The Contrarian

The Contrarian

Jen Rubin's Columns

Trump’s Reflecting Pool Ramble: Worst Closing Speech Ever

And the courts beat back the corrupt DOJ again and again.

Jennifer Rubin's avatar
Jennifer Rubin
Nov 03, 2026
∙ Paid

The worst closing election speech ever. Donald Trump “stood near the Lincoln Memorial and spent most of his time blathering about all the construction projects his administration has launched in Washington,” HuffPost reported. “The president joked in front of a small audience that he would rename the Reflecting Pool after himself before presenting, one by one, a series of photos meant to showcase the administration’s renovation of the site. ... Trump also rambled about grass, top soil, rusted pipes, Corinthian columns, graffiti, types of stone, the ballroom, the helipad, statues and monuments, and Washington’s crime and homelessness levels. He also railed against James Comey, the former FBI director that Trump has directed his Justice Department to repeatedly target.”

The Independent’s Holly Baxter reported: “All of this was delivered in a halting, croaky voice, from a man who looked, to put it politely, tired. ... The speech swung between ‘sadly nodding at Grandpa’ territory and absurdist performance art.”

Donald Trump arrives on November 2 at the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to deliver a speech marking the end of the midterm election campaign. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)
User's avatar

Continue reading this post for free, courtesy of The Contrarian.

Or purchase a paid subscription.
© 2026 The Contrarian · Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start your SubstackGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture