Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis contended Tuesday in Hollis, New Hampshire, that former President Donald Trump failed to drain the Washington, D.C., swamp as promised.
When asked at the town hall about voters who batted for Trump in 2016 and 2020 over his pledge to fire and replace existing bureaucracy, DeSantis pointed out that they were still in the federal government.
"He didn't drain it. It's worse today than it's ever been," DeSantis said, suggesting that it was not good enough to just replace the bureaucracy.
"I want to break the swamp," he proposed, outlining a project that would include halving the number of government employees within administrative agencies.
DeSantis also took an apparent swipe at Trump for supposed broken promises on immigration policy, pledging to make good on them himself and go even further by assertively targeting drug cartels.
"We're actually going to build the wall," the governor claimed. "A lot of politicians chirp. They make grandiose promises and then fail to deliver the actual results. The time for excuses is over. Now is the time to deliver results and finally get the job done."
The comments arrive one day after DeSantis announced his plan for the southern border and the wider migrant crisis in Eagle Pass, Texas, notably calling for an end to birthright citizenship.
"This idea that you can come across the border, two days later have a child, and somehow that's an American citizen -- that was not the original understanding of the 14th Amendment, and so we'll take action to force a clarification of that," DeSantis argued Monday.
Trump also spoke Tuesday in New Hampshire, appearing at a luncheon for the state's Federation of Republican Women, taking aim at DeSantis' positions on foreign policy, trade, and past comments on entitlements.
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