President Donald Trump speaks after touring the newly designated Air Force One presidential aircraft at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Friday, June 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) With the news that the Trump administration’s attempt to beautify the Reflecting Pool is looking like a spectacular backfire, a lot of people said it was a perfect analogy of how things are going in general.
Trump promised to fix the problems that have plagued the pool for some time. Even if he went overboard (like he usually does) to blame everything on President Obama, there was a truth that the pool had had issues ever since its renovation was completed in 2012.
Trump did things his way, and in the way that his supporters love. Don’t wait for permission. Screw the red tape, protocol, science and experience of experts. If he wants to get things done, he is going to get them done.
But as many of us have learned during Trump’s second term, he likes to get things done, but he doesn’t get them done right.
In a week that saw the Interior Department declare that the water in the renovated pool was “crystal clear” despite Mountain Dew-colored shades appearing, we also saw the vaunted American Flag Blue paint scheme peel away.
Meanwhile, we also saw Trump roll out an agreement with the Iranians that seemed to be great only for people in Iran who work for its regime. As with the Reflecting Pool, Trump didn’t wait for congressional permission. He had not taken his time drawing up war plans that would prepare for contingencies like the closing of the Strait of Hormuz, nor had he consulted with allies. He just decided to get the job done.
And just like the Interior Department’s claim of crystal clear water, the Trump administration is now selling the American public that the job he set out to do in Iran was done right, despite evidence pointing to the contrary.
Although the Reflecting Pool and Iran are on different levels of importance to the American people, the outcomes from both so far are an indictment on how poorly Trump’s “get things done and worry about the fallout later” approach goes. You can point to any number of Trump’s actions and chalk then up to, “Well he didn’t think that one through, did he?” We saw DOGE take a chainsaw to the federal government without understanding how the government worked only to see the effort fail to cut spending and waste.
We went through “Liberation Day” with a tariff rollout that made sense to no one except for the mental gymnasts on Team Trump. Trump’s efforts to curb illegal immigration resulted in Americans being shot in the streets and Trump falling well short of his promises to deport people. His takeover of the Kennedy Center to turn it back to an ideal seemingly only in his own head resulted in its closure and his newly added name being stricken from its walls.
“If you are going to do something, do it right” is a lesson that most of us get from our parents. In a complicated world, someone like Trump resonates because of his promise to just get things done. But getting things done still needs to account for complications. Trump’s insistence on no resistance to his goals has resulted in a motley crew of administration officials and congressional Republicans tripping over themselves when dealing with complications.
Iran was never going to be an easy war. It was never going to be a quick war. Anyone with any background in military matters, history, politics, or international affairs would have told you that. The president also would have had a lot of leeway in taking on Iran with a pragmatic plan that had set goals and accounted for as many contingencies as possible. That doesn’t mean you have to play it safe or not proceed with your plans to ensure Iran doesn’t get a nuclear weapon. It just means you can’t rush headlong into a conflict and then sell Americans on a ceasefire agreement that looks like a Christmas gift to the ayatollahs.
Trump has already “joked” that Vice President JD Vance would be the fall guy if this Iran deal falls apart. That doesn’t instill confidence in the deal, but it also should have been a red flag for anyone supporting Trump. Sure, he wants to get things done and who cares if he cracks a few eggshells to make an omelet? But when the things you demanded don’t work out, you have to take ownership.
Accountability seems to be a trait that Trump doesn’t have. We have seen him blame former President Joe Biden, Obama, Democrats, Republicans, the “deep state,” and even his most ardent supporters for his failures. Ordaining Vance less than a week into a deal announcement as his scapegoat, while Vance is on a book tour to promote his future presidential run reeks of a lack of accountability from Trump and an admission that his dealmaking seems to help the other side more often than not.
Getting things done is laudable, especially with the gridlock that has plagued Washington for a while. But competence, accountability and judgement are still needed to get things done right. If you don’t have those, you end up with sweetheart deals for Iran and a reflecting pool that looks like a swamp.
Joslin Joseph is a recipient of the Military Reporters and Editors award for Best Commentary-Opinion. A graduate of Harvard and Ohio State, he is a Marine veteran who served in Iraq. He currently lives in Anaheim, Calif.
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