Drain the swamp became widely known as a slogan in Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, where it was used to promise a crackdown on corruption and lobbying in Washington. The phrase itself had been used in politics before, but the campaign turned it into a chant at rallies and a shorthand in news coverage. Online it outlived the election as a meme reference, reused in edits and comments whenever someone talks about cleaning up a messy institution or system.