I remember back about ten years ago or so, candidate Trump said he was going to drain the swamp and the crowds cheered. I asked friends of mine that supported Trump to define just what the swamp was. Almost without exception they couldn’t tell me exactly what it was, but they knew it was very bad and it had to be drained immediately.

Ten years later I wonder if they still feel the same way.

I think Americans are starting to see that just like in nature, the swamp is part of a healthy ecosystem.

Trump couldn’t drain the swamp the first time around, but he’s sure done a good job of draining whatever the swamp is this go round, and things aren’t working out so well.

Let’s start with the education department.

DOGE came in and gutted the education department. Even the former head of DOGE, Elon Musk, now admits DOGE was only “partly successful” and that he wouldn’t do it if he had it to do all over again.

Personally, I think calling it “partly successful” is being rather generous. I might label it as a mostly dismal failure.

Let’s take a look at a recent failure of DOGE, the Department of Education. The Secretary of that department is Linda McMahon, a former pro wrestling promoter. She has made it her goal to dismantle the department altogether.

Well, shortly after the second Trump administration took hold, Ms. McMahon let 299 employees go. These folks worked in the Office of Civil Rights department. Those who were let go then filed a lawsuit to keep their jobs. For almost a year, they have been on administrative leave while their lawsuits were being resolved.

While on administrative leave, they were still being paid for not working as their court cases worked their way through the system.

Well, you’re not going to believe this, but it turns out the Education Department needed those swamp creatures after all. It turns out a number of those folks, many of them lawyers, really provided a necessary service, because the Department called them back. It seems the backlog of cases overwhelmed the downsized department.

So, to recap, 299 employees were shown the door but were still getting paid for almost a year. Most of them have been called back to work, but the Trump administration has told them it’s only temporary. The administration still plans to continue to fight the lawsuit and let them go, even though, by their own admission, they need these employees.

Or how about what’s going on with our trade policies?

The Trump administration is allocating twelve billion dollars to help the family farms that have been hurt by his tariffs.

Twelve billion of our tax dollars. And while that’s a lot of money, it’s a drop in the bucket compared to the harm his policies have caused those farmers. Nebraska farmers want to sell their soybeans. They don’t want government welfare payments.

Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs have caused rising inflation, hurt businesses, and made many people feel anxious about the long-term effects of his haphazard policies.

Previous presidents from both parties have been more inclined to listen to the financial experts in the swamp. Nonpartisan professionals who helped guide intelligent trade policies.

Policies that might have been able to prevent the need for a twelve-billion-dollar bailout.

Employees in so many other governmental departments, ranging from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to the National Weather Service, have been called back to work because their jobs were really necessary. It turns out the swamp helps provide for our safety and well-being.

Can government be run more efficiently? Without a doubt.

But it needs to be done in an intelligent, methodical manner. Study the ramifications of their actions before they implement them. Make it so you don’t have to call employees back after letting them go, because it so happens, they were important after all.

Demonizing government workers and making them worried that they’ll still have a job tomorrow is not the way to make government more efficient.

If every swamp in America were drained, it would have grave consequences for the environment.

Draining the swamp in Washington, D.C., is starting to have grave consequences for the American people.

Tom Becka is a long time Nebraska broadcaster who for over 30 years has been covering Omaha and Midwest issues on both radio and TV. He has been a guest on numerous national cable and news shows, filled in for nationally syndicated talk radio programs and Talkers Magazine has recognized him as one of the Top 100 talk show hosts in the country 10 times. Never afraid to ruffle some feathers, his ‘Becka’s Beat’ commentaries can be found online on Youtube and other digital platforms.

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