OPINION:
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has been the most effective cabinet secretary President Trump has had during his 14 month presidency. He has loyally carried out the president’s aggressive agenda against out-of-control federal regulations that stifle economic growth and kill American jobs.
Pruitt has faithfully fulfilled Trump’s campaign promises by rolling back Obama-era environmental overreach and halting most new regulations that were in the pipeline when he inherited the bloated agency from his predecessor, Gina McCarthy.
Pruitt has spearheaded Trump’s agenda with impactful moves like pulling out of the Paris climate accords, reforming CAFE standards and rolling back the obtrusive way the EPA administered the Clean Water Act. As the man willing to attack these sacred cows of the Left Pruitt has been rewarded with legitimate and specific death threats against himself and his family.
The unhinged Left has not only tacitly approved of the full-frontal attack on Pruitt, in some cases, they’ve endorsed them. Mark Morford, a columnist at the San Francisco Chronicle justified the death threats against Pruitt and his children with a terrifying rationalization worthy of a Jihadist:
This is but a simple acknowledgement: when you send death threats to the world and all who live on her, the world will, quite naturally, send them right back.
And now, the administrative state that dwells in the DC Swamp is coordinating their own type of assassination, targeting Pruitt’s career and reputation with spurious and laughable suggestions that the former Attorney General of Oklahoma is corrupt and has to go.
First Pruitt was hounded for travel and security expenses for a trip to Italy to attend a G-7 summit of ministers related to environmental policies. The spurious attacks on the trip left out key context related to the egregious travel costs for Obama’s EPA chiefs:
In 2017, Scott Pruitt and his security detail went on two overseas trips. On the G7 trip, they spent $84,000. On a separate trip to Morocco they spent $40,000. Whether or not that bill for two trips all year is excessive can remain in the eye of the beholder. But before you decide, let’s first look at how Gina McCarthy and her security detail did during the Obama administration.
In 2016, Team McCarthy made three trips spending the following amounts:$68,382 to travel to Ghana $45,139 to travel to Peru $74,737 to travel to Tokyo
They were a bit more busy in 2015 it seems. McCarthy and the security team racked up the following bills: $41,320 to travel to Paris$90,367 to travel to Dubai $67,702 to travel to Tokyo $56,192 to travel to Italy
We need to pause and include a side note about that last entry. When McCarthy went on her own “Italy trip” where do you think she visited? Oh, that’s right.. it was the Vatican. Of course she was there to “discuss climate change” so I’m sure everyone’s cool with that.
Moving on, Gina McCarthy and her security detail hit the road a bit in 2014 as well. $62,246 to travel to Vancouver (Seriously? It costs that much to go to Canada?) $68,267 to travel to Vietnam
The latest attack calls into question Pruitt’s living arrangements in Washington while he maintains his home in Oklahoma as his oldest child finishes their final year of high school. While in DC Pruitt rents a room for $50 per night at a condominium which is co-owned by the wife of a lobbyist who has business with the EPA. The arrangement was approved by a career ethics official at the EPA.
The laughable attack on Pruitt’s DC living arrangement hinges on what the “market value” is for renting a room in DC. The $50 per night rate would amount to $1,500 per month which is deemed to be fair value for one room in Washington. However, Pruitt’s critics claim (not always with a straight face) the problem is that Pruitt only paid for the nights he actually stayed in the condo thus his $1,000 per month average is below market value.
Seriously… that’s their argument.
MSNBC’s Hugh Hewitt tried to reasonably discuss the issue yesterday and the hysterical attacks he had to endure during the heated exchange with former Obama Administration ethics chief Richard Painter demonstrates how desperate the Left is to rid themselves of Pruitt and his laser focus on the bloated regulatory state:
Richard Painter just brushed aside Hugh Hewitt’s nonsense and drew an American masterpiece exposing Scott Pruitt’s corruption. pic.twitter.com/WY8FYJH5Nq
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) April 2, 2018
When they’re interrupting you, talking over you and clenching their jaw like Evander Holyfield in mid-swing, you’re probably making a great point, and Hewitt was doing exactly that.
I asked Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) about the Pruitt condo kerfuffle yesterday on my WMAL radio program. Gohmert gave a full-throated endorsement of Pruitt and condemned the DC wolves hunting for blood:
Gohmert: Scott has been fantastic. He was a great attorney general and because he has been so effective they are going to throw everything at him they possibly can because he really has been effective. And let me tell you, he just relaxed some standards, I am here in east Texas right now, it’s where I’ve lived all my life – except for my four years in the army, and let me tell you, this isn’t like west Texas we have lots of pine trees, we have lots of pollen and there are some days in the year that without, even if there were no man in all of east Texas, the trees, the weeds, the flowers put out enough pollen that we violate this thing that, the standard, that Scott has relaxed. And the only way, there are some days the only way we can comply is to cut down every single thing that is biologically growing and concrete over all of east Texas and then we could meet the standards. So he did a noble thing when he is relaxing them and we continue to improve both but at some point you’ve got to go wait a minute, mother nature is even violating these standards. You’ve got to cut these people some slack.
O’Connor: So you don’t see anything in this whole idea of him paying $50 a night when he was in town at this condo that was apparently co-owned by the wife of someone who was a lobbyist for fuel standards. You don’t see that as an ethical violation or anything illegal? He should not have to be forced out of his position because of that?
Gohmert: He absolutely should not. They are digging for anything. Absolutely anything. And it is pretty ridiculous the standards that Republicans are held to. But it is tough to survive in this town unless you have, unless you’re like Pelosi or some of the Democrats that are millionaires and there are some republicans that are millionaires. But they are trying to make it like you can only serve in government if you’re a multi-millionaire…
The Swamp is throwing everything they possibly can at Scott Pruitt not because Pruitt is evil (as environmental radicals would have you believe) and not because he is corrupt, they are attacking him because he is fulfilling the president’s campaign promises and his rollback of regulations have jump-started the American economy that was dormant during the Obama Administration.
In short, they hate him because he’s getting the job done.
The fact is not every agency and department in the Executive Branch has operated at a very effective level during the Trump presidency. Pruitt is one of Trump’s MVPs. He should stand by him. Actually, he should reward him. A word of support from POTUS would go a long way, Mr. President. How about a tweet?
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