Donald Trump wants his old job back bad, and it’s obvious why: Being president again would protect him from all those legal woes that could throw him in the clink. Besides, he needs a Mulligan. He didn’t follow through on a number of his campaign trail promises. Among them was “draining the swamp” — getting rid of the supposedly corrupt old-timers who’ve kept the country from being its best. Upon his leaving, the swamp was still very much there, as even one of his biggest cheerleaders has noticed.
As per Mediaite, Trump went on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures, where he had a sit-down with Maria Bartiromo. She asked him about anything he’d try to do better in his second term, any mistakes he made the first time. Trump acknowledged that he screwed up with certain staffers — a lot of staffers who he fired or has since turned on.
"You didn't drain the swamp like you said you would. You didn't drain the swamp" — Maria Bartiromo to Trump pic.twitter.com/XDa9HcHP3Z
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 16, 2023
“ I mean, I wouldn’t have put a guy like [former Attorney General] Bill Barr, and he was weak and pathetic. I wouldn’t have put [former Attorney General] Jeff Sessions. And there are some people that I wouldn’t have put in. You know, most people were good, but I had some people… we had [former Secretary of Defense] Mark Esper. I didn’t like him. He was incompetent. I thought we had other people I didn’t like.”
The list of failed personnel was so long that Bartiromo had to ask the big question: “Why did you put them in the job then?”
“I didn’t know the people,” Trump replied. “I know the people now better than anybody has ever known. The people I know, the good ones, the bad ones, the dumb ones, the smart ones.”
Then Bartiromo made a brave interjection. “You didn’t drain the swamp like you said you would,’ Bartiromo declared. You didn’t drain the swamp.”
“I did,” Trump claimed. “I fired [former FBI Director James] Comey. I fired a lot of people. A lot of the people I had, I fired. I fired Comey very early. And, you know, there was a question as to whether or not you could. But I fired Comey. If I didn’t fire Comey, I don’t think I would have been able to serve out my term because that was a plot.”
Bartiromo has been getting unusually testy with GOP candidates. Earlier this month she came right out and asked Ron DeSantis why his campaign was doing so badly. The network is reportedly souring on the Florida governor and may be thinking of going back to Trump, the guy who got them in so much financial trouble. But if so, calling out his bull is a strange way to kiss the ring.
(Via Mediaite)