Trump surrounds himself with ‘swamp’ creatures, by Timothy Carney.

Donald Trump may nominate for Treasury Secretary a Goldman Sachs banker whose biggest patron was George Soros. Alternatively, he could opt for the top bank lobbyist in D.C.

Trump’s pledge to “drain the swamp” appears headed for the same fate as President Obama’s promise eight years ago to end the reign of the special interests and “end the game-playing” in D.C.

In all corners of his transition team and his planned executive branch, President-elect Trump is placing lobbyists and Wall Street insiders. He’s not draining the swamp — he’s hiring the swamp creatures.

Steve Mnuchin was a Goldman Sachs banker who started his own investment firm seeded with money from George Soros. He then made huge profits by buying a failed bank off the government with help from a special tweak by regulators.

When Trump tapped Mnuchin as his campaign’s finance chairman, commentators noted the irony of a populist candidate railing against Wall Street and the elites while leaning on this Goldman-born-and-bred Yale alumnus to rustle up the funding for the whole operation.