Prosecutor’s office attributed pool damage to shoddy workmanship
An Associated Press analysis opens with “the buck stops here,” which it describes as among the most famous phrases in presidential history. The analysis says that with President Donald Trump, “it almost never does.”
The analysis examines Trump’s explanations for three issues: the war in Iran, the weak economy and the revamp of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
On Iran, the analysis describes the war as increasingly unpopular, one that has kept oil prices high, kept Trump’s approval rating low and sent shock waves through the global economy. Trump says he is making up for “timid earlier presidents” who, he argues, squandered nearly 50 years of opportunities to curb Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
On the economy, Trump says his predecessor, Joe Biden, “saddled him with that,” according to the analysis. The analysis notes Biden has been out of office for 18-plus months and that Trump once promised an immediate turnaround.
The analysis also addresses the revamp of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Trump insists the work was “marred by vandalism.” The office of a prosecutor Trump put in the job has said the damage was due to “shoddy workmanship,” according to the analysis.
The analysis’s headline echoes the phrase: “With Donald Trump, the buck tends to stop somewhere else.”