Donald Trump’s final speech before Tuesday’s midterm elections was expected to be a forceful appeal to Republican voters and a last-minute push to preserve the party’s control of Congress.
Instead, the president’s extended remarks about the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool became the defining feature of the address, as he discussed its grass, pipes, algae and dramatically escalating renovation costs.
The unusual focus led CNN anchor Kasie Hunt to question whether Trump had lost sight of the issues that mattered most to voters.
While showing footage of the speech on The Arena, Hunt appeared stunned as Trump described the Washington landmark in detail.
At one point, gesturing toward the water, Trump referred to it as a “massive piece of pool.”
Hunt repeated the phrase sarcastically before noting that Trump had spent the opening 22 minutes of his closing campaign speech discussing the pool and its surrounding grounds.
“Did you catch the midterm message there?” she asked, lifting her hands in apparent disbelief.
She drew attention to the president’s lengthy comments about the grass, plumbing and columns, asking why such details had taken center stage on the eve of an election that could decide which party controls Washington.
President Donald Trump delivers his closing pitch the day before the midterm elections at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington. The appearance quickly became an awkward talking point after he spent much of the speech praising the troubled renovation, including its pipes, landscaping and refurbished surface
Kasie Hunt repeatedly mocked Trump’s decision to devote so much of his final election-eve address to the mundane details of the reflecting pool
Trump eventually shifted to the midterm contest, predicting a sweeping Republican victory if his supporters went to the polls.
He also appeared to concede the historical challenge facing presidents during their first midterm election.
“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 presenter also questioned the size and energy of the gathering around the reflecting pool.
She said Trump could have used the closing days of the campaign to appear with a Republican candidate in a pivotal battleground state or address a much larger crowd.
Instead, Hunt said, the scene showed a president standing before a pool and asking Americans to admire it.
The renovation has itself become an uncomfortable subject for the administration. Trump originally promised a relatively modest makeover, expected to cost under $2 million and be finished within weeks.
Hunt was unimpressed by the spectacle, asking why Trump chose a controversial construction project for his final campaign pitch instead of appearing with Republican candidates in a key battleground state
“Did you catch the midterm message there?” Hunt asked, emphasizing that Trump had spent the first 22 minutes of his closing address on the pool, grass, pipes and columns
The reflecting pool became an embarrassment for the administration after the renovation estimate of less than $2 million climbed to almost $20 million
The final cost, however, soared to approximately $20 million. The project was also plagued by problems, including the deterioration of its new blue liner and the return of algae to the water.
Trump blamed vandals for the damage and aggressively pursued the allegation, including accusations involving former Olympian David Hearn.
Prosecutors later abandoned the case after determining that rushed work by the contractor, rather than sabotage, was responsible for the failed renovation.
Despite the matter being settled, Trump revived the vandalism claims during Monday’s appearance.
The president also suggested, in front of a handpicked group of National Park Service employees and Interior Department officials, that the landmark could eventually bear his name.
“We are giving serious thought to changing the name to the Trump reflecting pool,” he said, adding, “I’m only kidding!”
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Hunt then focused on the small number of people spread across the memorial steps. “Laughing aside, it tells us so much, that’s the size of the event,” she said.
“Trump was not in a battleground state alongside a Senate candidate. He was not at a big energetic MAGA rally,” she added.
As Trump celebrated the refurbishment, another former administration official struggled with increasingly unfavorable polling. Larry Kudlow, Trump’s former National Economic Council director, mounted an angry defense of Republicans during a Fox Business segment
The November 3 midterms will determine control of both chambers of Congress, with all 435 House seats and 35 Senate seats being contested. Republicans hold slim majorities in both chambers, so even modest losses could give Democrats control of the legislative agenda
“Instead, it was just a man in there somewhere standing in front of a pool, asking you to love it,” Hunt said, borrowing from Julia Roberts’ famous line in Notting Hill.
While Trump focused on Washington’s troubled landmark, another prominent figure from his political circle was growing increasingly frustrated by the polling landscape.
Larry Kudlow, the Fox Business host who served as director of the National Economic Council during Trump’s first administration, delivered an impassioned defense of Republicans as surveys indicated that Democrats might be headed for substantial gains.
Kudlow was especially critical of polling conducted 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 ridiculed forecasts of a Democratic “blue wave,” sarcastically portraying the predictions as a nationwide Republican collapse.
Kudlow highlighted contests in Michigan, Texas and Maine, arguing that the surveys failed to capture important developments in those states.
In Michigan, he questioned an 11-point Democratic advantage after Congresswoman Haley Stevens shifted her endorsement to Republican candidate Mike Rogers, having previously supported Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed.
“Oh come on! Come on!” Kudlow exclaimed. He similarly dismissed polling that placed Democrats ahead in Texas and Maine, saying the figures were hard to accept.
“The contradictions are so manifest that we should not even think about polling,” he declared.
His forceful criticism came even as Fox News’ own final election analysis indicated that Democrats were in a strong position, projecting a toss-up for Senate control and Democratic advantages on several major issues.
Republicans held only a narrow House majority, while Democrats needed to gain four Senate seats to take control of the upper chamber.
The outcome carried enormous consequences for Trump, who had made himself central to the Republican campaign and urged voters to view the election as a judgment on his presidency.
The political environment was already difficult for the White House. Inflation and household expenses, wider economic concerns and the continuing conflict with Iran had all become prominent issues in the final days of the campaign.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released Monday showed Democrats ahead of Republicans by 46 percent to 38 percent on the generic congressional ballot, an eight-point lead.
The survey also placed Trump’s approval rating at 32 percent, near the lowest point recorded during his presidency.
An Associated Press-NORC poll found that only 17 percent of US adults approved of Trump’s handling of the cost of living, while 26 percent approved of his overall management of the economy.
Democrats sought to harness those concerns by campaigning in traditionally Republican areas and arguing that families were struggling to pay for everyday necessities.
Republicans, meanwhile, attempted to cast their opponents as too extreme to govern.
With millions of ballots already submitted, the final hours of campaigning grew increasingly tense.
The results were expected to offer one of the clearest indications yet of how voters viewed Trump’s presidency ahead of the 2028 presidential election.
The Daily Mail contacted the Trump administration for comment.
