Snapshot · Pod Save America
Noted reported that OMB moved money out of the Secret Service budget to fund White House ballroom construction because the appropriation couldn't pass Congress.
Where this was said
At 1:04:16 · chapter starts 1:00:30
The episode closes with what the hosts call the perfect metaphor for Trump's presidency: the National Mall reflecting pool. Trump had it drained and painted a patriotic blue, only for algae to return almost immediately because — Jon Lovett explains, citing a Washington Post deep-dive — the underlying drainage and filtration infrastructure was never fixed. The Interior Department responded by deploying consumer-grade hydrogen peroxide into a 7-million-gallon body of water (you'd need 5,000 to 7,000 gallons of the stuff just to keep it clean for a week), posting triumphant tweets declaring the algae gone, and then blaming Democrats for sabotage. Newsmax sent a reporter down to allege deliberate Democratic interference. Jesse Watters sent his crew to defend Trump's good intentions. Dan Pfeiffer quips that Donald Trump Jr. now owns a hydrogen peroxide company. Jon Favreau lands the takeaway: Trump did something cheap and cosmetic that he convinced himself was a magic solution, it failed, and he pretended it worked anyway. The reflect pool, he concludes, is the whole presidency. A Washington Post report also revealed a contractor invoice of roughly $600 million for the White House ballroom, with about half in taxpayer funds — and Noted reported that OMB moved money from the Secret Service budget to pay for it after the appropriation failed in Congress.
The National Mall reflecting pool holds about 7 million gallons, making the handful of hydrogen peroxide buckets dumped in to fight algae comically inadequate.
To properly shock the 7-million-gallon reflecting pool with hydrogen peroxide you'd need 5,000 to 7,000 gallons — for only one week of cleanliness.
The Washington Post found an invoice showing a White House ballroom contractor was paid roughly $600 million, with half reportedly coming from taxpayers.
A total of 8 states have filed lawsuits against social media platforms, including an ongoing case in Tennessee, using product liability and public nuisance theories to seek accountability.
France built 56 nuclear plants in the 1970s and now has the cheapest energy in Europe, making it independent of Russian or Middle Eastern energy geopolitics.
Estonia has a single tax form, a law preventing the government from asking citizens for the same information twice, and a flat rate of tax — enabling competitive taxation.
Portugal's Lisbon, once a city with a major heroin problem, legalised drugs and redirected enforcement spending into rehabilitation and housing, dramatically reducing crime.
The first Boland Amendment banning CIA and Defense Department funds for the Contras passed the House unanimously — yet the Reagan administration ignored it.
Over just two years, Saudi Arabia alone donated $32 million to the Contra rebels, giving loosely affiliated factions millions they had no way to spend on arms.
The National Endowment for the Preservation of Liberty raised $6.3 million for the Contras but only $3.3 million reached them — a shockingly low 52% program expense rate.
Richard Secord and Albert Hakim marked up their arms shipments to the Contras by as much as 300%, making enormous personal profits from the covert operation.
Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, tapped to run the entire covert Contra support operation, had no prior experience in covert operations whatsoever — he was learning as he went.
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