President Donald Trump’s massive July Fourth fireworks show fouled the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, choked Washington with record air pollution, and sent dozens to hospitals.
Trump’s nonprofit Freedom 250 launched nearly 850,000 fireworks shells from 10 sites on the National Mall — including the Reflecting Pool itself.
“Best fireworks show, EVER!” Trump
wrote on Truth Social after the display.
The morning after, workers were wading waist-deep in the pool to scoop out burned debris floating across the murky green water. Scorched fireworks casings and netting were piled along the walkway by the dozen.
The cleanup continued into Monday, when photos showed a large amount of trash in the Reflecting Pool.
“Shooting off fireworks next to the Reflecting Pool was a spectacularly stupid idea,”
D.C. photojournalist Joe Flood wrote on X. “This is the result.”
Washington briefly became the city with the worst air quality on earth after the 40-minute show. Officials issued a Code Red alert, warning the air was “unhealthy for seniors, kids, people with medical conditions.”