Trump Deepens the Swamp

As if it isn’t enough that within the lifetime of many here today rising temperatures and sea levels will change Texas dramatically now the Trump administration seeks to roll back fuel mileage requirements set to go into effect in the next couple of years. The roll back that Trump appointee Scott Pruitt, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, is pushing will just make matters worse for our children and grandchildren. Pruitt is the former Attorney General of Oklahoma who made a name for himself as the go to guy for oil and gas companies that wanted official help in suing the federal government to relax pollution standards so they could increase profits. Pruitt acted like a lobbyist and put their model letters on official Oklahoma government stationary then signed them in his official capacity as the state’s Attorney General in attempts to effect federal regulatory efforts.

Pruitt sued the Environmental Protection Agency at least 14 times while in office and most of those cases are still in the courts. Unfortunately for our children and grand-children Trump put him in charge of the agency he spent so much times suing and is now using that office to make those lawsuits moot by rolling back the regulations he once sued over. While he’s doing that he’s also making trips around the world on the taxpayers dime to sightsee in places like Rome and Morocco with his own 20 person body guard detail.

Pruitt is now under eleven different investigations for a wide range of financial misdeeds such as having a $43,000 sound proof phone booth built into his office in violation of regulations on how much people in his position are allowed to spend on office renovations. Then there is the investigations into him giving out raises to staffers who were ineligible for them by improperly using funding that belonged to other projects and his lavish travel spending on private planes and use of military aircraft. On top of all that his million dollar 20 member personal body guard detail and questionable security measures which are also under investigation for out of budget spending is all predicated on purported threats of violence but records released through Freedom of Information Act requests show that there were only cases, one of which is someone drew a mustache on a picture of him and another was a threat of violence by a man who has been in prison for years and will continue to be so for years to come.

Pruitt is a lot like Mick Mulvaney, currently director of the Office of Management and Budget, who openly admitted to only listening to those who donated to his campaign. Both continue to serve their corporate and billionaire masters.

While never a Trump appointee long time fixer Michael Cohen seems to be drowning in investigations into sketchy dealing as well. Last week we learned that he’s been billed for back taxes to the tune of $280,000 on his taxi businesses. Earlier this week it was revealed that he’s been collected millions of dollars from the likes of AT&T and drug giant Novartis. That’s on top of the questionable payments from Trump for arranging hush money to porn stars and Playboy playmates.

Candidate Trump claimed he’d be different but when he told Americans he would drain the swamp either he lied or he meant some other swamp.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - May 11, 2018