Trump: We’ll always be trying to ‘drain the swamp’

“Actually, we will always be trying to DTS.”

 

During his presidential campaign, Trump often vowed to “drain the swamp.” But close Trump confidant and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) told NPR’s “Morning Edition” on Wednesday that he was told Trump “now says [the phrase] was cute, but he doesn’t want to use it anymore.”

 

{mosads}Gingrich said he likes the phrase “drain the swamp” as it pertains to Washington, D.C., because it “vividly illustrates the problem, because all people in this city who are the alligators are going to hate the swamp being drained.”

“But, you know, he is my leader, and if he decides to drop the swamp and the alligator, I will drop the swamp and the alligator,” he said.

Trump’s former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, appeared to reinforce the idea earlier Thursday, saying that draining the swamp is among Trump’s lower priorities.

“If you had to put them in a chronological order, drain the swamp is probably somewhere down at the bottom,” Lewandowski said on “Fox and Friends,” adding, “What it’s really about is putting people back to work.”

Gingrich backtracked shortly after the president-elect’s tweet, saying, “I made a big boo-boo.” He said he spoke Thursday with Trump, who “reminded me he likes draining the swamp. … He intends to drain the swamp.” 

I goofed. Draining the swamp is in, @realDonaldTrump is going to do it, and the alligators should be worried. #DTS https://t.co/nCHs61gpve pic.twitter.com/OCO7eaSKvk

— Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) December 22, 2016

Gingrich said Trump sees his public back-and-forth with Boeing over the price of new Air Force One planes as an example of draining the swamp. 

“Draining the swamp is in, [and] the alligators should be worried,” he added.