The kiss of death
by Tom Sullivan
They have no bottom to hit.
“One more episode of the telenovela,” Republican pundit Anna Navarro told CNN, describing EPA administrator Scott Pruitt’s apartment rental controversy. Instead of “draining the swamp” in Washington, D.C., Donald Trump has brought “an entirely new species of swamp things” to his administration.
People thought his cabinet members are so rich they would not have to be corrupt. It turns out that assumption was faulty and Trump’s base doesn’t care, Navarro said. She criticized Republicans for standing by an administrion they would be investigating if led by a Democrat.
Not only was Pruitt getting a $50 per night — only when he sleeps there — sweetheart deal on a Capitol Hill condo from the wife of a lobbyist, his landlord was pestering him because Pruitt fell behind on payments:
Pruitt’s living arrangement is the latest ethical issue to come under scrutiny by the EPA’s inspector general’s office, which said Thursday it’s considering opening an investigation into Pruitt’s lease arrangement — a move that would add to reviews of Pruitt’s taxpayer-funded first-class travel, his use of special hiring authority to grant raises to aides and his spending on a soundproof phone booth for his office.
The EPA head was renting the condo from health care lobbyist Vicki Hart, whose husband, J. Steven Hart, is an energy lobbyist.
Pruitt’s interview with Fox News and questions about raises given to staff was a disaster. Not to mention the optics of an abandoned proposal for a $100,000-a-month charter aircraft and gems like this:
Shortly after taking his job, Pruitt was stuck in traffic and asked the head of his security detail, Special Agent Eric Weese, to turn on his sirens to clear cars off the road. Weese, a 16-year veteran of the agency, told Pruitt that sirens were only used for emergencies. Pruitt fired him.
The Hill reported yesterday a longtime colleague and top Pruitt aide has resigned:
Samantha Dravis, the senior counsel and associate administrator in EPA’s Office of Policy, tendered her resignation last week, the agency confirmed to The Hill on Thursday.
A friend close to Dravis described the agency as “a shit show.”
Asked Thursday whether he still had confidence in his EPA chief, the president said, “I do, I do,” adding, “I think he’s a fantastic person.”
Trump might as well have kissed him on the lips. We’ll see if Pruitt survives the Friday news dump.
Navarro said of Pruitt’s Fox interview, “he made Betsy DeVos look like Albert Einstein.”
It’s been said that Trump likes to create chaos among his staff. But because he has to be the undisputed alpha male, perhaps he also prefers hiring people he believes are not as smart as he is. That would explain a lot.
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