‘The Swamp Isn’t Being Drained’: Right-Winger Denounces ‘Cheap Date’ Trump for Backing RINOs

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Daniel Horowitz, a senior editor at The Blaze, denounced President Donald Trump for failing to drain the swamp in a new column calling the commander-in-chief a “cheap date.”

Under the headline, “Trump keeps endorsing the establishment he vowed to fight,” Horowitz suggested that Trump’s endorsement of Karrin Taylor Robson in the upcoming Arizona gubernatorial race “fit a troubling pattern: early-cycle support for anti-Trump Republicans who hadn’t lifted a finger for the movement, while stronger MAGA candidates waited in the wings.”

“Some defenders claim Trump backs incumbents to push his agenda. That theory falls apart when so many of those same RINOs openly sabotage it. Take Reps. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) and Jen Kiggans (R-Va.). Both received Trump’s endorsement while actively working against his legislative priorities — pushing green energy subsidies and obsessing over tax breaks for their donor class,” continued Horowitz. “These aren’t minor policy differences. These are full-spectrum RINO betrayals. Trump wouldn’t dare endorse Chip Roy (R-Texas) for dissenting from the right, so why give cover to Republicans who consistently undermine his mandate from the left?”

“This new paradigm — where candidates secure Trump endorsements just by parroting his name — has allowed RINO governors and legislators to push corporatist policies while staying firmly in Trump’s good graces. They wrap themselves in the MAGA brand without lifting a finger to advance its agenda. That’s not the movement we were promised,” he concluded. “At some point, conservatives must face the hard truth: The swamp isn’t being drained. It’s getting refilled — with Trump’s help. We can’t keep celebrating Trump’s total control of the GOP while hand-waving away the RINOs, as if they’re some separate, unaccountable force. Trump has the power to shape the party. He could use it to clean house. Instead, he keeps using it to protect the establishment from grassroots primaries.”

“Mr. President, please don’t be such a cheap date,” implored Horowitz in his kicker.

Trump almost always backs Republican incumbents in primary races, and has already endorsed many Republican senators running for reelection in 2026, including Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a frequent target of conservative hardliners.