Wednesday, during an interview on NPR’s “Morning Edition,” Newt Gingrich claimed that Donald Trump, in his quest to become more “dignified,” will drop the “Drain the Swamp” terminology from his vocabulary:
“I’m told he now just disclaims that. He now says it was cute, but he doesn’t want to use it anymore…He’s in a different role now and maybe he feels that as president, as the next president of the United States, that he should be marginally more dignified than talking about alligators in swamps.”
As The Daily Wire previously reported, during the Florida leg of his “thank you” tour, Donald Trump tried to pivot when his supporters shouted the familiar chant: “Lock her up! Lock her up!”
“Oh, that’s so terrible…Four weeks ago–just prior to, always prior to–you people were vicious, violent, screaming: ‘Where’s the Wall! We want the Wall!’ Screaming: ‘Prison, prison! Lock her up!’ I mean, you are going crazy. I mean, you were nasty, and mean, and vicious, and you wanted to win, right?
…but now, now it’s much different. Now, you’re laid back, you’re cool, you’re mellow, right? You’re basking in the glory of victory, and we’re already getting to work. You see what we did with Carrier–we’re saving a lot of jobs in many, many places. We’ve got a lot of things going on…you’re mellow, you’re cool, and you’re not nearly as vicious or violent, right?”
The president-elect made promises on the campaign trail that he never intended to keep, and set goals he never intended to meet. Almost immediately after he was elected, he began to walk back numerous promises, including a full repeal of Obamacare, mass-deportation, and appointing a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton.
Conservatives know very well what Trump is, and as such, they expect nothing from him. Many of the president-elect’s most fervent supporters, on the other hand, were convinced that he would indeed “drain the swamp,” deport millions, repeal Obamacare, and “lock her up.”
Trump is doing his dead-level best to temper his supporters, and so far, they seem to be giving him wiggle room–but the well of forgiveness dries up when it’s used too frequently. When Trump stops placating his base, and firmly ensconces himself in the D.C. machine, the justifications and forgiveness coming from his supporters will turn to condemnations and accusations of betrayal.
Trump’s enemies–both Democrat and Republican–will use this bitterness as a means to take him down. “Donald Trump is the epitome of a Washington insider,” they’ll say. “He’s a snake oil salesman who rode into office on the promise that he would be a change agent. But instead of draining the swamp, he became a central part of its ecosystem.”
2020 could be a bad year for Donald Trump.