‘I want to break up the swamp’: DeSantis takes a jab at D.C. in New Hampshire speech
Ron DeSantis wants to break the system in Washington, arguing that Donald Trump’s 2016 slogan to “drain the swamp” is no longer enough.
Florida’s governor spent much of his remarks Tuesday in New Hampshire, railing against federal authorities and urging Americans to maneuver years into the nation’s capital to get paperwork done.
He also lamented that most of the wealthiest areas in the US are in the D.C. suburbs, arguing that those associated with that location “have a different standard of justice.”
“D.C. has benefited from all this borrowing and spending – seven of the 10 wealthiest counties in our country or the suburbs of Washington, DC. How did it happen?’ DeSantis wondered.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told an audience at a campaign event in New Hampshire that he wanted to “drain the swamp,” arguing that Donald Trump’s 2016 slogan to “drain the swamp” was not enough because it “could be filled with the next man
“You can tell if it was a Silicon Valley area or a Texas energy area,” the presidential candidate continued. “In DC, you know, they don’t produce much except a lot of debt and a lot of hot air, and yet they pour all this money into these communities.”
This is because people who are politically connected tend to profit from the best way the financial system works. And if you don’t belong to that class, you foot the bill.
Trump has long mentioned corruption and paperwork from DC. During his 2016 and 2020 campaigns, crowds at his rallies routinely chanted “Drain the Swamp.”
But DeSantis says that doesn’t go far enough, and that Trump has failed in his mission because someone can always be available to “fill” the swamp.
Asked why he’s the right candidate to run for president in 2024, DeSantis promised, “One thing you get from me: When I tell you I’m going to do something, I’m not just saying it for the election.”
“There are promises that I could make that might help me a little bit politically, and I don’t know that I can keep them, so I won’t keep them. (a promise),” he added.
Florida’s presidential election and governor has called himself a conservative option for himself and Trump.
He also claims that Trump failed to live up to many of his rooms in 2016 after four years in office, and he doesn’t think four more years will give the former president time to get things done.
“I’m kind of thinking about the idea of draining the swamp,” DeSantis said Tuesday while chatting with voters in New Hampshire. “I think it’s missing something because we haven’t pumped it out, it’s worse today than ever. And this is a sad proof of the state of affairs in our country.
“Even if you manage to drain it, the next guy can just fill it up,” he said, referring to the failures of President Joe Biden’s administration.
“That’s why I want to break through the swamp. That’s really what we need to do.
A new Morning Consult poll on Tuesday showed Donald Trump holding a widening lead nationally, with 57% support among Republican primary voters, compared to 19% for DeSantis.
Later, DeSantis went on to describe how he thought he could destroy the current system without continuing to “recycle” identical people using completely different positions and bringing in new blood from anywhere in the United States.
“Part of what you have to do to really break through the quagmire is you — your president can’t do it all alone — and you have to have the humility to understand that,” he pointed out. “And the idea that you don’t just walk in and snap your fingers and make everyone bow down to you — these people don’t willingly give up their power. Are you kidding me?
“So you have to get thousands of people coming with you to Washington who want to work in the administration — some in the White House, mostly in the cabinet and agencies,” DeSantis continued.
“You can’t just recycle everybody from DC,” he informed the group in New Hampshire. “You have to bring people from other parts of the country. You can go for two, four, six, eight years – bring your family, go serve.
Five of the ten counties with the highest median family income in the United States are located in the Washington suburbs. It is home to Arlington, Loudon, Fairfax and Falls Church in Virginia, as well as Howard in Maryland.
All 5 counties have a median income greater than $125,000 and a majority above $156,000.
But income inequality isn’t DeSantis’ only concern—it’s the unbalanced means by which justice is administered to elites who don’t just have cash, but are tied to power leaders.
“In this country, I can tell you this right now: If you’re associated with the entrenched DC class, you’re held to a different standard of justice than if you’re not part of that group in our society,” DeSantis said when asked about the resulting Hunter Biden “slap by the wrist”.
He added: “Hunter Biden, if he had been a Republican, would have been in jail a long time ago, and we all know that.”
DeSantis called for a “uniform standard of rule of law” to be restored to the federal government, especially the Justice Department.
President Biden’s son Hunter earlier this month agreed to plead guilty to two tax-related misdemeanor charges and reached a deal to avoid prison time for a federal count of forgery to purchase a firearm, saying he was not high on drugs at the time.
