In the final stretch of the midterm campaign, President Donald Trump mocked reporters he claims misrepresented his rally crowds and fumed over his “Cheesecake Factory” jab that hasn’t gone away. The remarks added another dose of drama to an already heated campaign season. His latest at tempt to shame someone who wasn’t even on the election ballot sent fans digging for the truth. Trump wanted his photo to land a blow on his predecessors. Critics say it landed somewhere else entirely. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) Barack Obama left the White House nearly 10 years ago, but Donald Trump still can’t seem to stop measuring himself against the man. Even when Obama isn’t the target, he somehow ends up in the conversation. Trump Still Can’t Shake Cheesecake Factory Joke, Turns to Camera to Send Obama a Direct Message That Critics Say Falls Flat ‘What a LOSER!’: Trump Forced to Eat His Words as Age-Old Attack on Obama Comes Back to Bite Him with Receipts He Can’t Easily Explain Away The president came armed with props meant to shame the Democrats who held the job before him. One of them backfired in a way he clearly didn’t see coming. On the eve of a make-or-break election, what Trump wanted to talk about was a pool. Specifically, it was the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, where he showed off the results of his roughly $14 million makeover on Nov. 2, according to The Guardian. Polls suggest most voters think he’s too fixated on construction projects. Yet he still walked reporters through pipes, grass and granite. For anyone who hasn’t followed the saga, the pool has been a headache since June. Shortly after Trump unveiled the “American flag blue” coating he personally pushed for, an algae bloom turned the water green and the new surface began peeling away. Trump blamed vandals, but his administration never produced proof. A case against a former Olympic canoeist was later dropped by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office. None of that dampened his mood. Trump called the pool “better and more beautiful than it’s ever been before” and claimed it’s “almost as tall as 2 Empire State buildings laid on its side.” He even floated a new name. “We’re giving serious thought to changing the name to the Trump Reflecting Pool,” he said in a clip shared on X. Then came the show-and-tell. Flipping through printed photos of algae and old damage, Trump turned to an aide and asked, “You have that picture with the algae?” He then held up a shot of murky water stretching toward the Lincoln Memorial, with a handful of visitors strolling along its edge. “And this picture, this was in the Biden era,” Trump said, before adding, “They just spend money after money after money.” But there was just one problem. That photo was never from the Biden era. It didn’t take long for the internet to dig up the original. One Threads user traced the image to a Washington Post gallery of the Lincoln Memorial through the years. The caption identifies the image as algae forming on the water in September 2012. It dates back to Obama’s first term, more than eight years before Biden took office. The side-by-side she posted on Threads leaves little room for debate. The same airplane cuts across the sky in both images, and the same man in khaki shorts stands at the pool’s edge. “It took me less than 5 minutes to find the original image,” she wrote. Another said, “You can’t make this up. The most sickening malignant narcissist who ever lived.” The timing makes the mix-up even more awkward. The pool had just come out of a roughly $30 million Obama-era refurbishment, and algae appeared shortly after it was refilled, according to Newsweek. So Trump went looking for a jab at Biden and came back with a snapshot from Obama’s presidency showing the same green mess his own makeover ran into this summer. Critics weren’t letting it slide. “No prep … just lies,” one person replied under the post. Another offered some advice: “Pro tip: If his lips are moving, he’s lying.” Others couldn’t get past what Trump chose to spend his closing argument on. One person joked that Trump “always has his finger on the pulse of Americans.” As previously reported, Tuesday’s election was crucial for Trump as Democrats took over the House. The photo flub is only the latest chapter in a rivalry Trump can’t seem to quit. After Obama roasted his White House makeover at an Ohio rally, Trump erupted in an early-morning rant on Truth Social, calling Obama “a grossly incompetent President!” Days later, an aircraft flying a MAGA banner circled over one of Obama’s packed Georgia rallies. The pool itself keeps pulling Obama back in, too. Trump’s Interior Department has previously pointed fingers at the Obama-era renovation over algae problems. Trump may have wanted that photo to bury Biden. Instead, it became one more reminder that, nearly a decade later, he still can’t get Obama out of the frame. "You have that picture with the algae?" — President Trump's closing midterms message pic.twitter.com/x3tMssccca— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 2, 2026 Trump’s Show-and-Tell Moment Blows Up in His Face as Fans Spot One Detail and Obama Enters the Picture ...read more read less