Like all conservatives, President Trump’s biggest problem was the inability, or lack of awareness, to explain what conservatism is and what he means when he says things like “the swamp” or “deep state.”

That’s why The Bubbler exists. After watching for more than 30 years conservatives miss opportunity after opportunity to teach conservatism and explain the philosophy to people, I finally took to the internet.

As usual, President Trump got halfway there. In talking about “the swamp,” he was correctly identifying the real enemy and was scratching the surface on starting to defeat them. But he didn’t go far enough.

Sure, contextually, people had some idea of who “the swamp” is. Maybe career politicians. Perhaps unelected bureaucrats. Maybe he just meant Democrats. For those who don’t follow things closely, it’s a fairly open-ended and vague moniker.

This is why he should have taken the next step and clearly defined the problem. Because “the swamp” must be stopped.

“The swamp” covers everyone in the federal government enriching themselves at the expense of the voters. “The swamp” includes both elected and unelected career men and women who answer to corporations and foreign governments in exchange for gifts, money, and a nice education for their children.

These are people who make the rules for us, but live according to their own. They aren’t listening to the public. They’re not responding to evidence. They’re not using common sense. They’re just going along with whomever shows them the most money.

They’re Republicans. They’re Democrats. They’re socialists. They’re bureaucrats. And they’re against us.

Most conservatives had a pretty good idea of who Trump was talking about when he said “deep state.” Unfortunately, Democrat voters didn’t. Not all of them. This is where the greatest chance of unity lies.

Like Sarah Palin, Trump’s message actually has massive potential to unite the voters. It used to be Baby Boomer radicals were telling us to “question authority” and distrust politicians. I believe that spirit is still alive. And it’s probably the thing most likely unite the country.

As soon as we can all agree that the voters can’t trust any of them and that they’re all beholden to corporate and foreign money, we should all be able to come together and unite to fight it.

Perhaps the Democrat branding campaign was too effective. Perhaps the public can never figure out that conservatives were never the bigots, racists, or homophobes. Perhaps people can figure out that conservatives were always on board with not trusting our government and keeping it as small and uninvolved as possible.

To do that, the message has to be clearer. Democrat voters have to be targeted with the messaging necessary for them to see they have far more in common with conservative voters than anyone thinks.

It’s a significant piece of the puzzle, and we won’t be able to advance until we start addressing it.