Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich is casting doubt over whether President-elect Donald Trump still wants to use the phrase “drain the swamp.”
During the course of the election, Trump repeatedly used the phrase as a way to illustrate his promise to minimize the bureaucracy in Washington.
Gingrich, who worked as a Trump surrogate and currently serves as an adviser, said the president-elect’s narrative has shifted a bit since the campaign.
“I’m told he now just disclaims that,” he told NPR Tuesday. “He now says it was cute, but he doesn’t want to use it anymore … I’d written what I thought was a very cute tweet about ‘the alligators are complaining,’ and somebody wrote back and said they were tired of hearing this stuff.”
According to Gingrich, Trump is transitioning into a more presidential tone and looking at what the country needs to prioritize.
“I’ve noticed on a couple of fronts, like people chanting ‘lock her up,’ that he’s in a different role now and maybe he feels that as president, as the next president of the United States, that he should be marginally more dignified than talking about alligators in swamps,” he continued. “I personally have, as a sense of humor, like the alligator and swamp language.
While he personally likes the language, he supports Trump’s decision and will follow suit.
“I think it vividly illustrates the problem, because all the people in this city who are the alligators are going to hate the swamp being drained,” he said. “And there’s going to be constant fighting over it. But, you know, he is my leader and if he decides to drop the swamp and the alligator, I will drop the swamp and the alligator.”
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