The expression "drain the swamp" goes back to President Ronald Reagan, who used the figure to refer to Washington DC as a swamp of corruption and bureaucracy. Even former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi spoke of "draining the swamp" in 2006. But Florida Governor Ron DeSantis's statement in response to the latest indictment of former President Donald Trump implies something else: "Washington DC is a 'swamp' and it it unfair to have to stand trial before a jury that is reflective of the swamp mentality." DeSantis is counting on his listeners' understanding that a DC jury might be "swamped" by African Americans, like the whole city is known to be. (Andrew Shields, #111words, 2 August 2023)
See this piece by Kevin Kruse for the DeSantis statement.
A long list of "drain the swamp" references can be found here.
No comments:
Post a Comment