The renovations of the American landmark have cost upwards of $14 million.

Seth Meyers reminds Donald Trump that the Reflecting Pool is not, in fact, a swimming pool: ‘This isn’t your chintzy golf club’

The renovations of the American landmark have cost upwards of $14 million.

By Marina Watts

Marina Watts

Marina Watts is a news writer for with seven years experience covering entertainment, pop culture and celebrity news. Her previous work appears in PEOPLE, Bustle and Newsweek.

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June 18, 2026 11:49 a.m. ET

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- Seth Meyers didn't mince words when reminding the president that the Reflecting Pool is not a swimming pool.

- "They're not built in the same way. They have different cleaning systems. And most importantly, nobody f---ing swims in it!" the host declared on Wednesday's episode of *Late Night With Seth Meyers.*

- The renovations of the American landmark have cost upwards of $14 million, and have resulted in a massive algae bloom.

Seth Meyers is reminding Donald Trump what a swimming pool is. Read: The Reflecting Pool is not one.

The comedian didn't mince words talking about the renovations made to the Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C., which have cost upwards of $14 million and lead to a massive algae bloom. Trump has said to "think of it as a swimming pool," that "it's like a swimming pool doesn't leak," and that it's a "swimming pool on steroids."

Meyers, however, begged to differ.

"It is a reflecting pool!" he declared on Wednesday's episode of *Late Night With Seth Meyers*. "It is not a lake. No one calls it a lake. It's not a pond. No one calls it a pond. It is not a swimming pool. It's not a swimming pool on steroids. It's a reflecting pool."

"Have you been reading the 'Thesaurus for Dummies?' I can't believe I have to say this, but the Reflecting Pool is not the same as a swimming pool," he continued.

The Reflecting Pool in February 2022 vs. June 2026.

"They're not built in the same way. They have different cleaning systems. And most importantly, nobody f---ing swims in it!"

"Trump genuinely seems to have thought the reflecting pool was no different from the pools at his various clubs," Meyers added.

The president said that when he asked his guy "who is unbelievable at doing swimming pools" to work on the Reflecting Pool he said he'd "never heard of a swimming pool" like the D.C. landmark. "That's because it's not a swimming pool!" Meyers said.

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"Go jump in a lake or a pond or a tub full of water, which you probably call a lake. This isn't your chintzy golf club with lawn chairs and marble fountains. Lincoln isn't in the middle of a koi pond with water shooting out of his eyes," Meyers continued.

Meyers also slammed the choice of color, which Trump claimed was "American Flag Blue" after initially picking turquoise.

"You wanted to make the Lincoln Reflecting Pool turquoise, like in the Bahamas. What else were you thinking of adding? A swim-up cocktail bar and a bunch of shirtless pool boys?"

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The comedian concluded that "the metaphor is way too obvious."

"He said he was gonna drain the swamp, and he literally drained a pool or lake or small ocean and created an actual swamp," he said. "At this point, I might as well just quit and move to the Bahamas so I can swim in a pool that's actually turquoise."

A worker cleaning algae from the floor of the Reflecting Pool on June 16.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty

“Thanks to President Trump, new lining and industrial grade materials will permanently seal the Reflecting Pool, which previously leaked 16 million gallons per year and wasted countless taxpayer dollars," White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers tells * *in response to Meyers' monologue.

"Now, under regular [National Park Service] maintenance, high-tech nanobubble ozone technology is being deployed to kill the algae and keep the Reflecting Pool crystal clear,” Rogers says.

The Department of the Interior also shared a statement on social media about the renovations.

"The advanced nanobubbler technology very effectively killed the algae that has plagued every Lincoln Reflecting Pool reopening — most infamously Obama's reopening — since 1922," the statement reads.

"The Reflecting Pool water is crystal clear, and our National Park Service team is now vacuuming up the dead algae resting on the bottom of some parts of the Reflecting Pool — just like the destroyed Iranian Navy resting on the bottom of the Persian Gulf," the statement concludes.

Watch Seth Meyers' full monologue below.

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Source: “EW News”