Paul Ryan sells out conservatives with healthcare surrender

“but he is a true believer in government”
*****
Boom!
There’s the problem right there.

I haven’t read the book, but I heard of how much Priebus and Sean Spicer at the RNC were doing for Trump while they were doing it. That’s why I didn’t really like hearing all the unqualified bad mouthing of Priebus during and after the election. I’m not totally sure that Trump would have gotten elected without them, as he made an agreement very early on in the general campaign that they would be responsible for almost his entire ground game (and he’d raise money for them in return).

Whenever I used to hear leftists mocking Trump for having no ground game, I used to think, “Boy, are they going to be in for a surprise.” And when I heard Republicans complain that the RNC wasn’t behind him because they weren’t spending money on ads for him, I likewise used to shake my head that they didn’t know the details about Trump’s public (but under-publicized) agreement with the RNC. It was Trump who made the decisions about advertising.

Priebus, who was determined to learn from what Obama did to win, spent four years making sure that the Republicans built up a data operation far beyond anything we’ve ever had before, and once Trump was the nominee he devoted much of that operation enthusiastically to trying to get Trump elected. Trump, of course, knew that, and it’s one of the reasons he was the only person Trump called up to the microphone during his victory speech and why he was rewarded with such a powerful job.

Of course, Priebus has some legitimate GOP establishment tarnish, so we do need to keep an eye on him I think, but I don’t doubt his loyalty to Trump.

Pointless and counter-productive to vote against an inevitable Speaker. That would have resulted in retribution in the form of no committee assignments where he could do some good.
One does not strike at the King unless one is assured of success.

That’s exactly how Wead describes Priebus’ role in the Trump victory. It really changed my perception of Priebus. He was in the trenches and bucking the entire GOPe establishment at the same time. He’s made of much sterner stuff than I’d ever imagined.

Look, I’m always for giving credit where credit is due, but there is simply too much water under the bridge for me to buy into the idea Priebus is now a stellar Conservative.

What did Priebus do to stop Obama from doing anything at all? Point me to a series of statements or a book or anything that trashing Obama for who he was.

Where did the GOPe idea come from? It came from the GOP leaders in the East (or some refer to it as the Executives) of the party and their antics over the years.

Who are those leaders? In 2016, they were Rince Priebus, Paul Ryan, and Mitch McConnell.

When a candidate last year was winning the Republican Caucuses, at whose direction and control was that taking place? It was the GOPe.

Rience Priebus was elbow deep in that. Otherwise it wouldn’t have been talking place. He controlled the purse strings and the party leaders.

Trump had a massive ground game. His rallies were getting 10-25,000 attendees. He could announce a new rally a couple of days ahead, and fill the venue with thousands still outside.

Who was helping him do that? NOBODY!!!!

All of a sudden Rience is getting credit for the ground game, and even Ted Cruz’ supporters try to state he is also responsible for the Trump win.

N O T . B U Y I N G . A N Y . O F . T H A T !

Hogwash!

Trump, Kelly Ann Conway, and his other workers and supporters did the heavy lifting.

McConnell, Ryan, Priebus..., were not Trump’s biggest supporters, didn’t not win anything for him, and are suspect of being the same old people they always were, right now! Right this very minute.

Trump didn’t back off his original promise with regard to health care on a whim. He was sold a bill of goods, by two insiders or former insiders. He was told a clean repeal would never pass, and he went for it.

I don’t care what you read, but what you just laid out for me is as counter to what Ryan and Priebus had been doing for years. Priebus didn’t all of a sudden get religion on Trump. He’s a closet Lefty. He’ll always be a closet Lefty.

I don’t trust the man any further than I can drop kick him.

I hear folks talking about Ryan’s plan as if it’s solid. I hear folks talking up Priebus. Folks, who were our adversaries within the party, if these two were on our side?

Never standing up to Obama, and almost always standing up against us, there is not chance in hell these two are now solid Conservatives.

B. S.

I’ve pointed those things out about Reince Priebus on various occasions months ago here at FR, so I’m glad to hear that Wead, a professional historian, has preserved that in print. And, hopefully, the open-minded or at least the curious who want to know more will learn from it. I might pick up a copy of Wead’s book. It’s hard to believe the election is already going down in the history books. And even better, they’re not all anti-Trump hit jobs.

DoughtyOne, I understand you are upset, but I’ve never seen anyone here or elsewhere claim that Priebus is a “stellar Conservative.” And this really is about giving credit where it’s clearly due. You can ignore the facts in favor of an imagined story-line, if it makes you feel better and let’s you get your disappointment over the health care bill off your chest. Trump, however, has gratefully acknowledged all that Priebus did for his campaign and called him a “superstar” in his victory speech even. The Trump campaign had a lot of excitement, which was certainly very important, but almost zero ground game. The RNC was his ground game, and under Priebus they made tremendously more phone calls and door knocks than they did for Romney in 2012 and did them in a much more intelligent and informed way.

It was undeniably important that immediately after Romney’s loss in 2012 Priebus worked hard to drastically revamp the GOP’s data efforts, emulating Obama’s excelling information gathering operation by identifying millions of voters and what their concerns and demographics were in order to find ways to get them to the polls to vote Republican. Once the general election began, he sent many more trained, on the ground operatives to the swing states to work on behalf of Trump and the other Republican candidates than had been used in 2012. He had Sean Spicer spending tremendous amounts of time with the Trump campaign to ensure that the RNC and the campaign were always on the same page. Please, remember how very close the swing states were this time around, and how a shift of less than 100,000 votes total in the right places could have made Hillary president. Trump needed the help of experienced pros working in targeted ways in the most important states. Not to mention all the times that Priebus actually campaigned with Trump in person.

I don’t know what you mean by “Cruz supporters.” I’ve been a Trump supporter since 2015 and used to fight the most extreme Cruzers tooth and nail when they attacked Trump unfairly back in the day (as I still defend Trump often on FR). And by the way, don’t you remember that it was Reince who threatened former candidates who broke “the pledge” to endorse Trump with no more funding from the RNC? Within a week after he did that, Cruz changed his mind and endorsed Trump. I recall too that Priebus supported Trump as the “presumptive nominee” as soon as he won the Indiana primary, even though there was a month left before the primaries were officially over and some Cruz supporters still tried to get Cruz in via a rules change at the convention. Priebus putting his weight behind Trump as soon as possible made it hard for anyone to question his position as the nominee.

You seem to think with no evidence at all that Priebus tried to help Cruz (whom few in Washington can stand) during the caucuses, but if you bother looking into it, you will see that it was the state GOP establishments that were putting their fingers on scale for Cruz. What we have actual evidence of is that Priebus was a good Trump advocate at the first second that he legitimately could be, who helped keep Cruz and his people (and perhaps even more importantly, members of the GOP establishment) from derailing Trump, his nomination, and his campaign.

Look, I even explicitly said Reince has an establishment taint and should be kept an eye on, but he is a Trump loyalist and should be given credit for doing all that he possibly could to get Trump elected. You can blame him for the health care debacle, but we already know that it was Paul Ryan who was instrumental in selling this to Trump as the only way to get something passed and insisting that he would definitely get the votes for it. I haven’t seen any proof yet that Priebus had any truly significant role in convincing Trump to go along. Maybe he did, but I would much prefer to focus on trying to push out Ryan, the one who undeniably botched this and who—very much unlike Priebus—attacked Trump during the campaign. And remember, the Chief of Staff is an important administrative role, but has not traditionally been a policy making or advising position.

And what did Priebus do to fight Obama? He did everything he could to get Republicans elected during his term in office and especially in 2016, where they could help overturn Obama’s legacy (well, they’ll do more of that than the Dems would have at any rate). And he was remarkably successful in that—possibly the best in that regard we’ve ever had at the RNC. And as I said, I didn’t read Wead’s book; I was following these things closely in real time.

Just one example I got from Wead’s book: when Priebus took over Trump’s ground game, the campaign had ONE office in Florida. When Priebus was done, the campaign had 671 offices in Florida.

I was never a Priebus fan either, I considered him a party hack. But he more than rose to the occasion. And indeed, he was doing a stellar job cleaning up after Michael Steele and raising only

I ad it, I was completely wrong about Priebus. In truth, I don’t see how we could have won this election without him.

My impression of Wead’s book is that he’s got a bit of a pro Trump leaning.

DoughtyOne, I understand you are upset, but I’ve never seen anyone here or elsewhere claim that Priebus is a “stellar Conservative.”

Upset? I'd call it righteous indignation. The man has been an utter failure at his job. Stellar Conservative? I haven't seen anyone refer to him as a Conservative period. He has been a GOPe figurehead, pure and simple. You seem to think now all of a sudden he's one with us. That flies in the face of the reality that has been Rince Priebus for years.

And this really is about giving credit where it’s clearly due. You can ignore the facts in favor of an imagined story-line, if it makes you feel better and let’s you get your disappointment over the health care bill off your chest.

Well, one of us is stuck in a dream state, that's for sure. You can remain a delusional fool for all I care. Fact is, Priebus has been nothing more than a road apple for his entire tenure at the RNC. I have years of Priebus' record to point to, and you think this is solely about Ryancare. Nice try. Further down here you freely admit he had his head up his patute in 2012. Now of course, he's just the most effective guy ever when it comes to Conservatism! Not buying in on that for a moment.

Trump, however, has gratefully acknowledged all that Priebus did for his campaign and called him a “superstar” in his victory speech even.

This says more about Trump that it does Priebus. Trump is still hawking Ryancare. Is it partly because of Priebus? You don't know, yet you are still hawking the idea he's one with us. I thought it as a mistake for Trump to take Ryan in. It had been my thought that as long as Trump prevailed on policy, I could live with it. Did Trump prevail on policy? No. Was this partly because of Priebus? There is a very good chance of it. Can I say it was Priebus for sure? No. I wasn't there. Neither were you. It would definitely be a better fit with what we know about Priebus over the long haul, no matter how much whitewash you toss on the forum.

The Trump campaign had a lot of excitement, which was certainly very important, but almost zero ground game.

This line of B. S. was foisted off on us all during the campaign. Evidently you bought into it. I never did. Trump was getting tens of thousands of people out to his events, and winning state after state during the primary season. He wound up with 1,725 delegates to Cruz's 484. LINK The only states he didn't control, were the tightly controlled Republican party Caucuses.

The RNC was his ground game, and under Priebus they made tremendously more phone calls and door knocks than they did for Romney in 2012 and did them in a much more intelligent and informed way.

Evidently you are one of those people who sit by their phone waiting for the RNC to call, before you make up your mind who to vote for or whether you're even going to vote. I've never been influenced one iota who to vote for, or when to go out and actually vote by a phone call from anyone. As for much more intelligent, could it have been a less intelligent effort? Well no... What I see here is you trying to gift Priebus with Trump's victory. A man that won 1,725 delegates to 484 was not a man in need of Rience Priebus help anywhere. This is pure delusion on your part.

Why did more people go out to vote for Trump? It was the first time since Ronald Reagan that we could go out and vote for a true Conservative. We didn't have to hold our nose to vote for what was in Trump's platfom. Can we say that of Bush, Dole, Bush, Bush, McCain, and Romney? NO! So our party members were getting a once in a 32 year chance to vote for a Conservative agenda. Priebus was responsible for them going out to vote for Trump? And you supported Trump? No, you supported Priebus. You still are.

It was undeniably important that immediately after Romney’s loss in 2012 Priebus worked hard to drastically revamp the GOP’s data efforts, emulating Obama’s excelling information gathering operation by identifying millions of voters and what their concerns and demographics were in order to find ways to get them to the polls to vote Republican.

Wow, I've honestly never seen more crap piled into one post in defense of the titular head of the GOPe. This guy certainly had your number. Of course Trump had nothing to do with what voter's concerns were, and getting tens of thousands of them out to his rallies, was just a coincidence. /s All the real groundwork happened after the convention. This description of yours is literally a childish perception in the face of Trump's campaign up to that point, and beyond to the general election. And that is being generous.

Once the general election began, he sent many more trained, on the ground operatives to the swing states to work on behalf of Trump and the other Republican candidates than had been used in 2012.

Which serves to demonstrate what? It serves to point out to me that Priebus was hopelessly lost in 2012. Romney ran a terrible campaign on a Leftist agenda. That is why he lost. It had nothing to do with Priebus. Trump on the other hand ran on a Conservative agenda and pulled hundreds of thousands of people out to rallies, and literally millions to his web site, Twitter feed, and YouTube. There's your ground game. There's where the credit is due. Trump ran a masterful series of ground games in states across the nation. His use of the internet, tech, and media were masterful. He did it on the cheap. Priebus came along for the ride and nothing more.

Once again, why do I say this? Trump crushed his opposition in the primaries. CRUSHED! He had 1,725 delegates at the convention to Cruz' 484. This wasn't a 1,350 to 1,275 delegate count. You are convinced he had no ground game. You are also convinced that every Caucus state just happend to go to Cruz, because Republicans in those states just happened to prefer Cruz. Wow.

He had Sean Spicer spending tremendous amounts of time with the Trump campaign to ensure that the RNC and the campaign were always on the same page.

I never realized how powerful Spicer was. Thanks so much. Why the difference between Trump's primary activities and his general election activities were night and day! AS IF! Yep, Priebus/Spicer just took over and won the election for the poor hapless Trump. Do you have any idea how clueless you are here?

Please, remember how very close the swing states were this time around, and how a shift of less than 100,000 votes total in the right places could have made Hillary president. Trump needed the help of experienced pros working in targeted ways in the most important states. Not to mention all the times that Priebus actually campaigned with Trump in person.

Want to know how many events of Trump's I saw Priebus at? Zero! That's 0. That's not a single one. That's how much impact he had on Trump's campaign. That's not to say he wasn't at them, or that I didn't see him, it's that it was so unimportant that it didn't stick with me at all. Nah, Trump couldn't have won without him. Why those tens of thousands of folks who showed up at Trump rallies, were just silly flukes. Those tens of thousands of people standing outside his events, just happy to be there, meant nothing. It wasn't until Priebus started helping Trump, that Trump had really big rallies. It wasn't until after that Trump had any success at the polling booth. This is just idiotic. Each one of those people at his rallies represented hundreds of thousands to millions of folks who couldn't attend. What they could do is turn to YouTube to see for themselves what Trump was pushing, and millions of them did. Priebus phone calls? How many phone calls have you gotten from the party that swayed your voting? I haven't gotten one call in my life that made any difference how or when I voted. Not a single one...! Zero! That's 0. Give me a guy pushing a solid agenda, and I'm there. And Trump did just that. Strangely, people showed up at the general election just like they had for the primaries..

I don’t know what you mean by “Cruz supporters.”

Generally I mean folks who support Cruz. I know this is rather technical inside baseball talk, but you'll pick up on it in time.

I’ve been a Trump supporter since 2015 and used to fight the most extreme Cruzers tooth and nail when they attacked Trump unfairly back in the day (as I still defend Trump often on FR).

Well, then you should know that Trump had a magnificant ground game going. Trying to play him off as having no ground game is just freaking nonsense. The man would announce new rallies 48 hours before an event, and fill them with in excess of ten thousand with people standing outside in all types of weather, and in a number of instances despite having to run a Leftist gautlet to get into the event. When the primaries came around, he was winning them handily. He was able to get folks out to vote. He won all but three states east of the Mississippi against his closest competitor, but had no ground game? Seriously?.

And by the way, don’t you remember that it was Reince who threatened former candidates who broke “the pledge” to endorse Trump with no more funding from the RNC?

Did he manage to get a certain candidate in line prior to the convention? Did he make public statements before the Convention? Did Trump get his nearest rival's endorsement, even though Trump had sewn up the delegates a full month before the convention? NO. So did Priebus do all he could? NO!

Within a week after he did that, Cruz changed his mind and endorsed Trump. I recall too that Priebus supported Trump as the “presumptive nominee” as soon as he won the Indiana primary, even though there was a month left before the primaries were officially over and some Cruz supporters still tried to get Cruz in via a rules change at the convention. Priebus putting his weight behind Trump as soon as possible made it hard for anyone to question his position as the nominee.

Did Cruz ever truly get serious and support Trump daily? Did he come out against Clinton for days on end, months at a time? To hear you tell it, Priebus really cracked the whip and got Cruz in line. LOL When? Cruz never got in line behind Trump. He made some comments in Trump's wake and that's about it. Three days before the general election, Cruz made an appearance at a rally and didn't say the name Trump once. Boy, those Priebus actions were just pricless. How many votes for Trump do you think Curz's appearance was worth, him not even saying Trump's name?

You seem to think with no evidence at all that Priebus tried to help Cruz (whom few in Washington can stand) during the caucuses, but if you bother looking into it, you will see that it was the state GOP establishments that were putting their fingers on scale for Cruz. What we have actual evidence of is that Priebus was a good Trump advocate at the first second that he legitimately could be, who helped keep Cruz and his people (and perhaps even more importantly, members of the GOP establishment) from derailing Trump, his nomination, and his campaign.

It's shocking to see someone type this crap sandwich.

No, I have no evidence at all. We have 14 of 15 states going to Cruz in the Caucus states, and Cruz having a very hard time winning any states. You think this is logical, without coordination from the top. That's ridiculous.

You are unaware of who leads the Republican Party. You think it's the state leaderships that do. Why, all the Caucus states just happened to go Cruz. There was no coordination from the RNC at all. Voting states, Trump. Caucuses all Cruz, but one. If you think all the Caucus states just happened to flip for Cruz by accident, you are one delusional fellow. There was coordination from the top. 14 of 15 states (guestimate) don't accidently all go to one man. It's not a conicidence. There was direction.

Look, I even explicitly said Reince has an establishment taint and should be kept an eye on, but he is a Trump loyalist and should be given credit for doing all that he possibly could to get Trump elected.

Establishment taint. That's like saying black is a color in the darker spectrum of colors.

Please point me to any instance of Priebus giving McCain or any other person push-back for attacking Trump from our side of the isle. Did you ever hear the word NeverTrump out of his mouth? His tepid defenses of Trump were very few and very far between.

You can blame him for the health care debacle, but we already know that it was Paul Ryan who was instrumental in selling this to Trump as the only way to get something passed and insisting that he would definitely get the votes for it.

I didn't blame him for it, but that's the extent you'll go to, to defend the slimeball. I said that I suspected him of being part of the effort to sway Trump. That is not a definitive statement, and doesn't require anyone to buy into my leanings on the subject. Never the less you have come unglued trying to defend him. On what basis? Oh yes, because he won the election for Trump. Pure nonsense. Trump had already proven without a shadow of a doubt he could move people and get them to come out for him at events and at the polling booth.

Please point to the times since Priebus first took over the RNC, that he has championed any cause of ours. Link me to any calls for party unity behind Conservatism prior to July 2016. For that matter, please point me to his calls to unify behind Conservatism in 2016. I may be wrong, but I don't recall the guy every standing up for Conservatism.

McCain has been the worst Republican in my lifetime, perhaps even the worst elected official in the nation's history. Link me to any criticism of McCain from Priebus. Link me to any criticism of Romney in 2016.

Think about how the DNC, Democrats state and national level, and the MSM are always on the same page, and not infrequently part of the 205 RINOs in the House, and the McCain cabal in the Senate are there along with them.

Have you ever once seen coordination even within the Republican Party on a topic? Not once! None the less here you are with glowing thoughts on Priebus.

I haven’t seen any proof yet that Priebus had any truly significant role in convincing Trump to go along. Maybe he did...,

Which is exactly what I said. I suspect him of it. Translation: Maybe he did, and maybe he didn't, but I certainly suspect him of it.

...but I would much prefer to focus on trying to push out Ryan, the one who undeniably botched this and who—very much unlike Priebus—attacked Trump during the campaign. And remember, the Chief of Staff is an important administrative role, but has not traditionally been a policy making or advising position.

Nah, the President's Chief of Staff has no input on issues. Even if they were at the pinicle of the party for years, they just don't comment on policy or precedural dynamics. /s LOL

I've seen literally thousands of people go to Washington promising one thing, only to fall in line behind Leftist policy. How does that happen? Is it just empty campaign promises to get votes, or is there something else going on? It's my take that it's a combination of both, and on a sliding scale with each person. Some things are embelished for the campaigns sake. Some of it comes from being advised by people already there, that they know how to get things done and you have to modify your plans to be successful. So who was it that had Trump's ear? Only Ryan? Priebus too? IMO, it's highly likely that Trump had more than Ryan working on him. Priebus has been a spineless milk-toast for as long as he has headed up the RNC, when it came to Conservative policy. I'm not forgetting that. Years of that behavior trumps a few months of his behavior related to Trump.

Did Trump just make promises to get elected? I don't think so. If getting elected was his driving force, he would have modified his policy post convention. He didn't modify one single thing. So going into the White House he had a plan. That plan changed! Why? The only reason it changes IMO, is that someone or some people reasoned with him that in order to get his policy through, it had to be done in steps from a more Leftist vantage point. Did it have to be done that way? No. A much better bill made it to Obama's desk. A much better bill could have made it to Trump's desk. He was lied to. He is still being lied to.

And what did Priebus do to fight Obama?

Answer: He did absolutely nothing to stand up to Obama policy. He never organized the party to be on the same page to be effective. He was a royal screw up. Any high school level kid could have stepped in and done a better job. A good Conservative high school level kid would have made Ryan look like a complete fraud.

He did everything he could to get Republicans elected during his term in office and especially in 2016, where they could help overturn Obama’s legacy (well, they’ll do more of that than the Dems would have at any rate). And he was remarkably successful in that—possibly the best in that regard we’ve ever had at the RNC. And as I said, I didn’t read Wead’s book; I was following these things closely in real time.

You were not following these things closely..., at least not closely enough.

How many Conservatives do we have in the House today? How many Left leaning Congressmen or Senators are being primaried every two years? Any? The answer is hardly anyone with effect. We just had a show-down on Ryancare. The Freedom Caucus was the only group who stood up against it. It wasn't a repeal. It merely changed Obamacare somewhat. The Freedom Caucus has about 30 members. That means that 205 Leftists exist in the House right now. Look, numbers are one part of it, but what difference does it make if the majority of those numbers are voting for Leftist policy? Priebus is as responsible as anyone for not developing and implementing policies to turn our side more toward Conservatism. Priebus was a total loss as the head of the RNC.

So it's your opinion that Priebus has no power in the states at all when it comes to Caucuses, and yet he is responsible for every win in the states when it comes to mid-terms.

I've been following Priebus in real time too. My recollection certainly doesn't match yours on any level.

Priebus was, is, and will continue to be a snake in the grass.

What orgnaizational skills has Priebus demonstrated?
What has he done to turn the House more Conservative?
What did he do to make the Caucuses unbiased and reflective of public opinion?
Did he make even one comment regarding manipulations or seeming bias against the public will? No,
What Conservative legislation has Priebus backed loudly?
What disiplinary action has he offered up to moderate McCain, Graham, Rubio, Snow, or any other Leftist voting Republicans?
What organizational plan did he come up with so Republicans could be on the same page on issues? He's been watching the Democrats stick together for years, and he never made any attempt to model after that for our party.
What major stands did he take against Obama?
What major stands did he take regarding his citizenship?
What major stands did he take againt the advocacey of arming Terrorist groups?
What major stands did he take to criticize Obama's trashing of our military, our social norms, the racial strife supported by Obama, Obams'a actions against our allies and Israel?

This guy was GOPe to the bone.

Now you seem to be saying this nation wouldn't be headed to getting back on track without him.

No, the nation wouldn't be headed back to getting things on track without Trump.

Priebus would have been very happy to have Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Kasich, or any of a number of other idiots in our party. I think he would have been against Cruz too, if he had shown strength against the moderates.

Trump changed the game from top to bottom.

Sadly, I think he brought some turncoats into his organization. I had predicted he would over-ride their instincts on issues. As for Ryancare, I was wrong.

I'd like to see a purge of any old school hacks in his administration. If he's not going to stand up to the idiots, remove them.

That Rep. Ryan (I DARE NOT call him “Speaker,” because he SUREASHELL DOES NOT SPEAK FOR ME!) is the “. . . most flaccid embarrassment to the Republican Party. . . .” in recent memory is a well and truly earned distinction!

Ryan should resign FRom the House of Representatives and make way for a Real American Speaker! I can think of several Real American Members of Congress who would make fine and dandy House Speakers!

They are Real Conservatives, too!

Taxman Bravo Zulu, JimRob! Well said!

Ryan is a perfect George W. Bush-era Republican... but the voters have moved on.

Ryan had better understand that DJT *carried* Wisconsin...and it wasn't even close.If it can happen to Cantor...

I wish people would not rate Congress against an impossible one-and-done fix, an aspirin for what needs to be hospitalized for years. Nobody is going to want to stand up if that is the standard. Nobody sane that is.

3.5 mill is pocket change to the billions he funneled to his buddies.

Same goes for bureaucrats, admirals and generals. Lots of govt retirees with high pay no-show “jobs”.

Drain the swamp.