Dennis Crawford
2 min readJan 5, 2017

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One of Trump’s big promises was to “drain the swamp.” Just how he is faring in that promise? Recent developments aren’t encouraging.

During the campaign, Trump postured as some kind of anti-establishment scourge of Wall St. Trump adviser Steve Bannon said during the campaign: “There is a simmering, burning anger with the progressive Left about the Clintons, about their corruption, their ownership by corporatism, their ownership by Wall Street and investment banks. By the way, not one Wall Street bank is here at this convention paying for anything.”

As it turns out Goldman Sachs is one of the biggest winners in the upcoming Trump Administration. Long time Goldman Sachs veteran Steve Mnunchin has been picked as Treasury Secretary and a Goldman Sachs lawyer has been appointed to head up the SEC. He will replace Mary Jo White, who oversaw vigorous enforcement of the big banks.

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi will soon be named for a post in the Trump White House. As you may recall, Bondi was a participant in a genuine pay to play scheme. Bondi dropped an investigation of the Trump Foundation after pocketing a $25,000 campaign cash check from Trump.

It turns out that HHS Secretary appointee Tom Price may have a major ethical scandal of his own. A Wall Street Journal report alleged that: “Price traded more than $300,000 in shares of health-related companies during his time in Congress, all “while sponsoring and advocating legislation that potentially could affect those companies’ stocks.” Price’s nomination should be pulled in light of these ethical violations.

“Drain the swamp” continues to be one of the greatest cons in the history of presidential campaigns.

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Dennis Crawford

I’m an aspiring historian, defender of democracy and a sports fan.