'LOL': Internal emails reveal EPA officials' bewilderment after Trump ranted about toilets, showers, and sinks
- Previously unseen emails show EPA officials' bewilderment and exasperation with President Trump's comments about toilets, sinks, showers, faucets, and other water-based appliances.
- "I can't even," one official said in an email to EPA colleagues after Trump ranted about toilets and dishwashers in December, according to NBC News, which obtained the emails.
- "Sigh," that official wrote in another email to colleagues, which included a tweet documenting the president's remarks.
- Another official wrote in an email to a faucet company executive: "We don't like faucets that only put one drop of water on my hands - LOL - the only ones I think of that might actually just drip are for Barbie doll play houses!"
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President Donald Trump has made it a personal priority to address what he appears to believe is a crisis in the US involving toilets, sinks, dishwashers, and other water-based appliances.
"Sinks, toilets and showers. You don't get any water," he said at a campaign rally in Milwaukee last month. "Try going and buying a new faucet. You turn it on, no water comes out. Right? We won't talk about toilets, but you know that's true. Ten, fifteen - but we don't talk about that. Because I've said this three or four times, the only subject they ever talk about is toilet, so I don't mention it."
But he did mention it earlier, at a White House meeting on December 6.
"We have a situation where we're looking very strongly at sinks and showers and other elements of bathrooms, where you turn the faucet on in areas where there's tremendous amounts of water, where it all flows out to sea because you could never handle it all, and you don't get any water," he said at the time.
The president added: "They take a shower and water comes dripping out, very quietly dripping out. People are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times, as opposed to once; they end up using more water. So EPA is looking very strongly at that, at my suggestion."
On Thursday, NBC News reported on internal emails senior EPA officials exchanged after Trump first made his comments.
"I can't even," Veronica Blette, the head of the agency's WaterSense program, emailed several colleagues on December 6, shortly after Trump first publicly aired his concerns about the rate of water output from bathroom appliances and federal regulations surrounding them. She reportedly attached a video of Trump's remarks to the email.
Blette sent another tweet documenting Trump's comments to her colleagues as well, and wrote, "Sigh."
Beth Livingston, a WaterSense brand manager, received an email from a faucet company executive who suggested EPA officials "have your work cut out for you convincing No. 45 on your program," referring to Trump, who is the 45th president.
"Nothing like a challenge!" Livingston responded, according to NBC News. The outlet reported that Livingston was working on a consumer satisfaction and product performance survey of WaterSense-approved products. "We don't like faucets that only put one drop of water on my hands - LOL - the only ones I think of that might actually just drip are for Barbie doll play houses!"
Here are Trump's other appliance-based grievances:
On toilets: "Now we're doing it with a lot of other things," Trump said at a Michigan rally in late December. "Uh, dishwashers, and uh, you know. I won't tell you one of the things because every time I tell you they do a big number on it. You know the one I'm talking about, right? Sinks, right? Showers? And what goes with a sink and a shower?
In response, the crowd Trump was addressing chanted, "A toilet!"
"Ten times, right? Ten times," Trump said as he mimicked a flushing motion with accompanying sound effects. "Not me of course, not me, but you. You. But I never mention that."
On showers: "But how about the shower? You go into a shower, and I have this beautiful head of hair. I need a lot of water. You go into the shower, right? You turn on the water. Drip, drip, drip. I call the guy, something wrong with this? No, sir. It's just the restrictor. So you're in there five times longer than you're supposed to be. You use probably more water. And it's a very unpleasant experience. Right? So we're getting rid of the restrictors, you're going to have full shower flow. You'll see."
On faucets: "Did you ever go to the faucet, you turn on the faucet to wash your hands, and it turns on so easy. It's like this, you know, because there's zero pressure behind it, no water. You go like that the thing flips on and whoa. And then dunk, dunk. These people are crazy."
On buildings with water: "You go into a new building, new house, a new home, and they have standards where don't get water, and you can't wash your hands practically; there's so little water."
Some more on faucets: "And the end result is that you leave the faucet on, and it takes you much longer to wash your hands, and you end up using the same amount of water. So we're looking very seriously at opening up the standard, and there may be some areas where we go the other route, desert areas, but for the most part, you have states where they have so much water where it comes down - it's called rain - that they don't know what to do with it."