Washington (United States) (AFP) – Is this a foretaste of an end of mandate which will be dominated by his personal passions? In a speech supposed to mobilize on the eve of the "midterms", Donald Trump spent more time talking about his projects than defending his record.

Published on: 02/11/2026 - 23:15

He had chosen a very particular location for this last in-person speech before Tuesday's legislative elections, during which the Democratic opposition intends to steal Congress from the Republican Party, that of the president.

Donald Trump spoke in front of the "reflecting pool", an emblematic site in Washington adjoining a memorial dedicated to Abraham Lincoln, which he announced the reopening after a laborious renovation.

"I'm kidding"

“We are seriously considering changing its name to +Trump Reflecting Pool+,” said the American president, about this body of water near which Martin Luther King delivered his “I have a dream” speech.

"I'm joking. I'm joking," he then said.

For its opponents, this project is the almost too perfect metaphor for a presidency guided by the whims of the tenant of the White House and disconnected from realities.

The project, which was to be completed before July 4, the date marking the 250th anniversary of the birth of the United States, experienced a succession of failures. It was carried out by a company that worked on the president's private property, chosen without a call for tenders.

The blue coating chosen by Donald Trump himself is in tatters. The water has turned fluorescent green because of an algae bloom.

For the former real estate developer, the renovated pool symbolizes, on the contrary, the "golden age" that he wants for America, but also the attacks, perceived as unfair, to which he is the subject. He claims in fact that the construction delays are due to acts of vandalism, a theory that a judge sharply rejected.

In his speech, the 80-year-old billionaire took up digressions devoted to his various works, familiar to those who often listen to him but which had a particularly strange resonance on Monday, contrasting with the political seriousness of the day.

The brutality of algae

“Algae is brutal,” he said. Or again: “Like human beings, grass is alive.”

At the start of his speech, presented as his last plea before the election, he devoted a good twenty minutes to the repair of the basin, showing photos supposed to represent the dilapidation of the site, showing the famous algae, pipes or joints.

Donald Trump then moved on quite quickly to his electoral argument, boasting of having “kept more promises than he had made”.

The Americans, on the contrary, accuse him of having lied to them during his presidential campaign, by assuring that their purchasing power would increase, which did not happen, and by swearing to stay away from new wars, then attacking Iran.

At the end of his speech, the billionaire spoke of future projects in the American capital, including that of a monumental triumphal arch, which will be "more beautiful" and larger, he promised, than that of Paris.

Donald Trump also spoke about the upcoming renovation, much criticized at the local level, of a golf course, this sport that he particularly likes.

"We have a lot of big things planned for Washington and I could tell you about the nation too, but you don't have time for that," he told the audience, made up only of officials and journalists.

© 2026 AFP

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