Did Trump "Drain" the swamp?

[Markk]

LOL…I conceded that…but he did get a huge stinking part of it down the drain, he flushed a Clinton, and wiped it clean with a Bush….but couldn’t get Pelosi, Schumer, McConnell and alike down the drain…maybe in two and a half years?

No. Existing pols aren’t the only type of swamp critter. Replacing them with lobbyists, cronies or just another dynasty (tell me again how the larger Trump family had no involvement with the Administration) only serves to deepen that same swamp.

I think that you’ve used OpenSecrets.org as a reference before. They’ve got the list: https://www.opensecrets.org/trump/lobbyists

Then there’s this piece from ProPublica, in 2019:

At the halfway mark of President Donald Trump’s first term, his administration has hired a lobbyist for every 14 political appointments made, welcoming a total of 281 lobbyists on board, a ProPublica and Columbia Journalism Investigations analysis shows.

With a combination of weakened rules and loose enforcement easing the transition to government and back to K Street, Trump’s swamp is anything but drained. The number of lobbyists who have served in government jobs is four times more than the Obama administration had six years into office. And former lobbyists serving Trump are often involved in regulating the industries they worked for.

Even government watchdogs who’ve long monitored the revolving door say that its current scale is a major shift from previous administrations. It’s a “staggering figure,” according to Virginia Canter, ethics chief counsel for the D.C.-based legal nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “It suggests that lobbyists see themselves as more effective in furthering their clients’ special interests from inside the government rather than from outside.”

https://www.propublica.org/article/we-f ... ration/amp

I still want to do a garden thread…starting to get tomatoes, strawberry’s, and squash…maybe this week end.

I think that would be excellent; I look forward to it.

Fair enough…so Clinton is gone, bush is gone….Romney is almost gone…so if Trump is kept out and the Biden/Obama’s are kept out we are moving in the right direction? If we get Shummer, MacConnell, Pelosi, Graham, and down the line then we are heading in the right direction…would you agree?

The problem is that we are so polarized that I am not sure anyone that is decent would put themselves and their family through the mess.

[canpakes]

… Romney is almost gone…

I was never sure what so many right-wing-aligned folks found so objectionable about Romney aside from the fact that he stood up against Trump at the right times. The folks angry at him about that just seem to be supporting a different ‘swamp’, and for arguably much worse reasons - blind loyalty. Blind loyalty is literally the thing that feeds and perpetuates that swamp.

Anyhow, you’ve still got Ronna Romney McDaniel running the current version of the Trumpian GOP, right on down to covering his legal bills.

[Markk]

… Romney is almost gone…

I was never sure what so many right-wing-aligned folks found so objectionable about Romney aside from the fact that he stood up against Trump at the right times. The folks angry at him about that just seem to be supporting a different ‘swamp’, and for arguably much worse reasons - blind loyalty. Blind loyalty is literally the thing that feeds and perpetuates that swamp.

Anyhow, you’ve still got Ronna Romney McDaniel running the current version of the Trumpian GOP, right on down to covering his legal bills.

I think it is because he turned on his tribe mostly…much like Bill Crystal and the ex Gov. from Ohio. I have wavered on Romney, so maybe I am guilty there..but as I get older I don’t trust anyone anymore, at the moment the one I like the most might be Ran Paul…but I haven’t dug into him enough to stand by that. Without holding you to it…who is maybe your most trusted “elite” politician?

[canpakes]

… as I get older I don’t trust anyone anymore, at the moment the one I like the most might be Ran Paul…but I haven’t dug into him enough to stand by that. Without holding you to it…who is maybe your most trusted “elite” politician?

I honestly don’t even know why or how I would classify any politician as ‘elite’ any more than I would spend my time admiring the Kardashians for being famous for being famous (that’s not a typo). I just don’t think of pols that way and have never needed to ‘look up’ to a President as some kind of national father figure, as some have done with Trump.

As for Rand Paul - I would like to believe in the promise of Rand Paul, but his actions and statements these days seem to align more with his personal ambitions and needs, than his claimed principles.

[Markk]

Look at many here with Biden, or especially Obama…it is hardly exclusive to Trump. People like Kevin worship these guys.

I admit I had a man crush on Bush the Younger and I thought he could do no wrong ( I was wrong)…but that was nothing like I see with the Obama lovers and Trump lovers. You have to admit the media crush on Obama was way over the top as was/is the media bias for Trump.

[Doctor Steuss]

As for Rand Paul - I would like to believe in the promise of Rand Paul, but his actions and statements these days seem to align more with his personal ambitions and needs, than his claimed principles.

The axiom about apples falling from trees didn't account for the winds of Hurricanes named Alex Jones.

[K Graham]

Look at many here with Biden, or especially Obama…it is hardly exclusive to Trump. People like Kevin worship these guys.

I admit I had a man crush on Bush the Younger and I thought he could do no wrong ( I was wrong)…but that was nothing like I see with the Obama lovers and Trump lovers. You have to admit the media crush on Obama was way over the top as was/is the media bias for Trump.

Why do you continue to lie like this? I don't think Biden is anything special. Worship him? Why? Because I don't sit here and let hypocrites like you attack him over trivial crap while turning a blind eye to the weekly scandals that plagued Trump in just four years while he continuously tried to upend our democracy?

[Markk]

Look at many here with Biden, or especially Obama…it is hardly exclusive to Trump. People like Kevin worship these guys.

I admit I had a man crush on Bush the Younger and I thought he could do no wrong ( I was wrong)…but that was nothing like I see with the Obama lovers and Trump lovers. You have to admit the media crush on Obama was way over the top as was/is the media bias for Trump.

Why do you continue to lie like this? I don't think Biden is anything special. Worship him? Why? Because I don't sit here and let hypocrites like you attack him over trivial crap while turning a blind eye to the weekly scandals that plagued Trump in just four years while he continuously tried to upend our democracy?

Trivial crap? Okay Kevin. When you deny what is going on and what went on then I suppose it is trivial. Your defense for Biden, and Obama is Trump was worse. You worship the Democratic Party and your posts here support it. Look at are nation Kevin and the direction it is going..but hey our young men in high school can get free tampons in gym class because they might want to identify as a woman, because after all after some 5k years society we can no longer define what a woman is. Our border is being pretty much over ran and our government has no plan. Remember 4 years or so when you guys tried slam me over the growing homeless issues in LA and how the dem cities are handing it, and you said it wasn’t an issue? Who was right on that one, I’m going to LA Monday maybe I’ll make you a new video? Crime is out of control…is it Trumps fault? or the Dem narrative of defund and disrespect law enforcement?

You have a half senile old man in office that thinks he is going to run for president again in 2-1/2 years…saying stupid stuff almost daily, some of it dangerous…leading the military in a conflict that could lead to the nuclear annihilation of mankind and it is just trivial. I won’t even mention VP Harris in that I know even with your love affair with the dem party you can’t possibly defend her performance and potential. Inflation and a potential tanking economy is a reality…but hey Schiff said Trump colluded with the Russians…and that he peed on a few whores.

Denial is a wonderful thing, i guess.

[canpakes]

Trivial crap? Okay Kevin. When you deny what is going on and what went on then I suppose it is trivial. Your defense for Biden, and Obama is Trump was worse. You worship the Democratic Party and your posts here support it. Look at are nation Kevin and the direction it is going..but hey our young men in high school can get free tampons in gym class because they might want to identify as a woman, because after all after some 5k years society we can no longer define what a woman is.

Markk, I can see why Kevin reacts as he does, based on this response.

You’re very worried about some young men in a high school somewhere getting free tampons, but don’t seem concerned with a sitting President trying to usurp the democratic process that this nation was founded upon, by attempting to upend a national election that he lost, then continuing to travel the country to push a lie that he supposedly was cheated, all in order to lay a path for another run.

One of these seems much more problematic than the other as relates to the notion of America as a nation, and it’s future.

[Markk]

Trivial crap? Okay Kevin. When you deny what is going on and what went on then I suppose it is trivial. Your defense for Biden, and Obama is Trump was worse. You worship the Democratic Party and your posts here support it. Look at are nation Kevin and the direction it is going..but hey our young men in high school can get free tampons in gym class because they might want to identify as a woman, because after all after some 5k years society we can no longer define what a woman is.

Markk, I can see why Kevin reacts as he does, based on this response.

You’re very worried about some young men in a high school somewhere getting free tampons, but don’t seem concerned with a sitting President trying to usurp the democratic process that this nation was founded upon, by attempting to upend a national election that he lost, then continuing to travel the country to push a lie that he supposedly was cheated, all in order to lay a path for another run.

One of these seems much more problematic than the other as relates to the notion of America as a nation, and it’s future.

My point is clear and you are doing the same thing…avoid what is happening, reverting to the past. Are you concerned with the current issues? Kevin would be doing the same thing about any conservative…give me a break…it is comical to say otherwise, most here would also. Are you concerned that Adam Schiff lead a lie, that most likely gave Biden the election? Or how the left promoted humorous riots, even if indirectly by omission or directly. So please “don’t piss on my back and tell me it is raining” LOL …one of my favorite quotes from my one of my favorite movies, who was it.

He was cheated, was it enough to cost him th election, we will never know for sure.

Should you prefer I just bash on Trump 24/7 like you guys, and join your tribe?

What do you think about a government providing tampons for males? Where is your line in all this madness?

Edit, and you didn’t even address what I said about Biden and the new war…are you concerned and worried about that…I am.