Trump mocks Lincoln Memorial pool revamp critics with bizarre ‘liberal tears’ AI video

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated video showing himself using “liberal tears” to fill the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

The clip shows him standing beside the iconic Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, holding a hose and blasting water into the basin.

Behind him sits a woman on her knees wearing a diving helmet filled with tears, presented in the video as the source of the water supply. Trump smiles toward the camera while continuing to “fill” the pool using the fictional setup.

The video leans into a long-running internet meme about “liberal tears," bringing back a viral moment from years earlier that has lived a second life across social media.

The original reference point dates back to Inauguration Day on January 21, 2017, when a woman wearing a green jacket screamed “No!” the moment Trump was sworn in.

“I am so sorry to my world. This is not what we want,” she said in the clip. “There’s so much potential for beauty and for devastation in this one moment, it’s just incomprehensible that they can exist right now.”

That footage has since accumulated more than 8.2 million views on YouTube since 2017. It has become a staple in meme culture, with a single screengrab of her expression being reused endlessly across the internet to mock left-leaning voters.

Trump's unhinged meme warfare

Trump supporters on Truth Social shared multiple AI-generated variations of the same theme, doubling down on the “liberal tears” gag. One image depicted Trump using a truck labeled as delivering “liberal tears” directly into the Reflecting Pool.

Another post showed Trump styled as painter Bob Ross, calmly painting the crying woman. “And now we can just add some Happy Little Tears," the painter quips.

Over the past year, Trump has repeatedly posted digitally altered videos and images featuring political rivals, celebrities, and himself in exaggerated scenarios.

Some of the more controversial examples included an AI video showing Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer calling Democrats “a bunch of woke pieces of sh*t,” and another depicting former President Barack Obama being arrested by the FBI.

Earlier this year, an AI clip depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes triggered backlash and was later deleted.

More recently, Trump has also shared AI-generated clips of himself in outlandish scenarios, including one in which he appears to drop feces on “No Kings” protesters from a fighter jet, another showing him throwing former Late Show host Stephen Colbert into a dumpster, and even a fictional Gaza resort fantasy complete with belly dancers and a gold statue of himself.

At one point, he also posted an image portraying himself in a Christ-like depiction.

Reflecting Pool overhaul

The meme came alongside Trump’s announcement about upgrades to the National Mall’s historic water feature.

He said renovations to the Reflecting Pool were completed on Wednesday after it was cleaned and repainted in “American flag blue,” a controversial design choice that drew pushback from preservation advocates.

“Excitingly, the final coat of protection will be completed on the Reflecting Pool that sits between The Washington Monument and The Lincoln Memorial, at 4 P.M., today,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “The water will start flowing shortly thereafter.”

The project reportedly cost $13.1 million, partially funded through National Park Service visitation fees collected across 80 parks nationwide. Critics, including the Cultural Landscape Foundation, have objected to the changes. Its founder, Charles Birnbaum, has even filed a lawsuit alleging the blue coating alters the site’s historic character without proper authorization.

Trump, however, defended the overhaul to the 2,028-foot-long pool, calling it a long-overdue improvement to the nearly century-old landmark.

An Interior Department spokesperson also said a dedicated maintenance crew will now be assigned to the site.

“This will be the first time since the day it was built, 1922, that it has worked, and worked wonderfully, indeed,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social post.

Notably, the Reflecting Pool has undergone multiple restorations over the decades.