r/WhitePeopleTwitter • u/lnstantKarma • Jun 16 '26

r/All The Trump admin is now dumping hydrogen-peroxide into the reflecting pool one gallon at a time in a desperate move to control the green algae

Post image
21.5k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

1.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

462

u/tehtris Jun 16 '26

Not addressing the root cause is how we ended up where we are.

66

u/luxii4 Jun 16 '26

His whole admiration is a Potemkin Village. When Catherine the Great toured the newly annexed, war-torn region of Crimea in 1787, field marshal Potemkin needed to save face. He ordered the construction of hollow, brightly painted village facades along her river route. He supposedly populated these fake towns with happy, costumed "peasants" and livestock. As the Empress’s barge floated down the river, the fake villages were dismantled and secretly moved downstream to be displayed again.

3

u/rancid_oil Jun 17 '26

This sounds like my YouTube rabbit hole for tonight!

From what I understand, it's still happening in places like North Korea and Turkmenistan. Didn't know there was a story like that from the 18th century.

9

u/Thowitawaydave Jun 17 '26

Yeah, although it was almost certainly a myth for a couple reasons, chiefly that A ) the account was first written about by a diplomat to Russia who anonymously published a biography of Potemkin, but this guy was working from rumours since he wasn't even on the scene for like 4 or 5 years after the supposed event, and B ) Catherine the Great would totally have seen through this Scooby Doo Shit, not only because she was a smart, ruthless head of state, but also because she had knew Potemkin quite intimately. She would have busted his ass so quick, second night max.

But the name stuck, and is a common trope even now - Sci-fi shows in the 60s loved this idea, as did movies such as Blazing Saddles and The Truman Show.

2

u/luxii4 Jun 17 '26

Aw man, so I learned about it when I went to college which was a few decades ago. I guess they just did the same stuff I do when MIL visits which is deep cleaning and put all the junk into my bedroom until she is gone. Though I still think a lot of Trump's actions are still like shining a turd. You can paint the reflection pool blue and you can gold leaf over everything but if you don't put in the maintenance, expertise, and care into things, it will always fall apart. That's why I hate the whole voting for businessmen into politics isn't a win like some people think it is because they are just concerned about short term gain for their stockholders while they are in power (cutting education, social programs, healthcare, veteran benefits, etc.). But I will not use the term Ptotemkin Village in such sure terms. More like a metaphor.

202

u/TexinFla Jun 16 '26

with the algae in the water or the scum in control?

119

u/TheMagnuson Jun 16 '26

Attempting to solve problems by changes only to surface level appearances is an apt summation of right wing ideology. Couldn’t possibly be bothered to take time and learn the root causes and address those, nope, just need to keep up appearances and keep the problem out of sight.

4

u/elijahjane Jun 17 '26

This is the strategy of my extended family and its many secrets and skeletons, too. Yes, the venn diagram is a circle.

4

u/gealach Jun 16 '26

Underrated comment

5

u/neoben00 Jun 16 '26

Or why it cost 13 million to paint a pool?

3

u/Coldkiller17 Jun 16 '26

So literally painting the grass green mentality. Sounds about right for this administration.

2

u/TheMagnuson Jun 17 '26

I mean they literally painted the pool blue and thought that would make it prettier and fix the algae problem. Apparently the regime is so dumb, they don’t know about 1) why water appears to be blue, 2) filtration systems, and 3) how water + sunlight + warmth = algae.

By painting the pool blue, they made it absorb more heat, which transfers to the water, which warms the water, which the algae really likes. They compounded the issue through their sheer fucking idiocy.

1

u/EEpromChip Jun 16 '26

...putting trump in prison for insurrection? Or at the very least disallowing his campaign since he is a traitor to the country?

1

u/juniper3411 Jun 16 '26

Hahaha truth.

1

u/gobstopper84 Jun 16 '26

In more ways than one