Donald Trump has confirmed that the chant to "lock up" Hillary Clinton was nothing more than a slogan on the campaign trail and not to be taken literally. Now it looks like his promise to "drain the swamp" might also have been nothing more than a phrase with a nice ring to it.
Trump's former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, told the hosts of Fox & Friends on Thursday morning that draining the swamp "is probably somewhere down the bottom" of Trump's to-do list. "I think at the end of the day, it's about the economy," Lewandowski went on. "It's about creating jobs, fixing the bad trade deals. So draining the swamp is a larger narrative, but what it's really about is putting people back to work."
It is perhaps an unsurprising about-face from Lewandowski. "Draining the swamp" is a term that "is not just about lobbying and politicians [but] also about consultants," as another former Trump campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, put it. Lewandowski announced Wednesday that he is launching a government relations and political consulting firm with former Donald Trump adviser Barry Bennet.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
But former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is serving as an adviser to the president-elect, told NPR on Wednesday that he's been informed Trump "just disclaims" the swamp slogan. "He now says it was cute, but he doesn't want to use it anymore," Gingrich said. Jeva Lange
Update 11:44 a.m.:
-
5 hilariously incriminating cartoons about the Epstein filesCartoons Artists take on an Epstein Thanksgiving, solving the puzzle, and more
-
Political cartoons for November 15Cartoons Saturday's political cartoons include cowardly congressmen, a Macy's parade monster, and more
-
Massacre in the favela: Rio’s police take on the gangsIn the Spotlight The ‘defence operation’ killed 132 suspected gang members, but could spark ‘more hatred and revenge’
-
Trump DOJ sues to block California redistrictingSpeed Read California’s new congressional map was drawn by Democrats to flip Republican-held House seats
-
GOP retreats from shutdown deal payout provisionSpeed Read Senators are distancing themselves from a controversial provision in the new government funding package
-
Catholic bishops rebuke Trump on immigrationSpeed Read ‘We feel compelled’ to ‘raise our voices in defense of God-given human dignity,’ the bishops said
-
House releases Epstein emails referencing TrumpSpeed Read The emails suggest Trump knew more about Epstein’s sex trafficking of underage women than he has claimed
-
Newsom slams Trump’s climate denial at COP30speed read Trump, who has called climate change a ‘hoax,’ declined to send any officials to this week’s summit
-
UK, Colombia halt intel to US over boat attacksSpeed Read Both countries have suspended intelligence sharing with the US over the bombing of civilian boats suspected of drug smuggling
-
Trump pardons 2020 fake electors, other GOP alliesSpeed Read The president pardoned Rudy Giuliani and more who tried to overturn his 2020 election loss
-
Supreme Court to decide on mail-in ballot limitsSpeed Read The court will determine whether states can count mail-in ballots received after Election Day
