Donald Trump told voters he would go to Washington and "drain the swamp." He's not the only politician to make that promise.
In fact, Ben Carson, one of his primary rivals, also used the phrase. "Washington is built on a swamp," he said. "Together we can drain the swamp and protect our children's future." (President-elect Trump has given Carson the responsibility of "draining the swamp" in the bureaucracy of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.")
The Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call reports the phrase first became popular in 1983 when President Ronald Reagan said he was in Washington "to drain the swamp" of big government.
Even Democrat Nancy Pelosi, when she became House Speaker in 2006, said one of her priorities was to "drain the swamp" after more than a decade of Republican rule.
Trump, with his selection of so many Washington "insiders" for his administration, now finds the promise coming back to haunt him.