Drain the Swamp
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About
"Drain the Swamp" refers to draining the water out of a marsh in order to exterminate a population of mosquitoes spreading malaria, which is often used metaphorically in political contexts when promising the removal of undesirable elements from government.
Origin
According to etymologist Barry Popik,[10] "drain the swamp" was originally used metaphorically in 1903 by Social Democratic Party organizer Winfield R. Gaylord in a letter discussing how socialists wish to deal with big business:
"Socialists are not satisfied with killing a few of the mosquitoes which come from the capittalist [sic] swamp; they want to drain the swamp."
Spread
In 1983, the 40th President of the United States Ronald Reagan revealed that "draining the swamp" of big government would be a primary focus of his administration. Immediately after the September 11th, 2001 attacks, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld pleged to "drain the swamp" where terrorists reside.[5] In 2006, Democratic congresswoman Nancy Pelosi announced she would "drain the swamp" after being elected Speaker of the House of Representatives following 10 years of Republican control of Congress.[4] On August 1st, 2010, Urban Dictionary[2] user vanderpol submitted a definition for "drain the swamp," defining its figurative use as "to exterminate something that is harmful," noting that the term "is especially attractive for politicians."
On October 23rd, 2015, Republican presisdential candidate Ben Carson released a campaign ad titled "Drain the Swamp," calling for voters to elect him to clean up the United States government (shown below, left). On October 17th, Trump delivered a speech outlining his plan to "drain the swamp" in Washington, D.C., noting that he planned to place new regulations preventing executive branch officials and Congress from lobbying after they leave office (shown below, right).
On October 18th, Trump tweeted that he will "make our government honest again," along with the hashtag "#DrainTheSwamp" (shown below).[3] Within one month the tweet gathered upwards of 28,000 likes and 13,000 retweets.
On October 23rd, political cartoonist Ben Garrison released an illustration titled "Drain the Swamp," in which Trump is shown pulling the plug on a drain to suck down Hillary and Bill Clinton, Paul Ryan and John Podesta along with the words "corruption," "war" and "crime" (shown below). That day, the cartoon reached the front page of the /r/the_donald[7] subreddit.
On October 20th, 2016, Redditor the-realDonaldTrump submitted a post titled "Drain the Swamp" about the upcoming final presidential debate. Over the next month, the post received more than 13,000 votes (61% upvoted) and 17,000 comments on /r/the_donald.[1] On October 26th, the women's interest site Bustle[8] published an article titled "What Does 'Drain the Swamp; Mean?", noting that Trump enthusiasts were using the hashtag in the context of purging media professionals. The same day, the news site Slate[11] published an article about the history of the expression in politics.
Search Interest
External References
[1] Reddit – Drain the Swamp
[2] Urban Dictionary – drain the swamp
[3] Twitter – @realDonaldTrump
[4] The Washington Post – Pelosi Says She Would Drain GOP Swamp
[5] CNN – Donald Rumsfeld US Must drain the swamp
[6] GrrrGraphics – Drain the Swamp
[7] Reddit – Drain the Swamp New Ben Garrison Cartoon
[8] Bustle – What does drain the swamp mean
[9] Chicago Tribune – Reagan Still Draining the Swamp
[10] The Big Apple – Drain the swamp
[11] Slate – Whats with all trumps talk about draining the swamp
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