Letter to the editor: President Queeg

First published in the Brunswick Beacon, 08.24.26

The Iran War rages, gas is over $4/gallon and three-quarters of Americans think Trump is ignoring their problems to focus on vanity projects — he’s been seen personally gluing gilded ornaments to the Oval Office wall.

Take his reflecting pool obsession. Trump promised to fix it for $1.5 million, then awarded contracts exceeding $16 million to a campaign donor and his pool guy. Trump’s Interior Department said they were “no-bid” contracts because Trump wanted the work done by July 4.

On May 7, Trump’s 10-SUV motorcade drove over the drained pool’s freshly painted bottom. Once refilled, it was again covered in algae, soon joined by paint strips peeling from its bottom.

A 67-year-old three-time Olympian touched a floating paint strip and was charged with a felony. Without proof, Trump said “thugs” using “great force” slashed the pool. Trump claimed the gashes measured 250’, 300’, 350’ and, finally, 300 yards long. Perhaps the “thugs” drove SUVs?

On July 31, Jeanine Pirro, Trump’s U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., dismissed the charges, saying, “The damage was the result of a botched installation — not vandalism.” Pirro blamed “the rush to complete the project” by July 4.

Pirro said Trump’s Interior Department concealed “information clearly in its possession,” proving the damage was caused by “a flawed installation,” not vandalism. Otherwise, Pirro added, “the government would not have sought a grand jury indictment.”

Trump admitted, “the contractor was rushing. We wanted to get it open for July 4.” He blasted Pirro anyway, saying, “She folded like an umbrella” and urged Attorney General Todd Blanche to revive the case.

Trump has been compared to Capt. Queeg in “The Caine Mutiny.” The aging, paranoid Queeg shirked his wartime duties commanding a destroyer-minesweeper during WWII and obsessed over who stole strawberries from his wardroom icebox. A Feb. 24 Reuters/Ipsos poll found 61% of Americans believed Trump, like Queeg, had “become erratic with age.” Trump proved them right when he attacked Iran just four days later.

Arthur Hill

Southport