Story highlights Sheila Krumholz: It's not just outsiders Trump picks who will keep him from "draining swamp," it's his vast potential conflicts

She says if Trump does not divest, his business becomes our business. Nation won't see any benefits, but will reap the fallout

Sheila Krumholz is the executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan organization that tracks money, politics and influence in Washington. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

(CNN) In his 2008 campaign, presidential candidate Barack Obama found that fiery speeches about the damaging role of special interest influence, lobbyists and the need to "change the culture in Washington" were enormously popular on the campaign trail. More recently, President-elect Donald Trump was even more successful in employing even more sweeping assurances about, as he put it, "draining the swamp."

Sheila Krumholz

If only it were so easy. Unfortunately, governing is different from making promises on the campaign trail. As Obama and others have found, these particular problems -- of influence peddling -- are deeply entrenched.

And this time, the distance between the candidate's promises and his actions post-election is looking more like a chasm. The shock and concern about Trump's break with decades of US foreign policy to speak with Taiwan's President was compounded by the revelation that it resulted from six months and $140,000 worth of behind-the-scenes work by former Sen. Bob Dole, now a lobbyist for the law firm Alston & Bird.

But far more than the lobbyists and insiders who make it a challenge for anyone to "drain the swamp," it's Trump himself, and his massive portfolio of investments, that threatens to torpedo his pledge. The sheer size, scale and breadth of his holdings at home and abroad is so overwhelming, it would be more surprising if at some point conflicts of interest didn't arise.

We already have every reason to be cautious and vigilant about the influence that Trump's investments and business partners (particularly foreign business partners) may have on shaping US policy; his business interests touch at least 18 countries that we know about. It doesn't take much imagination to see how the opportunity to use policy decisions to benefit financially might be easily rationalized.

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