Trump Didn't Drain The Swamp - He Fed It

During his campaign for the presidency in 2016, Trump repeatedly promised to "drain the swamp" in Washington. That was obviously a lie. Instead of draining the swamp, he made it bigger by appointing lobbyists and CEO's to jobs throughout his administration.

Now we learn that he has used the pandemic to feed those new swamp monsters.

Here's how Kurt Bardella describes it in a column in USA Today:

Whatever happened to “drain the swamp” — one of the original promises from then-candidate Donald J. Trump? At the time, it was a powerful rhetorical refrain that harnessed a widespread sentiment that Washington had sold out the American people in favor of special interest influence. It was an effective rallying cry that created a tangible contrast between the outsider insurgency that was Donald Trump juxtaposed with the ultimate insider that was Hillary Clinton. And yet four years later, Trump has become the swampiest of swamp creatures, giving the Joe Biden campaign a very real opening to do to Trump what Trump did to Clinton.

If you’re among the 36.5 million Americans who have filed for unemployment insurance since mid-March, you might be asking yourself, “What happened to all of that money Congress passed to shore up the economy and keep small businesses afloat?” The answer: Too often, it went to donors, supporters, allies and former aides of President Donald J. Trump, aka The Swamp.

Clay Lacy Aviation, a private jet company founded by a Trump campaign and Republican National Committee donor, received $27 million in government funding through the $2 trillion coronavirus package known as the CARES Act.

Phunware, a data firm that is doing work for the Trump re-election campaign, received $2.85 million from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) — the average loan distributed through this program is $206,000.

CloudCommerce, a company whose largest shareholder is Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale, received nearly a million dollars through the PPP.

Ronald Gidwitz is the president’s ambassador to Belgium and was the Trump campaign finance chair for Illinois. Gidwitz’s family is the largest shareholder in a company called Continental Materials Corp. They were approved for a $5.5 millionPPP loan.

It is worth noting that Congress gave a much-needed "booster shot" to unemployment benefits by allowing some to receive an additional $600 a week, however, the influx of unemployment claims has created a massive backlog, delaying support from reaching millions of Americans. On top of that, emergency relief dollars intended to support small businesses are instead going to publicly traded companies with more than 500 workers. All the while, dozens of lobbyists with direct ties to the Trump administration and Trump campaign are cashing in, receiving tens of thousands of dollars from private companies to leverage their relationships and access to deliver a piece of those taxpayer dollars. . . .

Donald Trump’s bank-heist in broad daylight of coronavirus funding is the manifestation of everything working-class Americans believe is corrupt about Washington. The idea that the elite and privileged get a life boat, while the rest of us are left to fend for ourselves. That access to support and relief is bought and paid for with political contributions, while millions of Americans are being laid off and furloughed. That pay-for-play is the only currency that Donald Trump accepts, and the rest of us are dispensable and disposable.

It’s a campaign narrative that practically writes itself and can put Biden on the right side of the middle/working class voters that Trump and the Republicans are taking for granted with their flagrant corruption. Donald Trump may have won the presidency on the promise to “drain the swamp.” Joe Biden should end it by drowning him in it.

Trump Has Made The D.C. "Swamp" Bigger And Nastier

(Cartoon image is by Dave Granlund at davegranlund.com.)

Donald Trump, while campaigning for office, promised to "drain the swamp" in Washington, D.C. And even today, he brags about doing that. But he hasn't. In fact, he's made it far worse.

Robert Reich (pictured) gives us 5 ways in which Trump has not only failed to drain the swamp, but made it worse. He writes:

1.He has packed his administration with former lobbyists and corporate executives. He has installed a former Boeing executive to run the Defense Department; a former pharmaceutical lobbyist to run the Department of Health and Human Services; a former coal lobbyist to run the Environmental Protection Agency, and a former oil lobbyist to run the Department of the Interior. In total, more than 300 lobbyists now work in the Trump administration – many in key positions overseeing the industries they used to lobby for. 

2. He and his family are personally profiting from the presidency. Despite Trump’s promise he’d sever all ties with his existing businesses and place all assets in a “blind” trust to eliminate any conflicts of interest, documents show Trump remains the sole beneficiary of his trust and still retains the legal power to revoke the trust at any time. Meanwhile, foreign dignitaries have flooded Trump’s hotels, lining his pockets in clear violation of the Constitution. He even attempted to host the G-7 at his own luxury golf course until he was forced to back down.

3. He is catering to billionaires and corporations at the expense of the American people. In the fall of 2017, mega-donors shelled out more than $31 million in political contributions to Trump and Republicans. And in return, they got a massive $2 trillion tax cut. Not a bad return on investment. As Trump told his wealthy friends at Mar-a-Lago just days after the tax bill became law, “You all just got a lot richer.”

4. He is using taxpayer dollars to subsidize his luxurious lifestyle. Since taking office, Trump’s golf trips alone have cost taxpayers more than $110 million dollars. His children have also charged taxpayers for costs associated with business trips around the world that they’ve taken, including India and Uruguay. Taxpayers even footed the bill for Donald Trump Junior’s hunting trip to Canada.

5. The Trump administration has been riddled with scandals and ethics violations. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross held on to investments and never divested despite pledging to avoid even the appearance of conflict of interest. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao has tried to arrange meetings with Chinese officials for her family business. Ethics officials have found Kellyanne Conway broke laws that prohibit government workers from engaging in political activities. The list goes on, and on. This has been the most corrupt administration in American history.

Trump is exploiting everything that’s vulnerable in our political system. But in order to truly stop the corruption of our democracy, we have to fix what’s broken. We must get big money out of politics, end the flow of lobbyists in and out of government, and strengthen ethics laws.

Trump has enlarged and deepened the swamp, but the swamp was there before he got to Washington. One of the first tasks of the next president must be to drain the swamp once and for all.

Drain The Swamp? No - Trump Added Voracious Critters To It

(Cartoon image is by Steve Sack in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.)

During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump promised the public that he would "drain the swamp" in Washington -- making the government more responsive to ordinary Americans.

HE LIED!

What he has actually done is put foxes in charge of all the government henhouses -- giving lobbyists and corporate bigwigs even more opportunity to feather their own nests at taxpayer expense. His administration now has the potential to be the most corrupt in our nation's history.

Consider the following from Lachlan Markay and Sam Stein at The Daily Beast:

Nearly a year since he won election, the president has turned federal agencies over to the private industries that they regulate. And he has done so to a degree that ethics groups say they have never witnessed. 

The Daily Beast examined 341 nominations the president has made to Senate-confirmed administration positions. Of those, more than half (179) have some notable conflict of interest, according to a comprehensive review of public records. One hundred and five nominees worked in the industries that they were being tasked with regulating; 63 lobbied for, were lawyers for, or otherwise represented industry members that they were being tasked with regulating; and 11 received payments or campaign donations from members of the industry that they were being tasked with regulating.

Most People Say Trump Is Not "Draining The Swamp"

During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump promised to "drain the swamp" in Washington once elected. Has he done that? Most Americans say NO. About 65% say he is not draining the swamp (with 39% saying it has stayed the same and 26% saying he has made it worse). Only 25% think he has made progress in draining the swamp.

The chart above was made from information in a new Monmouth University Poll -- done between August 10th and 14th of a random national sample of 805 adults, with a margin of error of 3.5 points.

Two-Thirds Of Public Say Trump NOT Draining The Swamp

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump said he would drain the swamp in Washington. Is he doing that? Well, 67% of Americans say he is not doing it (35% saying nothing has changed and 32% saying he has made the "swamp" worse). Only 24% believe he is keeping his promise.

This chart was made using information in a recent Monmouth University Poll -- done between May 13th and 17th of a random national sample of 1,002 adults, with a 3.1 point margin of error.

Trump Hasn't Drained The "Swamp" - He's Filled It

(This image of a "swamp" monster is by DonkeyHotey.)

During the 2016 campaign, Donald Trump used a very vivid image -- an image of Washington being a swamp infested by monsters who care only for their own gain. He promised his supporters that he would drain that swamp. That's a promise he seems to have forgotten since taking office.

Instead of draining that swamp, Trump has filled his administration with Wall Streeters, corporate CEO's, and an army of lobbyists. Those lobbyists are of special concern to the Office of Government Ethics, since many of them have slid into government jobs without being exposed to the glare of media publicity -- and they were concerned enough to ask the Trump administration for the waivers they issued to allow those lobbyists to get government jobs (waivers that are necessary before a lobbyist can work for our government).

The Office of Government Ethics wanted to know who those lobbyists were and what jobs they got, so they could be watched to see if they used their government job to benefit the companies they had lobbied for.

What was the response of the Trump administration? They have refused to produce the waivers signed by Donald Trump to allow those lobbyists to get government jobs. Trump and his cronies don't want the American public to know how many lobbyists got government jobs (and what those jobs were). They don't want the public to know that they not only failed to drain the swamp, but filled the swamp with many new and voracious predators.

Why aren't these waivers open to not only the Office of Government Ethics, but also to the general public. Doesn't the public have the right to know how many lobbyists were given government jobs, and who those lobbyists are?

This is just more evidence that the administration of Donald Trump is the most corrupt administration in modern history.