When the Donald promised to “drain the swamp” during the 2016 election campaign—-it did sound vaguely like an attack on Big Government, and at least a directional desire to shrink the state and let free market capitalism breathe.
After 16 months in office, however, the truth is patently obvious: The only Swamp that Donald Trump wants to drain is one filled with his political enemies and policy adversaries at any given moment in time. Even then, you have to consult his tweetstorm ledger to know who the swamp creatures de jure actually are.
To be sure, the Donald’s daily Twitter assaults on the Deep State are a wondrous thing. They surely do undermine public confidence in rogue institutions like the FBI, CIA and NSA, which threaten constitutional liberties and fiscal solvency; and his frequently unhinged tweets also lather their congressional sponsors and beltway supplicants with well-deserved mud and opprobrium.