Donald Trump’s election-eve address before Tuesday’s midterm elections was expected to be a pivotal chance to energize Republican voters and make a forceful case for retaining control of Congress.
Instead, much of the discussion centered on the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, with the president spending considerable time describing its grass, pipes, algae and costly renovation.
The unusual focus led CNN anchor Kasie Hunt to question whether Trump had lost sight of the message voters were expecting to hear.
As footage of the speech aired on The Arena, Hunt appeared stunned while Trump detailed the landmark’s refurbishment.
In one clip, Trump gestured toward the water and called it a “massive piece of pool.”
Hunt sarcastically repeated the phrase before noting that the president had spent the first 22 minutes of his final campaign speech discussing the pool and its surrounding landscaping.
“Did you catch the midterm message there?” she asked viewers, lifting her hands in apparent disbelief.
She then pointed to Trump’s extended references to grass, pipes and columns, asking why those details had dominated a speech delivered on the eve of an election that could determine the balance of power in Washington.
President Donald Trump delivers his closing pitch the day before the midterm elections at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington. The site became an awkward backdrop after Trump devoted much of his speech to the troubled renovation, highlighting its pipes, landscaping and newly refurbished surface
Kasie Hunt repeatedly mocked the president’s decision to devote so much of his election-eve address to the mundane details of the controversial project
Trump eventually shifted to the midterms, predicting a Republican landslide if his supporters turned out to vote.
He also appeared to acknowledge the historic challenges presidents typically face during the midterm elections.
“Usually whoever the sitting president is… the sitting president doesn’t win the midterms, but we gave this a very strong shot,” he said.
Hunt immediately seized on the wording. “Well, there’s the closing message,” she said, summarizing it pointedly as: “We gave it a shot.”
The CNN anchor also questioned the event’s scale, drawing attention to the relatively small crowd gathered around the reflecting pool.
She said Trump had passed up the chance to appear with a Republican candidate in a crucial battleground state or speak to a larger, more energetic gathering of supporters.
Instead, Hunt said, viewers were left with the image of a president standing in front of a pool and asking Americans to appreciate it.
The renovation had already become an embarrassment for the administration. Trump initially promised a relatively inexpensive makeover, with the work expected to cost less than $2 million and take only a few weeks.
Hunt was unimpressed by the spectacle, questioning why Trump had chosen to make his final campaign pitch beside a controversial construction project rather than alongside Republican candidates in a key battleground state
“Did you catch the midterm message there?” Hunt asked, noting that Trump had spent the first 22 minutes of his closing address discussing the pool, grass, pipes and columns
The pool became a source of embarrassment after a renovation initially expected to cost less than $2 million swelled to nearly $20 million
The final bill, however, soared to approximately $20 million. The project was also plagued by problems, including a new blue liner that began disintegrating and the return of algae to the water.
Trump blamed vandals for the damage and launched a fierce campaign against former Olympian David Hearn.
Prosecutors later dropped the case after concluding that rushed work by the contractor, rather than sabotage, was responsible for the failed project.
Despite the matter being settled, Trump revived the vandalism allegations during Monday’s appearance.
The president went further in front of a handpicked group of National Park Service staff and Interior Department officials, suggesting that the landmark could even be given his name.
“We are giving serious thought to changing the name to the Trump reflecting pool,” he said, before adding, “I’m only kidding!”
Hunt then pointed to the small number of people spread across the memorial steps and delivered another cutting assessment: “Laughing aside, it tells us so much, that’s the size of the event.”
“Trump was not in a battleground state alongside a Senate candidate. He was not at a big energetic MAGA rally,” she said.
As Trump celebrated the refurbishment, another prominent figure from his administration struggled with the increasingly bleak polling outlook. Larry Kudlow, Trump’s former director of the National Economic Council, mounted an angry defense of Republicans during a Fox Business segment
The November 3 midterm elections will decide control of both chambers of Congress, with all 435 House seats and 35 Senate seats being contested. Republicans held narrow majorities in both chambers, leaving them vulnerable to even modest losses
“Instead, it was just a man in there somewhere standing in front of a pool, asking you to love it,” Hunt said, riffing on Julia Roberts’ well-known line from Notting Hill.
While Trump focused on Washington’s expensive makeover, another figure in his political orbit was growing increasingly frustrated by the polling.
Fox Business host Larry Kudlow, who served as director of the National Economic Council during Trump’s first administration, delivered an angry on-air defense of Republicans as surveys suggested Democrats could make significant gains.
Kudlow was particularly critical of polling by The New York Times and Siena University, which showed Democratic candidates ahead in several closely fought Senate races.
“One reason I can’t wait for this midterm election to be over is that virtually every media outlet I know – not everyone, but virtually everyone I know – is telling me that polls vote,” he complained.
He mocked predictions of a Democratic “blue wave,” sarcastically describing forecasts that Republicans could lose seats across the country.
Kudlow focused on contests in Michigan, Texas and Maine, arguing that the surveys failed to reflect developments taking place on the ground.
In Michigan, he questioned an 11-point Democratic lead after Congresswoman Haley Stevens switched her endorsement to Republican candidate Mike Rogers, having previously supported Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed.
“Oh come on! Come on!” Kudlow exclaimed. He also dismissed polling showing Democrats ahead in Texas and Maine, saying the figures were difficult to accept.
“The contradictions are so manifest that we should not even think about polling,” he declared.
His outburst came despite Fox News’ own final election rankings indicating that Democrats were in a strong position, with the Senate contest rated a toss-up and Democrats holding advantages on several key issues.
Republicans held a narrow majority in the House, while Democrats needed to gain only four Senate seats to take control of the upper chamber.
The stakes were especially high for Trump, who had made himself a central figure in the Republican campaign and urged voters to view the election as a referendum on his presidency.
The political environment nevertheless presented serious challenges for the White House. Rising living costs, concerns about the economy and the continuing conflict with Iran had all emerged as major issues in the closing days of the campaign.
A Reuters/Ipsos survey released Monday showed Democrats leading Republicans by 46 percent to 38 percent on the generic congressional ballot, an eight-point margin.
The same poll placed Trump’s approval rating at 32 percent, near the lowest level recorded during his presidency.
An Associated Press-NORC poll found that just 17 percent of US adults approved of Trump’s handling of the cost of living, while 26 percent approved of his performance on the economy overall.
Democrats sought to channel those frustrations by campaigning in traditionally Republican areas and arguing that voters were struggling to afford everyday essentials.
Republicans, meanwhile, tried to portray their opponents as too extreme to hold office.
With millions of Americans already having voted, the final hours of the campaign grew increasingly tense.
The results were expected to offer one of the clearest indications yet of how Americans viewed Trump’s presidency ahead of the 2028 presidential election.
The Daily Mail has contacted the Trump administration for comment.
