Ken Burns invokes Lincoln in apparent swipe at Trump

Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns took a veiled dig at U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration in a recent episode of Politico's 'The Conversation with Dasha Burns'. Ken was asked how he felt about how the Trump administration was approaching America's 250th birthday. "Well, they are not," he said. The documentary filmmaker claimed that the government did not ask Americans to look into the country's "complex" past, but to instead make it "only positive" and a "sunshine story."

"These are all examples of a deep and abiding insecurity," he added. Ken continued that the Lincoln Memorial was the best in all of Washington and reminded people that the late great President did not worry about how people were going to remember him while he was in power. "Lincoln, like Washington, needed no monument in his lifetime. He was not worried about what it was that people would do to build in honor of him," he said. "You have to get past the presidency for the country to judge, not for you to judge how great you are."

While Burns did not name Donald Trump directly, his statement is being seen as a direct reference to the President. President Trump has not shied away from floating ideas about structures being built in his honor. The United States Triumphal Arch, or 'Arc de Trump', is one such example. While the President said that he was building the structure for America's 250th birthday, when asked who it was for by a reporter, he answered, "Me."

The 80-year-old has also expressed interest in having his face on Mount Rushmore. As per the BBC, former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem had said that it was Trump's "dream" to have his face on the mountain. He also shared an AI video of it on Truth Social.

Meanwhile, the Lincoln Memorial has become a major focal point for the Trump administration, drawing significant public scrutiny over a rushed, multimillion-dollar makeover. In an effort to beautify the site ahead of the nation's 250th anniversary, the administration bypassed the standard competitive bidding process, awarding a $14.2 million no-bid contract to a Virginia-based firm to waterproof the basin and coat its floor in what President Trump dubbed "American flag blue." However, just days after the pool was refilled, the newly renovated monument turned green due to a massive algae bloom, while the new blue sealant began visibly peeling off the bottom.

As per the Associated Press, the administration will hire the same company for a new repair job. "We will use the same company because they did a fantastic job,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said. "Thankfully, the vandalism was small. It was bad. I mean, it could cost tens of thousands of dollars to repair, so then it could fall into a felony ... just like damaging any other government property could. But the job that was done to fix the Reflecting Pool was done extremely well." 

The Trump administration has claimed that the Reflecting Pool was damaged by vandals. Authorities have made several arrests in relation to the reflecting pool incident, including former Olympian David Hearn, who was indicted last week on a felony of property destruction. However, his lawyers said that the charges were "outrageous and should be alarming to every American."