O’Reilly not expecting Trump to return to ‘drain the swamp’ messaging

Political commentator Bill O’Reilly said Monday that President Trump will likely not bring back his “ drain the swamp ” message ahead of the midterms .

O’Reilly, in an appearance on NewsNation’s “On Balance,” said he anticipates the president will argue that Democrats have “lost their way” before the election, as Republicans try to maintain control of Congress for the final two years of his term.

“I don’t think he’s going to go back, Donald Trump, to on the outside or, ‘I’ll drain the swamp.’ I think he’s going to look ahead and say, ‘I can do this for you if you let me complete the job.’ That’s what I think the theme will be,” the former Fox News host told host Leland Vittert.

Trump deployed the “drain the swamp” message frequently during his first presidential campaign, arguing at the time that a new era of politics was necessary.

With the midterms roughly a month away, Trump has urged voters to “pretend” as if he is on the ballot in a bid to drive turnout.

“I’m asking you to pretend that I’m on the ballot,” the president said earlier this month at the Republican National Committee’s midterm convention in Dallas. “Just one more time, because if we lose, you’re going to lose your border, you’re going to lose your tax cuts.”

Trump and GOP lawmakers have also attacked Democrats as “communists,” as multiple democratic socialists have won primaries in deep-blue districts this year.

Decision Desk HQ , The Hill’s data partner, gives Democrats a 52 percent chance to take back the Senate and House.

A recent Emerson College Polling survey also found Democrats leading Republicans by 11 points on a generic congressional ballot.

O’Reilly said Monday that “more and more Americans are living in the moment” instead of “evaluating the big picture” of the economy.

He told Vittert, “They’re suffering because of gasoline prices and food prices and other things that are draining their money.”

Annual inflation was at 3.4 percent in August, as measured by the consumer price index. The national average price of a gallon of regular gas, meanwhile, is roughly $4.45 amid the Iran war , according to data from AAA .