We've all seen it in caps on Twitter and heard it being spoken at rallies, one of Trump's most proud and overused slogans of his campaign: "drain the swamp." It was the basis of his campaign and consisted of a promise he had made to change the way of American politics; he claimed he would rid Washington of its corruption and of its lobbyists, changing politics in a way that no politician ever could. People were greatly attracted to this new and attractive political ideology coming from an outsider of Washington. It was coming from someone who was not a politician, and it was refreshing.
"Drain the swamp" gave Trump a significant edge over Hillary, and many of his voters decided to place their ballot in the Republican's favor because they trusted him as an outsider of politics, and understandably, they were tired of the government ignoring the interest of the people. Unfortunately, the billionaire's utopian commitment to keep money out of politics turns out to be, as it inevitably seemed, to good to be true. Trump has not even unpacked his belongings or gotten settled into the Oval, but it already seems as though he has broken his most crucial promise to the American people.
His chosen cabinet members are anything but removed from the corruption of Washington and Wall Street. His chosen State Nominee, Rex Tillerson, is the former CEO of ExxonMobil, has no experience in the public sector, and received the Order of Friendship from Vladimir Putin two years ago. Noble choice. His choice for Secretary of Treasury, Steve Mnuchin, worked at Goldman Sachs for 17 years, a company Trump previously referred to as "responsible for the economic decisions that have robbed our working class, stripped our country of its wealth and put that money into the pockets of large corporations and political entities." Sounds a bit hypocritical, no? Trump seems to have abandoned the idealism he was feeding to his voters before the election; once he got what he wanted from these promises, he deserted them and worked instead for his own best interest.
The hypocrisy and corruption doesn't end there. Almost every one of Trump's picks for his cabinet are problematic and directly oppose the "swamp draining" that he promised he would do to improve the functioning of the government. Trump's pick for Labor Secretary, Andrew Puzder, is against raising minimum wage, promotes his businesses with sexist advertisements, and, like many other cabinet choices, was a major political donor to Trump. Still keeping money out of politics? Trump's choices for Interior Secretary, Ryan Zinke, and for EPA Administrator, Scott Pruitt, have been proven to care more about expanding energy companies and fossil fuel developments than about the safety of people and the planet. These are people who thrive off power and corporate profits, not helping working Americans.
President-Elect Donald Trump gained as many votes as he did because he promised for a better America and better functioning government. His followers trusted that having someone who they believed to be separated from the corruption in Washington would be beneficial to hardworking Americans looking for change. He hasn't begun his term yet, but from what we know of his team so far, it is obvious that he will not be keeping all the promises he made to his voters. If Trump won't be "draining the swamp" in the way he said he would, what other policies will he be backing out on? Who exactly is the man that half of the country voted for?
