It seems like forever ago when Donald Trump promised to “Drain the Swamp” if elected president. Well, it turns out this was one of the biggest whoppers in modern American politics.
Here are five ways he’s made the swamp even swampier.
1.He has packed his administration with former lobbyists and corporate executives. He has installed a former Boeing executive to run the Defense Department; a former pharmaceutical lobbyist to run the Department of Health and Human Services; a former coal lobbyist to run the Environmental Protection Agency, and a former oil lobbyist to run the Department of the Interior. In total, more than 300 lobbyists now work in the Trump administration—many in key positions overseeing the industries they used to lobby for.
2. He and his family are personally profiting from the presidency.
Despite Trump’s promise he’d sever all ties with his existing
businesses and place all assets in a “blind” trust to eliminate any
conflicts of interest, documents show Trump remains the sole beneficiary
of his trust and still retains the legal power to revoke the trust at
any time. Meanwhile, foreign dignitaries have flooded Trump’s hotels,
lining his pockets in clear violation of the Constitution. He even
attempted to host the G-7 at his own luxury golf course until he was
forced to back down.
3. He is catering to billionaires and corporations at the expense of the American people.
In the fall of 2017, mega-donors shelled out more than $31 million in
political contributions to Trump and Republicans. And in return, they
got a massive $2 trillion tax cut. Not a bad return on investment. As
Trump told his wealthy friends at Mar-a-Lago just days after the tax
bill became law, “You all just got a lot richer.”
4. He is using taxpayer dollars to subsidize his luxurious lifestyle. Since
taking office, Trump’s golf trips alone have cost taxpayers more than
$110 million dollars. His children have also charged taxpayers for costs
associated with business trips around the world that they’ve taken,
including India and Uruguay. Taxpayers even footed the bill for Donald
Trump Junior’s hunting trip to Canada.
5. The Trump administration has been riddled with scandals and ethics violations. Commerce
Secretary Wilbur Ross held on to investments and never divested despite
pledging to avoid even the appearance of conflict of interest.
Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao has tried to arrange meetings with
Chinese officials for her family business. Ethics officials have found
Kellyanne Conway broke laws that prohibit government workers from
engaging in political activities. The list goes on, and on. This has
been the most corrupt administration in American history.
Trump
is exploiting everything that’s vulnerable in our political system. But
in order to truly stop the corruption of our democracy, we have to fix
what’s broken. We must get big money out of politics, end the flow of
lobbyists in and out of government, and strengthen ethics laws.
Trump
has enlarged and deepened the swamp, but the swamp was there before he
got to Washington. One of the first tasks of the next president must be
to drain the swamp once and for all.
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