Pardon Me for Being Petty

 

Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and "multiple other Republican congressmen" sought pardons from then-President Donald Trump after January 6, House January 6 committee vice chair Liz Cheney says https://t.co/URqBKmLY5T

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) June 10, 2022

This is just a very brief and indulgent post where I point out that for some reason, multiple human barnacles attached themselves to the rotting luxury yacht Donald Trump as if he would be the safest port in a storm, or some such nautical thing. I dunno. I'm a landlubber. Anyhow. They stuck their necks out to get this man a second term and wanted pardons because? Because they necessarily broke the law to try and keep him in office?

Well, maybe? But the funny thing about Trump is you have to understand that every day was opposite day. He wasn't out to make America Great. He didn't really build the wall (he let that be a scam for his good friend Steve Bannon, who really needs to serve time for that). He didn't really set out to drain the swamp--he just fed red meat to the gators. So some of the swampiest and most grifting folks, like Ryan Zinke or Scott Pruitt, would just go on to be more grifting elsewhere. Take Ronny Jackson--someone, anyone, he shouldn't be driving. People associated with Trump are corrupt because that is who he attracts. So maybe people surrounding Trump aren't asking for pardons because of something they did concerning 1/6.

No! My word! It's just that unlike any other president in history, he had people like Roger Stone and Jared Kushner fronting access and making the prices legible for the folks who want to play. So I wouldn't necessarily assume pardons were a sign of assisting in the coup attempt. No. I just would think they were signs that someone wanted to get washed while the washing was accessible. 

I take it as a given that Trump held his "friends" more to account being an autocrat than Democrats ever would have, and that files exist. Buttons to be pushed. Maybe this is why so many were willing to immure themselves for him. It's a goddamn unpatriotic shame. Was it really leverage?

I feel like it's irresponsible not to speculate. 

Aw, Screw it, Fire Pruitt!

One might have expected that there was something a little weird about Pruitt when he wanted the $43k soundproof booth in his office, or when he alleged that he really needed to fly first class because people said mean things to him when he flew coach. But I really think this past few days' worth of revelations has exceeded all expectations regarding a man and his grift. The sweetheart condo rental deal made between Pruitt and the wife of a lobbyist who had projects subject to the approval of Pruitt's office is pretty dodgy once the details come into focus, and his deliberate staff manipulations look an awful lot like an abuse of power. Little details like wanting to use the sirens on his motorcade to get through traffic more quickly when he was running late, or noting that he not only had a deep discount on his Capitol Hill digs, but fell behind on paying for it, seem almost comical, but point to a truly cavalier attitude towards government service. 

But what is frankly amazing is that, despite all this, Pruitt's effectiveness in dismantling the EPA's regulatory abilities outweighs what one might suppose would seem an embarrassing appearance of corruption. All in all, a touch of corruption doesn't seem to be all that new a detail in Pruitt's bio, to the extent that it becomes clear that the Trump Administration and it's admirers may feel that Pruitt's corruptibility is a feature, not a bug. What else can one make of the rumor that Trump is considering not just not firing Pruitt, but considering him as a replacement for Attorney General Jeff Sessions. 

Because if a person is not merely corrupt, but almost comically so, why wouldn't someone with Trump's obvious baggage want to have him running the Department of Justice?

I could be wrong--Fridays are made for firings in TrumpWorld, after all, and many an official has found themselves getting the axe after getting the "full confidence of the President" guarantee. It's possible that the Samantha Dravin/Rob Porter leaking angle will eventually do Pruitt in in a way that the misuse of taxpayer funds has not. But seeing Senators Cruz and Paul come to Pruitt's defense and blame his scandals on the media makes me wonder if we might be about to see an experiment in just seeing if this can be "weathered out". 

This is pretty terrible--the guy definitely seems shady as hell and should be out! But if Trump starts tossing every shady person working for him...who is he going to have left?

Climate Sunday: What's up with the EPA?

You know, I worry a little bit about an agency charged with protecting the environment when it is now being headed by someone who made many lawsuits against it. I'm funny that way. So when I hear that a number of folks have been forced off of the EPA advisory board, I feel like it's good odds they'll be replaced by people like Mandy Gunesekara, who is totally there for the coal industry, or folks who don't really care if a pesticide is shown to be detrimental to children's development.

I really don't have anything to add to that--there are just some pretty worrying signs, right there.