In the closing days of the 2026 midterm election cycle, Donald Trump crisscrossed the nation, trying to rescue struggling Republican candidates, primarily in red states. To the extent the president had a closing message that he wanted voters to hear, his pitch was genuinely bizarre.

During his final week of rallies and social media messages, it became clear the president cares a great deal about Republican Sen. Jon Husted’s buttocks. And cognitive tests. And the oil industry’s profits. And golf courses in Washington, D.C. And New Mexico’s name. And his weird attempts to rename “artificial intelligence.”

What he does not appear to care about is policy priorities or a vision for the final two years of his term.

But with one day remaining in the midterm election cycle and control of Congress on the line, the Republican incumbent had one last opportunity to share a message with a national audience. He made an odd choice: Trump decided to deliver remarks at the Reflecting Pool about its overdue reopening.

Asked over the weekend why he had decided to go this route, the president said it was important to him to “show how beautiful” the project had turned out. By all appearances, he was oblivious to the embarrassment he should feel about prioritizing a vanity project that cost vastly more than he said it would, as part of a no-bid contract the administration never should have signed.

What the president likes to pretend is a triumph has actually been one of his many election season failures.

Then the whole endeavor became vastly worse when he actually started talking. From MS NOW’s liveblog coverage:

Trump began his closing message on the midterms in front of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool with a joke about renaming the historic site after himself. The president’s quip followed his previous efforts to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America and the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. So far, he has made no mention of the midterms.

From there, the president engaged in some unintentionally amusing show-and-tell, holding up assorted photos of the project, making excuses for the cost and calendar overruns, and making seemingly serious claims about “vandalism” that appears to have only happened in his imagination.

Trump talked about piping, and algae, and bubbles, and caulking, and limestone, and fountains, and nearby grass, and that he considers the Reflecting Pool to be “a massive piece of pool.” (No, seriously, that’s a direct quote.)

As the event dragged on, the president also took the opportunity to complain about former FBI Director James Comey. And celebrate trade tariffs. And tout his eagerness to build a “triumphal” arch. And emphasize his plans for a local golf course. And share his belief that the United States has already “won” the ongoing war with Iran, which began eight months ago and which he doesn’t appear to have any idea how to end.

Eventually, those who might have tuned in to hear something about the midterms finally heard the president deliver some fleeting comments on the subject — he called the cycle “the most important midterm, I believe, in our lifetime” — although he didn’t exactly sound confident about the outcome.

“For some reason the sitting president doesn’t win the midterms,” he said, “but we gave this a very strong shot.”

Those are not the words of a party leader who anticipates encouraging results.

As for the peculiar setting for Trump’s pre-election closing argument, let’s not forget that in Greek mythology, Narcissus failed to focus on what mattered because he couldn’t turn his attention away from a pool.

The story came to mind watching Trump’s inexplicable presentation on Monday afternoon.