If he is reelected this November, will Donald Trump manage to drain the swamp this time? The swamp-dwellers are saying no.
Ever since he began his first run for president, Trump has famously vowed to drain the swamp, that is, clear out the far-left bureaucracy in Washington that bears so much responsibility for the leftward drift of the nation over the last decade and a half.
In his inaugural address on Jan. 20, 2017, Trump announced:
Today we are not merely transferring power from one administration to another, or from one party to another—but we are transferring power from Washington, D.C., and giving it back to you, the American People. For too long, a small group in our nation’s Capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost. Washington flourished — but the people did not share in its wealth. Politicians prospered — but the jobs left, and the factories closed. The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country.... That all changes — starting right here, and right now, because this moment is your moment: it belongs to you.
Unlike numerous other presidents who had spoken in the past about taking the government from the oligarchs who controlled it and giving it back to the people, Trump’s words didn’t herald a push to expand government power under the guise of working for the people. On the contrary, he was determined to expand the freedom Americans enjoyed and roll back government power.
The swamp, however, struck back hard, and Trump’s promise that power would be transferred back to the people remains unfulfilled. Trump has been criticized for failing to follow through on his promise, but at that time, no one knew just how entrenched and determined the swamp dwellers were.
In fact, before Trump was elected and the Washington bureaucracy rose against him, few people, if any, knew that there was a swamp at all. One of the most important results of the Trump presidency was not one anyone intended: it revealed the deep corruption and politicization of the civil service. Now, a more experienced Trump is again vowing to destroy the swamp, but the swamp-dwellers are insisting that they’re not going anywhere and will continue to run things. The gauntlet has been thrown down.
The Washington Examiner reported Thursday that the will of the people just doesn’t matter to Beltway bureaucrats: “Washington’s bureaucracy, expanded and emboldened by the Biden-Harris administration, feels so secure that most managers would impose new regulations even if voters ‘overwhelmingly’ rejected their plans.”
According to a new survey, fully 54% of “federal government managers would defy voters to do what they want.” The Napolitan Institute, which states that “we recognize that the only legitimate authority for government comes from the consent of the governed,” and that “our mission is to amplify and magnify the voice of the American people so clearly and powerfully that it becomes the driving, framing and shaping force for the crucial conversations of our nation,” conducted a survey of 500 swamp denizens, aka federal bureaucrats.
One of the questions these arrogant usurpers were asked was this: “Imagine that you work for a government agency and have the ability to draft new regulations. After carefully researching an important issue, you determine that a new regulation is needed. If voters overwhelmingly oppose that regulation, what should you do?” The Examiner notes that “just 35% would follow the wishes of voters and trash their regulation while 54% would ‘follow your research and issue the regulation.’ The rest were unsure.”
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Nor was this a one-off. Another recent poll showed that a majority of swamp denizens think we peasants are getting out of line: “51% of federal managers believe that people have ‘too much individual freedom.’ Just 31% said they have ‘too little.’” Who do these people think they are? Like all leftists, they think they possess superior knowledge and wisdom, and thus should be entrusted with political power at the expense of the ordinary Americans for whom they have so much contempt.
If he wins the election, will Trump defeat the swamp this time? It shouldn’t be solely up to him. Both parties should see it as being in their interest to destroy this massive and unaccountable federal bureaucracy. The deep state’s coup attempts against Trump should lead to civil service reform that makes it possible for a president to remove various officers and appoint people in their place who will implement his agenda. Democrats should support this as well as Republicans: no elected president of either party should be impeded by unelected bureaucrats. But it is likely that the Democrats have too much to lose if the full story of the deep state were revealed to support such a move.
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