On Wednesday, Newt Gingrich made headlines for suggesting that Donald Trump no longer wants to use the phrase “drain the swamp.”
From Gingrich’s interview on NPR:
On Trump’s often-stated promise to “drain the swamp” in Washington
I’m told he now just disclaims that. He now says it was cute, but he doesn’t want to use it anymore. … I’d written what I thought was a very cute tweet about “the alligators are complaining,” and somebody wrote back and said they were tired of hearing this stuff. …
I’ve noticed on a couple of fronts, like people chanting “lock her up,” that 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. I personally have, as a sense of humor, like the alligator and swamp language. … I think it vividly illustrates the problem, because all the people in this city who are the alligators are going to hate the swamp being drained. And there’s going to be constant fighting over it. But, you know, he is my leader and if he decides to drop the swamp and the alligator, I will drop the swamp and the alligator.
Well, that didn’t sit well with the president-elect who took to Twitter with this brushback pitch…
Someone incorrectly stated that the phrase "DRAIN THE SWAMP" was no longer being used by me. Actually, we will always be trying to DTS.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 22, 2016
…and the former Speaker of the House quickly apologized in a video he posted to Twitter that starts off with — literally — “…I made a big boo boo”:
I goofed. Draining the swamp is in, @realDonaldTrump is going to do it, and the alligators should be worried. #DTS https://t.co/nCHs61gpve pic.twitter.com/OCO7eaSKvk
— Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) December 22, 2016
The video has opened Newt up to some mocking from both the right and the left:
Don Corleone to Newt: “You can act like a man!” *slap* https://t.co/lh2nrStkeY
— Allahpundit (@allahpundit) December 22, 2016
This is genuinely sad. https://t.co/29wMHDHACY
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) December 22, 2016
Draining the swamp of the last shred of Newt's dignity https://t.co/2sqgXkFQHh
— Jon Lovett (@jonlovett) December 22, 2016
https://twitter.com/SethAMandel/status/811983411573362688
I've criticized the Trump team for a lot of conflicts of interest, but at least Newt Gingrich has put his manhood into a blind trust. https://t.co/T2ZZFeZAs1
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) December 22, 2016
Wow. This comes off as a Mao-era public self-denunciation. https://t.co/goGRQTsLaQ
— Philip Klein (@philipaklein) December 22, 2016
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