President Donald Trump was widely mocked after sharing a chart with reporters that compared the length of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to the heights of several skyscrapers.
Trump has spent much of the past several days out of public view, fueling fresh speculation about his health and mental acuity. When he finally resurfaced for an executive order-signing ceremony, he opened by talking about the refurbishment of the Reflecting Pool, a project that has shuttered one of the capital's most visited attractions.
Trump praised the “very special material” being used in the overhaul of the Reflecting Pool, which is expected to reopen before the July 4 holiday and the celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of American independence.
At one point, Trump displayed a chart labeled “Our Pool is Bigger than Skyscrapers,” using it to compare the pool’s dimensions with the heights of several well-known landmarks, including New York’s Empire State Building.
He bragged:
"You're getting a glimpse but that's your size compared to... those are among the tallest buildings in the world including the Empire State Building, World Trade Center, Sears Tower [in] Chicago."
"If you lay it on its side, you take two or three of them to fill it in. The width is almost 200 feet wide."
You can hear what Trump said in the video below.
This is what was on Trump's mind, not more pressing issues including the ongoing conflict with Iran and the economic pressures facing many Americans as they contend with elevated living costs and higher gasoline prices. It's worth remembering that it was only a few weeks ago that Trump said he doesn't "think about Americans' financial situation" when negotiating terms with Iran.
And the chart he presented is ridiculous: while the raw measurements may be numerically accurate, the comparison creates a distorted impression of scale because people intuitively experience skyscrapers as height, not length.
People were not impressed at all.
Trump doesn't seem aware of just how embarrassing he really is.
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