d Vandal?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/h1>\n

Do I Look like a \u201cRadical Left Lunatic\u201d Vandal?<\/a><\/h1>\n

by James Bovard<\/p>\n

I blundered on Saturday by failing to check the latest updated terrorist profile before visiting Washington, DC. How was I to know that National Guard troops would be on the lookout for 60ish bicyclists who are too damn curious about algae?<\/p>\n

I went riding around downtown Washington to check the latest Trump administration efforts to make Washington \u201csafe and beautiful\u201d for the 250th birthday celebration next month.<\/p>\n

Across from the White House, Lafayette Square\u2014the site of many famous protests over the last 100 years\u2014was locked away behind high chain link fences. Armed guards waited for anyone who dreamed of transgressing the newly-prohibited domain. The park had been closed for restoration but last week, the Washington Post<\/em> reported that the Trump administration is planning to permanently fence off<\/a> the park from the American public.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Bovard photo, 2013 protest by the White House<\/p><\/div>\n

I swung down 17th street past the Ellipse in front of the White House. That was also totally fenced off, perhaps a relic from the UFC cage match that Trump sponsored for his birthday entertainment.<\/p>\n

I wanted to see the Reflecting Pool that President Trump boasted was twice as long as the Empire State building\u2014except that the pool is flat.<\/p>\n

Arriving at the Pool, I was stunned to discover that that waterway was almost as heavily militarized as the Strait of Hormuz. National Guard troops swarmed the scene. The heavy troop presence reminded me of what I saw on the streets of East Berlin in 1986.<\/p>\n

At the Lincoln Memorial, a team of three guardsmen walked close by me. One of them announced on his radio: \u201cOne \u2013 Two \u2013 Bravo \u2013 going back on patrol.\u201d<\/p>\n

Da hell? Was this Baghdad in 2003 or what?<\/p>\n

Trump wanted to have the Reflecting Pool fixed to show \u201cAmerican flag blue\u201d water in time for the 250th anniversary on July 4. But the blue water quickly turned turgid green.<\/p>\n

Before visiting DC, I neglected to perform \u201cdue diligence\u201d and check Trump\u2019s latest Truth Social posts. On the prior night, Trump raged on social media that the Reflecting Pool<\/a> had suffered \u201cVandalism\u201d by evil people who sought to \u201ctry to destroy and demean our beautiful work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Surveying the Pool, I saw at least a dozen National Park Service employees or contractors busy with nets. Chatting with a Park Service employee commanding one of the pump stations with a hose into the pool, I asked what those folks were doing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re removing algae,\u201d she replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought Trump fixed the pool two weeks ago,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

She nodded.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe it was a mistake for Trump to go with a no-bid company that only offered a 72-hour warranty for its repair work,\u201d I said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

She laughed nervously.<\/p>\n

Three days before my visit, the Interior Department proclaimed total victory over algae at the Reflecting Pool: \u201cOur National Park Service team is now vacuuming up the dead algae resting on the bottom of some parts of the Reflecting Pool \u2013 just like the destroyed Iranian Navy resting on the bottom of the Persian Gulf.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ironically, that\u2019s the same place where Trump\u2019s credibility on the Reflecting Pool is resting.<\/p>\n

While I was at the Reflecting Pool, news broke that the National Guard had arrested a 67-year-old cyclist for destroying government property. But the cyclist\u2014former world champion whitewater canoeist, David Hearn\u2014said that he merely touched a chunk of blue paint that had floated to the top of the pool. He declared, \u201cI didn\u2019t destroy, break or peel anything. By the time I realized what was happening, I was already being handcuffed.\u201d<\/p>\n

So maybe I was getting special attention and the evil eye from the National Guard troops because I fit the latest profile of desecraters of the Reflecting Pool<\/strong>? Or maybe they targeted anyone with duct tape on his bicycle seat and a semi-bent front wheel?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Earlier this year in Minneapolis, federal agents were told that any anti-ICE protestor who merely touched them could be speedily arrested for assault.<\/p>\n

But Trump\u2019s legal wizards are going far beyond that standard to rescue the Reflecting Pool. Anyone who touched the water in the Reflecting Pool could apparently be arrested for damaging or destroying government property. Congressman Ted Lieu posted<\/a> on Twitter\/X: \u201cDear @USNationalGuard<\/a>: What laws, if any, are being violated if a person touches the water in the reflecting pool?\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps the Trump team should have assigned some of the National Guard troops to deploy warning signs: \u201cDo Not Touch the Sacred Trump Water.\u201d<\/p>\n

How close did I come to getting busted? I wanted to capture the overwhelming algae in the pool so I fetched out my cell phone and leaned close to the water. I had no idea that touching the water would throw myself into a legal briar patch. I kept my hands dry and out of mischief. I have come close to getting arrested at a number of DC demonstrations but I never suspected I was in legal peril on Saturday until after I read about arrests back home.<\/p>\n

A few hours after I left the scene, Trump railed on Truth Social about \u201cRadical Left Lunatics.\u201d<\/strong> He howled: \u201cWhat these terrible Vandals have done is a true affront to both Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and should be dealt with accordingly.\u201d Trump proclaimed that \u201cmany additional people have been arrested\u201d for the \u201cdisgraceful Vandalism of our beautiful Reflecting Pool.\u201d<\/p>\n

But I got away, so any triumph over the infidels\u2014or the vandals\u2014was incomplete.<\/strong><\/p>\n

On Monday, Trump proclaimed that the pool \u201chas been given a 300 foot long gash<\/a>\u201d and that \u201cthere is a 10 year prison sentence for the destruction, or even the attempted destruction, of such things – Which will be fully enforced!\u201d The Washington Post<\/em> noted that \u201creporters at the pool Sunday could not spot a gash<\/a> fitting that description. At least eight officers patrolling the site, when asked about Trump\u2019s allegation, could not point it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Monday afternoon, Trump told a reporter that someone cut a \u201c300 foot slit right through [the Pool\u2019s lining], probably [using] a box cutter or a knife.\u201d So was this a magic box cutter or what? And was that box cutter wielded by an invisible spirit that never showed up on all the government surveillance videos? As of late Monday, the Trump administration has failed to produce any evidence of any private citizen actually damaging the Reflecting Pool.<\/p>\n

Trump made fixing the Reflecting Pool one of his top priorities this Spring. Trump\u2019s masterminds apparently utterly botched several steps of the process, including the paint job and the hydrogen peroxide recently dumped into the pool. The Reflecting Pool has been troubled with algae since it opened in 1922 but Trump apparently believed his power over Mother Nature is boundless.<\/p>\n

Trump is behaving like Soviet dictator Josef Stalin denouncing \u201cwreckers\u201d for sabotaging his Five Year Plan to inflict communis<\/strong>m. It is not possible that Trump\u2019s own policies are foolish: MAGA needs villains. Trump\u2019s howling about leftists and \u201cdumocats\u201d absolve his own follies\u2014at least in the minds of his core supporters. Trump announced on Monday afternoon that he is considering suing ABC News for their reporting on how he bollixed the repair job at the Pool.<\/p>\n

But there were some dissenting voices by the Reflecting Pool. A protester in a giant pink frog outfit labeled AMPHIFA carried a sign warning: \u201cFirst They Came<\/a> for the Algae.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plenty of pundits and politicians are outraged about the $14+ million fizzled on the Reflecting Pool project. But this episode actually is worth its weight in gold\u2014or at least in algae.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s Reflecting Pool fiasco is one of the most vivid homefront government interventions of the ye<\/strong>ar. The Trump administration recently announced plans for $160 million in \u201ccivics education,\u201d bankrolling vehement MAGA<\/a> organizations to help indoctrinate young Americans about the president\u2019s greatness. The Reflecting Pool can become a case study on the folly of giving blank checks or sweeping discretionary power to presidents\u2014or anyone else.<\/p>\n

Perhaps even more valuable, Trump\u2019s pratfall could provide a lasting warning of how rulers use demagoguery to shroud their debacles. But don\u2019t expect federally-subsidized \u201ccivics education\u201d to ever deliver that message.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do I Look like a \u201cRadical Left Lunatic\u201d Vandal? by James Bovard I blundered on Saturday by failing to check the latest updated terrorist profile before visiting Washington, DC. How was I to know that National Guard troops would be on the lookout for 60ish bicyclists who are too damn curious about algae? I went […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22758,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4854,2137,4855,512,4857,4856,3035,4853,185,708,4858,434],"class_list":["post-22757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-algae","tag-east-berlin","tag-hormuz","tag-humor-2","tag-lafayette-square","tag-marshal","tag-national-mall","tag-reflecting-pool","tag-terrorist-profile","tag-trump","tag-truth-social","tag-washington"],"yoast_head":"\nDo I Look like a \u201cRadical Left Lunatic\u201d Vandal? - James Bovard<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Trump denounced the "Radical Left Lunatic" vandals who desecrated the Reflecting Pool. 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The Wall Street Journal called Bovard \\\"the roving inspector general of the modern state\\\" and Washington Post columnist George Will called him a \\\"one-man truth squad.\\\" His 1994 book, Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty, received the Free Press Association\u2019s Mencken Award as Book of the Year. His Terrorism & Tyranny won the Lysander Spooner \\\"Best Book on Liberty in 2003\\\" award. He received the Thomas Szasz Award for Civil Liberties work, awarded by the Center for Independent Thought and the Freedom Fund Award from the Firearms Civil Rights Defense Fund of the National Rifle Association. 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