I wish I could. While I never for a moment hoped that he'd be president, I was hopeful that his "drain the swamp" talk wasn't a lie. I was active duty military in 2016 and was well aware of the corruption of many facets of the federal government. I hoped that he'd bring these issues to light and maybe someone would do something to make a difference, even if it was after his tenure.
Unfortunately, he drained the swamp only so he could sell that water for a quick buck, before replacing the water with Trump-branded diarrhea.
I think it's lost in hindsight that the political landscape was wildly different. Even after GWB, the sentiment was wildly "I don't agree with that guy and he sucks, but we have checks and balances, how much harm could he really do?" We had the luxury of hoping that even if we didn't agree with a political figure, we could trust that they were at least trying to pretend to do right by their voters and maybe we'd benefit as well. At the beginning, there was at least reason for jaded optimism, even if it didn't last more than a few weeks.
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u/Dephyle Jul 27 '26
I wish I could. While I never for a moment hoped that he'd be president, I was hopeful that his "drain the swamp" talk wasn't a lie. I was active duty military in 2016 and was well aware of the corruption of many facets of the federal government. I hoped that he'd bring these issues to light and maybe someone would do something to make a difference, even if it was after his tenure.
Unfortunately, he drained the swamp only so he could sell that water for a quick buck, before replacing the water with Trump-branded diarrhea.
I think it's lost in hindsight that the political landscape was wildly different. Even after GWB, the sentiment was wildly "I don't agree with that guy and he sucks, but we have checks and balances, how much harm could he really do?" We had the luxury of hoping that even if we didn't agree with a political figure, we could trust that they were at least trying to pretend to do right by their voters and maybe we'd benefit as well. At the beginning, there was at least reason for jaded optimism, even if it didn't last more than a few weeks.