The left’s response to President Trump has involved tearing up anything even remotely connected to him. From firebombing Teslas to ripping down Trump’s name on the Kennedy Center, the rule still stands: if the orange man touched it, they hate it.
The most egregious example of this new left-wing phenomenon is the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which Trump had renovated earlier this summer. After its completion, several arrests were made when people allegedly tore off chunks of American-flag-blue paint from the side of the pool. Clearly, those were acts of vandalism, but on Thursday’s The 11th Hour, MS NOW guest host Symone Sanders-Townsend somehow came to a different conclusion: the administration arrested those poor people for living ordinary lives.
The Justice Department just charged three people, including former Olympic canoeist David Hearn, with misdemeanor destruction of property. According to Hearn’s charge, he allegedly caused about $1,000 worth of damage to the Reflecting Pool’s new coat of paint. But the arrests of Hearn and other accused vandals, according to Sanders-Townsend, had a “chilling effect,” because “any American can be arrested for just about anything."
Wrong. The police can’t arrest anyone for “just about anything.” They can only arrest if they have a reasonable suspicion that you committed a crime. Besides, in what world are people going about ripping paint off pool walls as part of their everyday routine?
But, guest panelist and Syracuse University professor Nayyera Haq provided a slightly different reason for arrests and minor charges:
Like, that's how low they are going to make - continue the story that D.C. is crime-ridden to also justify the National Guard still sitting here.
You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who’s lived around D.C. over the past couple years who would say that the city hasn’t vastly improved since Trump began his second term. Crime is down, the Metro is rideable again, and the fountains flow graffiti-free. But the America-hating leftists and their media just can’t seem to appreciate the good things Trump does for the country.
Co-panelist and legal analyst Ankush Khardori also added:
So, every time we see, you know, these sort of piddly little misdemeanor charges, which will result in nothing, even if there's a conviction, maybe, I don't know, 50 bucks or something on - something like that.
It may come as a surprise to Khardori, but not every crime prosecuted by the federal or state government has to be as big as diamond-heisting or murder. Even unpaid parking tickets can be prosecuted. It all goes back to the basic structure of the American government: the legislature passes laws, and the executive enforces them.
The Code of Federal Regulations classifies vandalism as “Destroying, injuring, defacing, or damaging property or real property,” and since the reflecting pool is federal property, the federal government has a clear basis to prosecute those arrested at the pool with this exact crime. They’re not going after these people just to “preserve the President’s vanity,” as Sanders-Townsend suggested.
Crime is crime and should be prosecuted and punished according to U.S. law. But it’s not surprising to see the Democratic media, who have spent years defending criminals of all types, continue that streak as they gripe on about the reflecting pool.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
MS NOW's The 11th Hour
7/9/26
11:11:32 p.m. EasternSYMONE SANDERS-TOWNSEND: Ankush, the Justice Department just charged three people today for misdemeanor destruction of property.
This was about, allegedly - and let me just read this, “removing peeling paint from the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool.”
This is the criminalization of, just, ordinary life, and also lies because the administration has yet to provide any evidence that the individuals that they charged actually peeled the paint from the reflecting pool.
But also, is this a crime? I don't understand.
ANKUSH KHARDORI: Well, look, we'll find - you know, it's unclear to me that it's actually criminal conduct. It'll - it's going to depend on the facts.To me, I think the striking thing is, remember, for weeks Trump was saying that there was a giant gash that had been put into the cover like 250, then it was 300, then 350 feet. And why have they not charged that case? My guess is, because nobody did that, and they're unable to substantiate those claims. And you notice he stopped talking about it.
So every time we see, you know, these sort of piddly little misdemeanor charges, which will result in nothing, even if there's a conviction, maybe, I don't know, 50 bucks or something on - something like that.
SANDERS-TOWNSEND: But isn't the point that it's a chilling effect because now any American can - the message that I gleaned from it is that any American can be arrested for just about anything.The government could make it up. They can try to cobble together some explanation, and you will have to pay, whether it's $50 or $100, five days in jail, or just your reputation.
NAYYERA HAQ: Well, Jeanine Pirro went, had a huge press conference last week talking about the crime of vandalism at national monuments. And the person that she was like, case number one and criminal number one, was somebody who talked back to a park police officer.Like, that's how low they are going to make - continue the story that DC is crime-ridden to also justify the National Guard still sitting here.
KHARDORI: Remember, sometimes, and more frequently than should be the case in this administration, they flop on these cases.Remember the sandwich guy? Jeanine Pirro did a whole big thing where she put out a video, says, “We're coming after you.” They couldn't get felony charges from the grand jury and they couldn't even convict him on a - on the misdemeanor counts.
So I don't know who these folks are, but I would not assume that they're going to be convicted based on what we've seen from this U.S. attorney's office.
And to your point, what seems to be a - an enforcement priority only to sort of preserve the President's vanity, right, because he's upset about the mess that he created at the reflecting pool.
