Tennessee Republican: Call DC a 'sewer,' not a swamp

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) says Washington should no longer be dubbed a “swamp” because it gives real wetlands a bad name.

“I wish people would quit calling it a swamp,” the Tennessee Republican said during a Wednesday interview on Real America’s Voice.

“A swamp is actually something God created that actually works,” Burchett told the conservative media outlet.

“It actually filters water. It has an input and an output,” Burchett added of real-life swamps.

The term “drain the swamp” has long been utilized by lawmakers in reference to the nation’s capital. Former President Trump further popularized the phrase in 2016 when he made it one of his campaign promises during his White House bid.  

In August, Republican presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the “swamp got worse” during Trump’s presidency.

The idea that Washington was built on top of a swamp is a “myth” that will “never go away,” according to Smithsonian Magazine. Rather than swampy origins, the city was actually “built on a firm and dry riverbank,” the publication reported.

Burchett said Wednesday there’s a better way than “swamp” to describe ridding Washington of corruption and lifelong, ethically challenged politicians.

“It really is an open sewer, is what Washington, D.C., is. And everything that comes out of it is a sewer,” Burchett said.  

But Burchett’s preference for calling D.C. a “sewer” rather than a swamp appears to be more recent — his congressional campaign store sells “Drain the Swamp” bumper stickers that feature an image of a Bigfoot-esque creature seemingly descending on the Capitol.