I am waiting for Trump’s actions to be called to account. He is destroying this nation and with his actions destroying the “enlightened” and peaceful future of the world. To prarphrase Winston Churchil if the US lasts for a thousand years people will say that this was their most disgraceful period. The path that Trump and his enablers have put this nation is ultimately frightening.
9
Pruitt is the grift that keeps on grifting. His biggest risk is that he is getting so good at this Trump may conclude he is being upstaged. Donald's minions can do pretty much as they please so long as they don't compete for the spotlight.
13
Here's hoping Mueller brings this walking disaster Trump down.
Why is he coming into Canada anyway? Can't they just meet him at the border to conduct business?
He's NOT welcome here, and neither are his supporters.
14
Pruitt just can't help himself. More a ferret than a mink , having long gotten away with it . Fleecing the people of Oklahoma and whoever else crossed his path . It has become normal for him , this sociopathic behavior ...and Trump still keeps him on if only to get back at those outraged . Republicans must follow thru and divest him of his position for abuse of power and ... stealing from the taxpayer .
7
One can only hope and pray that somewhere in the vastness of the United States there is a 21st century Teddy Roosevelt, ready to be called to duty to sweep away the ugly excesses of this venal tRumpian ‘gilded age’
14
Far from draining the swamp, Mr. Trump has brought bigger and worse swamp denizens to Washington, including himself.
While Clinton left the WH vastly in debt, Trump is making money hand over fist. Pruitt is not far behind. Wanna bet none of those fountain pens stay in the office when he leaves?
5
Did I miss something?
Who in this abomination of an administration has actually been busted for any of this stuff?
As far as I can tell they are all still free to walk around and continue their nefarious behavior with (seeming) impunity.
10
As a way of life for these people, doing these things is like tying their shoes. And, like tying their shoe, it wouldn't occur to them it was out of the ordinary, or in Pruitt's case illegal. In short, they are amoral.
6
A used mattress???????
10
This makes one eager to set the entire maladministration adrift on an ice floe, where they can congratulate themselves that global warming is a Chinese-fabricated myth as they are buoyed into southern waters.
4
What we have come to call "The Washington Swamp" is in fact our "All-American Cosa Nostra™."
The most pernicious effect of this "sect of thieves" is not its mere rapacity, but that over the course of time it demoralizes and alienates the population in general, to such a degree that it makes it virtually impossible for even the most well-meaning justiciary to extirpate it.
4
Free entertainment. What a bargain! The US Government Reality TV show now playing on nearly all channels pay & free. Cast of hundreds - if not thousands - so much more entertaining than that afforded by the very limited cast of the Clinton scandals just a few years back. And such a wide range of acts to showcase. We've never seen such wide ranging malfeasance on TV before; everything from international intrigue to financial shenanigans to mere ethics violations and sex (OK, I left the pedestrian stuff for last). And all produced and directed by the Master Showman himself, Ditzy Donny the Deceiver. Three cheers for US.
6
I"m so exhausted from reading about all the millions upon millions of dollars the trump administration is stealing from this country's citizens. Add that to the ignorance, incompetence, and downright hatefulness of their dear leader and it's enough to make a person want to just stop paying attention.
10
You've given us the term that may live in history as the summary of this administration: The Trump Effect. So Trump may get his wish and may be remembered by history as the biggest . . . abuser of power ever to occupy the White House.
7
Well, whoever didn't see this coming on 11/9/16 is completely blind.
7
The Trump staff and administration are appalling, but don't forget that our alternative was Hillary (and Bill). You may prefer their politics, but is our memory too short to forget the Lincoln bedroom, the wildly lucrative commodities trading, the questionable "donations" to the Clinton Foundation, the lucrative speeches that bought access, and on and on. The people of our country deserve better--but will we ever get it?
2
This president promised the opposite of the previous president in every possible way. The previous one completed the cleanest two terms in recent history so we can expect the exact opposite. We are told 6 legal defense funds have been created for his cabinet members. And it is not even two years!
16
'Ol Scott 'Line my Pockets' Pruitt has certainly made it known
that he's as bad as the Don. The people of Oklahoma must be so happy he's no longer with them. In fact, everyone is saying that the Governor has set up a slush fund to pay off Trump as long as he keeps him in DC.
Oh, and by the way that Scott wanted was to give it to his wife for free.
10
I can't imagine what a $43K phone booth looks like.
Would you please publish a photo of it?
15
@SCZ: Trump and Co. don't take kindly to that sort of information getting out. After all, annoying photos are the origin of Kellyanne Conway's "alternative facts" line while trying to explain away the first barrage of Trump's many presidential lies.
Trump was furious about photos of his inauguration (all that grassy space!). Our oh-so-busy president found time to personally berate the Parks Service over it. Trump followed up his very first presidential tantrum by issuing an "URGENT DIRECTIVE[!!]" to the Department of the Interior to suspend its twitter account for daring to post accurate information and photos that he considered "very unflattering, as unflattering-from certain angles-that were taken early and lots of other things." #wellsaid
And there's Slick Rick Perry. He got mad about leaked photos concerning campaign contributor and coal mining exec. Robert E. Lee. Okay the guy's last name was "Murray," not Lee. But he really was hugging it out with the head of the Dep't. of Energy following discussion of Murray's confidential ... "action plan" for coal-friendly regulatory changes. It was a key moment in the administration's nascent war on the "#sad" leaking of information that has since proven disturbingly more truthful than repeated on-the-record WH statements.
So grabbing a photo of Pruitt's booth might be risky (don't roll the dice on Socio-Steve Miller either). And if you get caught tattling on Pompeo, just forget this conversation ever happened, got it?
2
Is no one worried about the fact this man used to be the Attorney General of Oklahoma or do they imagine his abuses somehow only commenced when he joined the EPA?
14
Colin- Your guess that Pruitt has abused his official position and been a grifter long before coming to the EPA is correct. See:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/21/us/politics/scott-pruitt-oklahoma-epa...
9
Maybe someone should investigate criminal cases he prosecuted. May be some corruption in his legal time in OK.
4
Oh, no. Several outlets, including The Times, have done a good job of reporting on Pruitt's earlier misadventures.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/21/us/politics/scott-pruitt-oklahoma-epa...
June 6, 2018
There is only one solution to our leadership problem -
"I believe an international criminal court is very much to be desired."
Harold Pinter
brainyquote.com/authors/harold_pinter
jja Manhattan, N.Y.
8
We have one. However, unsurprisingly, the U.S. rejects its jurisdiction.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_and_the_International_Crimin...
1
"That said, the Trump Effect extends beyond the Mueller inquiry and into the shameless, often hapless characters with whom this president surrounds himself."
Feckless would describe these swamp dwellers more accurately than hapless. They're incompetent, not unlucky
7
This editorial omits one other Pruitt grift, accepting a coal baron's high-priced courtside seat at a University of Kentucky basketball game for himself and his son this year. Pruitt has met with the coal baron more than a dozen times since taking office. I'm sure that those meetings were held to discuss what could be done to stop coal mines polluting ground water that feeds the wells of neighboring families.
14
It has been said that Mueller is "tightening the noose" around Manafort and Trump. Hurry, please, Mr. Mueller!!!
I am becoming afraid that we could lose our democracy to the insidious combination of Trump, Trump appointees and the influence corporations and the billionaire class on our political system.
Every concerned citizen should read Steven Brill's book titled Tailspin, and article in Time Magazine "How My Generation Broke America."
10
When the history of the Trump era is finally written , hopefully immediately after the 2020 presidential election , and the chief grifter has to pack all of the goods he'll likely steal from the White House and be gone , this awful period will over shadow by far the nasty reputation of the corruption-laden reign of Boss Tweed in New York . It will become synonymous with dirty tricks, lack of ethics, lack of preparation, lack of care for the people and of the country itself. . . with the very word: corruption . It's both shockingly sad , even preposterously absurd that the public well knew the kind of loud-mouthed , bragging , unprepared , slime candidate Trump was before so many of them ( with Russia's help ) elected him to the highest office in the land . Now our country is faced with the huge task of ridding itself of the bleak and grimy scourge that is the Trump administration , one way ( impeachment ) or the other ( the election of a qualified person , an honorable one ) . Let us all pray for the skill , the courage and the patience of all involved in helping Americans restore decent , honest , compassionate and competent government to our noble country .
9
How dare we apply the rule of law and ethics to the minions of King Donald. The Republican base is appalled that his most highness might be anything other than a shining star to be gazed upon with awe and fealty as their only hope. Heck, insufficient few can be bothered to vote for the alternative so this 30-40% who kiss the Don's ring (or maybe somewhere else) will keep him and the grifters running the show. What do we have, a Republic or a Monarchy?" As Old Ben said, "A Republic, if you can keep it." Apparently there are many of the now oddly named "Republicans" who are actually Monarchists - with brown noses.
10
The editorial should read that "Scott Pruitt has burnished his reputation as the Trump administration’s biggest grifter outside of Trump's own family."
As appaling as Pruitt's ethical lapses are, they are peanuts when compared to the shenanigans of Trump himself and his family. A $500,000,000 loan to a Trump branded property just days prior to an offer to help a Chinese firm? Jared Kushner using his White House to solicit loans for his over-extended real state empire? Ivanka almost magically receiving dozens of Trade Marks from China when much more established brands can't get one? How about all the money Trump is charging the Secret Service and other governent agencies to stay at his resorts while he golfs, to use Trump Tower to protect him, etc.? The Trump family is simply in a differ league of grifters than Pruitt and the others.
20
Maybe, just maybe Scott Pruitt requires a used mattress to stuff money into. Why ruin a new mattress?
8
He wanted one from a Trump property so he could sleep in the comfort of knowing that the supply of suckers would never fail.
5
Washington was already bad enough before this buffoonish gangster landed in the White House. Rather than "drain" the swamp, he promptly made it four times bigger. What really distinguishes Trumpian corruption is how utterly brazen it is. The regime is so absorbed by its own arrogance, it literally wears the self-dealing, racketeering, nepotism and malfeasance as a badge of honor.
9
President may want us to believe that he's draining the 'swamp' when really he's topping it up with toxic sludge.
5
You left out my fave Ben Carson, failed right-wing loony tune over at HUD. He's #1 on my personal "let's take it while we can" hit parade, but perhaps enough ink has been expended on Ben, his wife, his minions, his conference table....
I'm telling you what: they're all cut from the same cloth, from Donald on down. And down. And down. We aren't draining the swamp; we're neck deep in it and sinking fast.
11
Liz... they are al of a piece: cookie-cutter grifters.
2
This Scott Pruitt caper is just the latest fiasco for the EPA chief. It reads like a "Bizzaro- Seinfeld" episode of confusion when his staffers call Chick-fil-A corporate offices to set up a meeting with the highest ranking member of the EPA.
Their corporate leaders must've been scrambling to find out what kind of trouble they might be in with the EPA, only to find out later that Pruitt simply wanted to get his wife a franchise with them.
I'm not sure which Seinfeld episode this story would be perpendicular to: the Kenny Rogers store opening across the street from Kramer; or when George pretends to work for Tyson chicken for a girl, only to be traded to them from the Yankees by George Steinbrenner...!
Now, in mattress-gate, he also gets to have the dubious honor of being the biggest "Creepy Creep" to have ever served as a member in a presidential cabinet. Comedians and joke writers will benefit bigly with the bounty of material from Pruitt and the administration he serves.
All anyone needs to do is start minting coins, enamel pins, flags, comic books and buttons for every day of this administration. We have a Monster's Mash of 'officials' that could rival any Munsters, Addams Family or Elvira character from the small screen of yesteryear.
8
It is not surprising that the progressive left has an all out attack of Scott Pruitt. Most people would be concerned when public officials receive verifiable death threats on an on going bases. The EPA was used as a weapon during the Obama administration. Just like the IRS scandal of Lois Lerner targeting conservative business because of there politics the EPA has targeted small business that had ownership that were political conservative. I saw this happen first hand to a business competitor of mine. His business operation as an interstate transportation provider was no different than thousand of others in the United States. His mistake was embarrassing and upsetting a Democratic representative from Denver. Within a week the EPA was there until they destroyed his 74 people business
Obviously those that work at the EPA are angry that some will be loosing there jobs. Complaints about this regional EPA office are now being taken seriously, not ignored. Maybe like the VA, EPA employees will be held accountable for their actions. I am not holding my breath
1
Let me guess, your competitor didn’t follow emission controls rules for their trucks or required rest periods for their drivers.
13
Please. Scott Pruitt is bought and paid for.
No one made him fly to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars. No one made him buy expensive fountain pens or waste taxpayer $$$. He is a crook.
15
Any rational person in Mr. Manafort's current legal position would have to be insane to attempt to get witnesses to lie. But absent an intent to plead insanity, perhaps the reason is that Mr. Manafort believes that he can engage in such actions and later be pardoned for it.
5
It's time to call out Republicans for what they do. They terrorize our population by stealing our money through double taxation of SALT and transferring our money to the Koch brothers, attacking our women by witholding our money from Planned Parenthood, endangering our children by enabling the NRA, letting our sick die without health care and attacking our education by taking away dependent exemptions. Time for States to rise. States rights first.
18
"Now, as delicious as Chick-fil-A may be, using the agency’s staff to run one’s personal errands is, of course, a breach of ethics rules."
Rightly or wrongly, this kind of thing is often done in typical non-governmental offices. So, No: If this is a breach of ethics in the federal government, it is not an "of course" thing to your readers, most of whom are not lawyers.
1
In 1880, Henry Adamas published "Democracy" to welcome the election of James Garfield, Republican, as president of the United States.
One passage reads:
"This is the season when the two whited sepulchres at either end of the [Pennsylvania] Avenue reek with the thick atmosphere of bargain and sale....Wealth, office, power are at auction. Who bids highest: who hates with most venom? Who intrigues with most skill? Who has done the dirtiest, the meanest, the darkest, and the most, political work? He shall have his reward...."
We were warned.
10
But her emails.
5
:-)
3
And Benghazi, and PizzaGate, and ... Squirrel!
2
How the heck did the hard-headed people of Oklahoma put up with the likes of this crook?? Why??
10
If distraction is the Republic playbook, then Donald and Pruitt are doing their job. While we marvel at the sheer disregard of traditional American values, Congress and federal agencies are stacking courts and trashing regulations from mining, to banks, to agriculture to environmental protection.
Whatever Donald contributes to the world -- and i hope it's strict ethics regulation for anyone doing business in this country -- it will cost the next administration a great deal of money and resources to repair the damage Donald has done.
Whoever succeeds Donald will be governing without the institutional memory of many senior people who left public service. It will take a generation to recover from Donald Trump.
13
Pruitt`s grifting was evident for the last 25 years based on his real estate dealings in Tulsa plus his ties to oil companies.
His DC grifting is just a continuation of his lifetime of grifting.
America , what have you done to yourself !
15
Are we surprised?
Donald Trump is a moral man and he would tend to hire moral people??? Really???
Let's understand who we are talking about here...a real estate baron who hired an Attorney General who had a hatred of the EPA...and now this guy thinks the world is his oyster and is so insecure that he causes the government to spend sums of money on his security both with Secret Service coverage and security equipment for his office...
Quick, call Rod Serling may be he can explain Mr. Pruitt's behavior---I sure can't.
Jonni Ernst is right...swampy is the right description...know she wants to score political points (ethanol) and she has.
5
I keep writing to our Colorado Senator Cory Gardner about all this and like Senate majority leader McConnell, it remains an issue few Republicans speak to. Trumps seems to be giving lessons to Hungary and possibly a few other EU countries involved in the attempted corruption of viable democracies. However it takes a gullible electorate to swallow the nonsense. November will tell us who we are or have turned into.
12
I just can't wrap my mind around the idea of enlisting a staff member to shop for a used hotel mattress.
First, why do you want it?
Second, why would you want people to know about your weird desire?
8
What may be most disappointing about this news, is that the President and his most ardent followers simply don't care. "Drain the swamp!" screamed during his public appearances (really 2020 fund-raising and campaigning) is cathartic for the crowd. The anger, frustration, and fear that they feel is real. Despite there be no link between economic reality and the incendiary comments of the President and the GOP, it provides a form of action and release that gives people some relief.
Now, to many, only hearing from POTUS lets them know what is 'swamp' and what is 'doing a great job'. So long as Pruitt does what Trump and GOP backers want, he is safe to violate all the norms and rules of his office. And only those of us who cherish civility and the rule of law will complain about it.
11
Why does this man even still have this position?
13
And yet...nothing happens! There appear to be no consequences other than the personal demise of those caught up in scandal. Trump supporters don't appear to care about the Republican manifestation of the swamp, only the deep state democrats like James Comey and Robert Mueller.
8
trump keeps pruit because trump looks good when compared to the (let's reverse any progress made to clean up the environment) notorious EPA Chief. Every headline highlighting pruit's abuses is a headline not devoted to trump's abuses of power.
6
Trump to those who criticize him: "You know I'm automatically attracted to them - I just start dissing them. It's like a magnet. Just diss. I don't even wait. And when you are a star they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the Congress. You can do anything."
7
". . .And the many ways to get busted doing it."
Which is to say: if these crooks and malefactors don't get BUSTED. . . .
. .. that means: they got AWAY with it.
Why should they?
It is so perilously EASY to shrug your shoulders--oh well! so it goes--they're ALL doing it really. . . .
. . and so nothing happens. The grifters continue to grift. The malefactors continue to malefact.
The news is such nowadays--I tend to skip it. Oh dear! ANOTHER major scandal! ANOTHER top government official snared in some piece of unsavory wrongdoing.
Several years back, I was lectured on this failing by (of all people) a young man from Nigeria. A minister. Married with two children.
I told him of my little failing. And he had some things to say.
He reminded me of endemic corruption and inefficiency in his own country. (Meaning no offense.) THAT, in his view, did not by ANY means excuse him from going, as it were, to sleep. Turning away from the sordid spectacle.
He urged me: be a better citizen. Be aware of things. Get involved. Care.
(All this, of course, put as delicately--as tactfully as he could.)
So KEEP IT UP, New York Times. "FAILING" New York Times. Guess who's always calling you that.
Guess why.
"Cause you NETTLE him, New York Times.
Him--and the grifters that cluster around him.
So keep it up.
Please.
5
We have no idea the risks to us and to America's future due to decisions he makes to intentionally address his own financial interests.
Did he prematurely praise the May job numbers to affect the market and his portfolios?
His tax cuts? Financed with deficits.
Family members play-acting foreign policy roles while soliciting money and trademarks for their businesses.
Clearly his cabinet continues padding their own bottom lines.
9
Thank you for the link about Tom Garrett. Just in time, as I was beginning to feel empathetic for him about his alcoholism. I hope Leslie Cockburn will be successful in replacing him.
I thought we got rid of this sort of thing in 1781 when we defeated the royalist regime. At the very least I should think we made things clearly not that way in 1863 and absolutely not so by 1920.
As the old saying goes, "The more things change the more they stay the same."
5
Bravo! Another succinct editorial by the NY Times highlighting just a few of the myriad legal and ethical breaches this administration and its cronies have committed from its preternatural inception (don't forget the Mnuchins' seven flights on military aircraft at a cost of $800,000, one of which was to view the solar eclipse). These are not just inadvertent transgressions, but blatant ones committed with an apparent belief they are entitled to use taxpayer funds with no more concern than if it were Monopoly money. They display a self-righteous indignation at the very thought that they are not above the law. And why not, their fearless leader, DT, is championing that cause for his own future benefit.
This hypocritical freak show will continue as long as the American public is willing to be played by clowns and con men dressed in business suits.
13
This happens because Trump’s base turns a blind eye to it. They allow it to happen. They are ok with it. If the base continues to outvote the non-base in key areas of the country, America will get this behavior from high level government officials forever. It’s either Blue Wave or Bye Bye integrity and morality.
15
Breathtaking!
It stretches credulity when a central "mantra" of this bizarre campaign was "Drain the Swamp". So besides the dog whistle racism, sheer incompetency and illegality, the one thought that still comes to mind (and troubles me the most) is how brazen and out in the open this grifting is - hiding in plain sight as it were. This is all reminiscent of a magician mastering slight of hand trickery - look over there while the trick unfolds over here.
When oh when will true patriots of all points of view stand and be heard? When will someone... anyone... stand in the well of the Senate, brandish a copy of our brilliant but imperfect constitution and stand firm; and not just any senator gearing up for his or her retirement. We need a voice of courage and clarity... preferably from this president's party.
12
Alas, Trump's supporters don't care about the graft and corruption, don't know about it, or don't believe that stories reporting Trump's graft and corruption are true.
In fact, Trump supporters believe that Trump is the victim of vicious plots to bring him down, with Robert Mueller cast as the the chief plotter.
12
One even said on TV that if Jesus were to run against trump, the man would have to vote for trump. Who are these Evangelical people who would vote against Jesus? I do not understand this mentality.
I am still not fully recovered from the news that Frederick Douglass is alive and well and “getting recognized more and more” and now Trump is telling me that Canada burned down the White House during the War of 1812.
The things President Trump knows that I don’t know are a source of constant amazement to me.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/06/politics/war-of-1812-donald-trump-justin-...
11
The presidency has been vacant since the 2016 inauguration, but there is a grifter living in the White House. It's no surprise to anyone who was paying attention.
11
2017 inauguration, actually. My mistake.
4
Perhaps you said 2016 because it seems as if Trump has been in office for so long now.
1
Let’s try this interpretation: Trump and his know-nothing cronies have re-installed the swamp of Washington corruption, which was held at bay during a largely scandal-free 8 years of Obama, and even most of the George W. Bush White House (notwithstanding the Iraq & Afghanistan War blunders). Trump’s contribution thus far has been to install small and small-minded people (mostly men) for whom the privilege of serving the public has morphed into either a zeal to whittle away health, financial, and regulatory protections that largely benefit the least among us or, in Pruitt’s case, simply to accrue as much personal financial benefit as possible while he’s got the keys to the EPA. The same can be said for Ryan Zinke and Betsy DeVos. Pruitt's behavior is at once small, petty, and cheap, as well as delusional and reflective of someone unable to discern norms of conduct in business or government. His attempts to reverse 40 years of environmental progress are characterized by thin and poorly argued justifications for why Americans shouldn’t enjoy clean air, water and land. I can’t wait for the next round of emails. Bravo to the Sierra Club for using a FOIA investigation advantageous to the American taxpayer, and expository of petulant and mean trolls like Scott Pruitt. Tick tock.
12
I'm sorry but the wars that killed and maimed thousands were more than just blunders.
You're also forgetting about the damage G.W. did to the environment, women's rights and our countries credibility and dignity.
2
Wyoming is not immune. In the last legislative session a committee backtracked and re-voted after lobbyists were very dissatisfied with the way things had gone.
6
Is this anything like "boys will be boys" and "crooks will be crooks"?
Time's UP. Scott Pruitt needs to be thrown out on his ear and/or prosecuted for breaking the law.
23
When I was a seasonal federal firefighter, one of our team was forced to give up his small contract business planting trees for the forest service, because of conflict of interest. We used to, therefore, naively think that these rules were stringent and one rule for all. Then came Trump, who has not one ounce of morality or ethics running through his corrupt veins.
29
Dump the Trump.
He's not my president. The toxicity he has brought to the office of the presidency is immoral at best and criminal at worse.
I have cringed since he was elected or shall I say stole the election. Yes, the election was rigged and now we know who rigged it.
23
More evidence the Trump Administration & its extended family (Manafort & Cohen etc.) are not the brightest group of people. And so their orgy of crime continues in plain sight.
17
As reprehensible as people like Pruitt and Trump are, it's even more galling to watch McConnell and Ryan and their toady minions, doing everything thing they can, to enable this administration full of thieves and incompetent fools.
34
About Pruitt and Chichens: You have to be naive to think this was about using his position to get a hard-to-get franchise for his wife.
It was about muscling the Chicken people to get a franchise for himself, in the NAME of his wife.
There's a difference, and the legality and breathtakingly unlawful attempt to pull this off contain implications going far beyond Pruitt's lame effort to hide money behind a spouse. Check out what your elected representatives' SPOUSES are doing to bring home the bacon.
23
And I'm sure he expected to be given the franchise for free.
4
The title says it all. The grifter in chief, the first grifter lady, and the entire grifter family surround themselves with, Surprise!, other grifters! Why on earth would anyone expect anything else?
21
So Mr. Trump, how's that swamp draining you promised the country working out for you so far?
Perhaps if you got rid of Scott Pruitt, you'd unplug the drain and get rid of the rest of the sewage you've appointed and thrown in that toilet you call your administration. Just a thought.
P.S. Heard anything from the Eagles, lately?
21
Thank you-- all of the news organizations such as the New
York Times in the United States that have been diligent in
their high standard of reporting. The right to free speech
is alive and well--can you say AMEN to that!! YES,as a
citizen with direct lineage to family members going back
to before the american revolution--we,I believe , are in the
midst of birthing a better America--difficulty and pain
are part of birth and waiting takes time.I am so encouraged
by my local elections --my local Democratic party candidates are calling out dishonesty here in my town of Union, N.J.--it
makes this 70 year old wife and grandmother proud and it
gives me hope.
18
Drain the swamp and replace it with a sewer. What one might expect will float to the surface. But one shudders to think what is eluding discovery.
6
You mean a super fund a la Gowanus canal circa 1980.
1
Let's hope there is a blue wave to wash away the stench of this swamp that's now in Washington. Yet, as this very newspaper pointed out, that's not nearly a certainty. One would think the bumbling Democrats have more then enough to convince the public of these protein grifters, think again. With the economy blowing a hole in unemployment, and looney Trump out doing even the craziest of dictators, this could be the new normal for years to come.
6
Pruitt is a good poster boy to represent the corrupt Trump administration. One of their more slimy ploys has been to separate the children of illegals from their parents. That has to be a terrifying experience for the children. Trump's affronts have become so routine that nobody makes much of a big fuss about such things.
10
The Republican theme is that government is corrupt and can't be trusted. And they will do anything they can to prove it..... by being corrupt and untrustworthy! Perfectly proves their point.
15
Indeed, while we are stuck with Trump and the damage (real and lack of progress towards any goal that is reasonable also being damage) at least we have amateurs in the top spots which means the 'politics as usual' isn't as craftily hidden as their predecessors.
2
I disagree with the Editorial Board's final sentence. trump knew exactly what he was going to do when he realized he was going to be President. He was going to get all he can while the "goin' is good". It seems every decision he has made since assuming office has been to enrich himself, regardless whether it was in the interest of the American people or not.
20
Trump never looks back because he doesn't want to know what is gaining on him.
4
Oh, the stories we’ll tell about this presidency for decades, if not generations to come.
9
There will be a paragraph in every history book, just like Boss Tweed.
Trump campaigned over 'draining the swamp' of past administrations. He has, by turning his administration into a sewer. Trump has so polluted the atmosphere, earth and water with people like Pruitt, Devos, Perry and the rest of his misfit legions that it will take years to recover. Trump fills the airwaves with hate speak every day. Degrading people of color, different nationality, women, countries, etc. etc. Ethics are gone and along with it common decency.
9
"...the Trump era is proving to be a master class in the many ways to abuse power — and the many ways to get busted for it."
From your pen to God's ear! Please !
10
12 fountain pens for $1600 is not outrageous and to cite this seems like nitpicking when there are so many obvious abuses. Save the picayune stuff for the late night comedians.
2
Fair enough, you pay for them with your money. I want my tax dollars going for things that really matter and help all of us.
5
Where do you buy your pens?
4
Corrupt campaigners are in fact not accountable, and therefore will act accordingly after a victory. It is increasingly clear that Trump and his minions colluded with Russia, and it is also likely that Russia hacked into the election machines in at least several states, no doubt changing the actual vote count. Even with that, Trump still lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million cast, or more than 2 percentage points. So he was in fact not elected by the voters and therefore not accountable to them. So he can do whatever he wants. That's why he appointed corrupt incompetents like Scott Pruitt and many others, and babbles about pardoning people, including himself. Who is going to stop him? Not his constituents, it appears. They don't count.
12
You forgot to mention Andrew McCabe and his negotiations for immunity.
Once he secures immunity to prevent his own imprisonment, the swamp will drain quite a bit. Imagine the tales he could tell.
I hope he doesn't like hiking.
The only problem for McCabe is that others are lining up for their immunity deals, too.
1
I'm tired of daily bulletins announcing egregious doings in the Donald J. Trump memorial cesspool. When are they going to nail these guys? As I watch other people lose their lives and careers over similar crimes, Trump and company roll along unscathed.
20
Perhaps the only real accomplishment of the Trump administration will be to have founded a new movement;
"Pardon, Me Too."
Trump has actually been using his staff, those people who we US taxpayers pay, to come up with a new list of pardonable criminals/friends instead of doing their real jobs. Rumors have it that the presiddent is about to launch a new trashy show for his followers: Celebrity Felon.
9
We have thieves, criminals and immoral characters acting out their whims in full view, so far with immunity, because they have an army of voters who would rather believe their lies as long as there is not a Black Man in charge. This is our country, and it stinks to high heaven.
23
The King has assembled a court of dunces.
7
Going after Pruitt for his shameless expenditures and despicable abuse of power is like going after Al Capone for tax evasion. The real crime is that Pruitt is completely oblivious to the fact that EPA means Environmental Protection Agency. His rulings as EPA chief will cause ecological damage to our country that may not be reversible.
However, we never talk about his horrible performance as EPA secretary because the focus is on excessive expenditures, pimping out his wife, misuse of subordinates, and on and on.
However, like Capone's career-ending incarceration for a conviction of a very minor crime compared to a murderous history, Pruitt will experience a similar path. Jail time for his horrible excesses rather his despicable rape of our planet.
11
As Pruitt lounges in a fancy new prison for life, his family will be permanently moved to special enclaves. The prison will be built in the middle of the worst untended superfund sites, & the enclaves built on top of nuclear & toxic waste dumps, with all occupants of any age force to work manually to clean the areas up. No vacations, 1500 calories a day of food grown on site, no pay, one new uniform a year. If it wears out just go naked in blizzards or heatwaves. Will serve them right. Prisoners will work the superfund site with picks & shovels, no safety gear, until (you expect me to say retirement age? Silly you.) death. Then the bodies will just be added to the site. To be tenderly cared for by current prisoners. Food also grown on site. Oh, before they start, total sterilization. WE don’t want any mutants born to them, now do we? Unless ‘The Church’ makes noises then we will help them procreate & all births will be turned over to the church who will have to pay millions to tend them for LIFE. And their children’s lives, and so on. As they will also be told to procreate. Only to be allowed on toxic waste dumbs, tended by formerly healthy nuns & priests, who will live there forever too. If you are a ‘church’ loving republican you will be encouraged to live at these sites to care for these sorry bits of humanity, caused by YOU.
1
Ben Carson, Mnuchin, and Zinke also deserve (dis)honorable mention in the list of malevolent, incompetent, Trump grifters. When the details of what happened between Trump and Russia come out, it won't be surprising to find that: (1) Russian oligarchs and mafiosi approached Trump and family in efforts orchestrated by Manafort; (2) Trump's deal with Putin was not just to steal the 2016 election but to guarantee future elections would stay manipulated; (3) Trump and family would get big pay-offs from the billions to be made in transactions - e.g., exploiting Russia's Kara Sea fields, and as rewards for weakening and breaking the Western alliance through every possible means, such as attacking NATO and launching a trade war with the EU and Canada; (4) McConnell and Ryan knew and were complicit in the flow of dirty money from Russia, cyber-warfare, and black ops on social bots and Fox News to tilt the election. But it suited them and their patrons the Mercers and Kochs and Murdoch to put a con man and pathological liar in the White House who had a talent for rousing the rabid right-wing. Now they could lower taxes for the rich and cut health care, education, and support for the poor and middle-class. As Shakespeare put it in Marc Antony's speech, "O, what a fall was there, my countrymen!/Then I, and you, and all of us fell down/Whilst ... treason flourished over us."
15
Pruitt is bulletproof because he is the best at achieving the agenda Putin has demanded through his puppet Trump. Pollute, weaken, and impoverish the USA? Check. Ostentatiously display that corruption and impunity are perks of U.S. oligarchs, inspiring disgust and demoralization among advocates of democracy? Check. Undermine the rule of law? Check. Putin's only disappointment is that the rest of the Cabinet has so far failed to match Pruitt's genius for destruction.
4
It is mind-boggling that Pruitt still has his job after his myriad scandals/shenanigans. It is also mind-boggling that forty five still has his job as well. Birds of a feather, and all that.
17
It's great to see the NY Times finally doing its duty in exposing grift. Too bad it was derelict for the eight years preceding the election of President Trump.
1
Please, older and wiser, share with the class.
9
I remember when accepting a Vicuna coat was grounds for dismissal. I wouldn't call Sherman Adams a grifter but I think he returned to coat to the gifter.
1
I'm not sure Pruitt's position was ever tenable, but it is now without any shadow of a doubt untenable.
He must go.
7
It doesn’t matter if they get busted. There are no consequences anymore.
13
When you combine Pruitt with Espy, one thing is clear--behavior considered "normal" for years in Congress is hard to change once you join an administration.
1
Unprecedented corruption, unprecedented robbing of the Treasury and taxpayers of the USA, and an unprecedented attack on the very workings of our government by the likes of Pruitt, Trump, Manafort, Kushner, and the whole gang.
The only real question is how / if our nation can survive and ever get back on-track, given all the damage to its basic institutions?
13
AFTER reading this article here is MY TAKE: the journalists who write about these abuses are VERY LUCKY that they can continue to write about them. IF they lived in more inclement parts of the world--politically and weather wise, they would be accidentally falling off their 2nd or 3rd or 5th floor balconies, they would be touching doorknobs and winding up in hospitals or worse--DEAD.
BE THANKFUL you live in America, put value to the FREEDOM OF THE PRESS and the 1st Amendment and continue to write about the DC abuses of power and perhaps one day, all the things you bring to light will effect the change we need and give the reason to our votes, both yesterday and in NOVEMBER.
7
There are zero consequences for these politicians, because they police themselves. They have grown completely shameless.
11
Who created the US government? Rich people. Who runs the US government? Rich people. Who benefits the most from the US government? Rich people. Who are the most corrupt people in the world? Rich people. If you pick up a history book once in a while, this would come as no surprise to you.
9
Grifters Gonna Grift needs to be the slogan attached to Trump and his fellow grifters in the next election cycle.
17
Rather than a swamp, it's like burglars have invaded your home. They're calmly stuffing your belongings into to sacks knowing that the police won't be coming soon, most likely not until new police, ones not in on the job, are hired. The burglars are also trashing the house, tracking oil on the carpets and scribbling racial slurs on the walls. To help hide the burglary from the neighbors, they've hung a large flag in the front window.
22
You know, Pruitt deserves all this criticism, but honestly I really don’t care if he bought some gift pens or a mattress. There is so much outrageous government waste. What I really really care about is his blatant failure to do the job he was appointed to do. Protect the environment!!
12
Every penny of government spending is somebody's income. Trump and his "Me First!" followers just want to be at the head of the line.
4
"Which is precisely what the Trump era is providing: a breathtaking, overly vivid circus of conflicts of interests, abuses of office, ethical lapses and breaches of democratic norms that has captured the public’s attention with its audacity." I would say this is not true. Based upon the reporting I am seeing by NPR and elsewhere, there is little indication, for example, that for California primary voters the issues of Russian collusion or Administration ethics violations had any traction at all.
4
I used to be appalled on a daily basis, but sadly it's become normal an I've almost grown weary and somewhat accustomed. Almost. Have we as a nation really sunk so low that this lack of standards and decency is acceptable - as long as you're winning? The people in power really do not care one wit as to the hypocrisy, conflicts of interests, and self dealing that they display on a daily basis. Even worse, the people that support them are perfectly OK with it since great things are going to happen for them, or so they've been told.
We can and must do better.
17
It sounds to me like the “business opportunity” Scott Pruitt was after was some sort of sweetheart deal. I wonder if Pruitt assumed Chick-fil-A’s history of being against gay marriage and its other institutional nods to the religious right (such as being closed Sundays) would give him an “in” with the company.
7
If this was Pruitt's only ethical lapse, you could imagine him just misunderstanding the difference between being a corporate CEO and a politician and public servant. Except for two things:
1) He wasn't a corporate CEO with no knowledge of politics -- he has served in public office before.
2) He put a soundproof phone booth installed in his office, presumably so his staff couldn't overhear the other unethical things he was doing.
So he knows enough to hide the sleazy things that he thinks he can be prosecuted for, and the little sleazy things he assumes just won't matter. Grifters gonna grift indeed.
12
We all thought DTS meant Drain The Swamp not
Donald Trump's Sewer.
Read the fine print.
6
You have to give Trump props. He may not have drained the swamp but he's certainly exposed it for all it's glory. Nothing will change during this administration but I suspect new rules and regulations will be put in place in the future.
8
If their local newspapers and TV news station supported every move he made, reported each move in the best possible light, attacked and constantly spun conspiracy theories against his competitors, told how bad things were before he got there, told how much better things became once he got there, and told how he is working for you by keeping people who want to do you harm out of the community, at the same time telling them not to believe more mainstream outlets because they are biased, these people might be willing to close their eyes to things that would normally send them off.
Paying bills, raising families, working, and generally dealing with the things that life throws at you, most people don’t have the time or bandwidth to independently verify everything they hear. Most of us have to trust our news sources to bring us the facts and filter out the noise.
It is hard to understand the other side when, although they may live next door to you, they are working within a landscape that is foreign to you.
2
Every minute that Pruitt spends on personal matters, including shopping for his necessary symbols of power, is another minute that he isn't despoiling the environment. If Trump isn't going to fire Pruitt for ethical lapses, perhaps Pruitt's inattentiveness should be encouraged. Grift may be the price we need to pay to keep for the environment to survive the Trump era.
Moreover, Pruitt's new number two, Andrew Wheeler, is far more capable of implementing the environmental carnage that Pruitt mostly blusters about. Wheeler as interim or new EPA Administrator is an environmental catastrophe on the order of Exxon Valdez. So, driving Pruitt from office for ethical lapses may not be in the long term best interests of those who like to breath clean air or drink clean water.
So, grift on Mr. Pruitt. Maybe you won't have time to finish rolling back mileage standards or to revoke California's EPA waiver.
4
This Administration needs a Condaleeza Rice to put the Pure Spin on this situation as she tried for 9/11: "Nobody could have predicted..." when in fact many, many people had done exactly that.
6
Sorry everyone, if you own the justice system, breaking the law is just a short-lived hiccup session.
3
When you "elect" a lifelong con man like Trunp, you are not going to get the Best and Brightest in the administration. You are going to get other shameless liars, thieves, hypocrites and con men. It is a law as certain as gravity.
12
President Trump vowed to "Drain the swamp" and he has succeeded in done so by hiring it.
1
You almost have to feel sorry for Scott Pruitt. How can somebody who was a state senator and attorney general, and is now EPA administrator, still be so cheap, or maybe desperate for prestige and trappings of "success," that he's willing to engage in such two-bit sleaze? I've worked in the public sector for nearly thirty years, and I know $30,000 a year clerical workers who wouldn't take a ballpoint pen home from the office supply cabinet. It's because they have self-respect and a sense of obligation to the public. Such concepts are obviously meaningless to Scott Pruitt.
23
Pruitt thinks he is owed for saving the taxpayers $ by gutting the EPA. The Environmental Protection Agency does everything it can to avoid protecting the environment for the gain of fossil fuel Companies profits and the loss of a clean and healthy world for every living thing on Earth.
I am ashamed of what our country is becoming.
We are the goats Matt. 25-32
12
Calling Pruitt a grifter is an insult to grifters, who ply their trade using intelligence, cunning and insight into human motivation, and are successful when their work is undetected. Pruitt, like his boss, is really just a shameless, clueless kleptocrat. He has been given access to the candy store and he is shoveling as much loot into his bag as he can until the cops show up.
20
Question: Base, how can you justify these criminal actions by your president and his minions? Answer: You cannot. You are being ripped off, just like everyone else in America. Wake Up. Trump doesn't give a hoot about you, either.
17
and yet his Deplorable's cheer on Trump and the antics of his fellow grifters. They continue to be fooled all of the time.
9
A case could be made that the Trump people were so unprepared and uninformed that they probably were not aware that colouting with a foreign entity during an election was a violation of federal laws. However, surely the Administration must have people in place who would know that Pruitt has consistently violated standards and laws that have been in place. His track record in Oklahoma has continued at the federal level. This man is not....and never has been...fit for public office. He has no sense of the obvious. Nor does he seem to care!
7
Now Mattress-gate? Give it a rest already. The more you keep searching for a swamp the deeper you get lost into it yourself.
1
Trashy, greedy and dirty dealing people attract others just like themselves. These people were lying down with dogs for years and when they all moved to Washington, D. C. there weren't enough fleas to go around.
12
Scott Pruitt is a cheapskate! At least with his own money. Really—who looks to buy a used hotel mattress? Who rents a room by the night, and then has to be pressured to actually pay the landlord?
Weird and creepy.
20
He wants a used mattress from a Trump hotel? SIck.
11
At least he wasn't asking for the one from the Moscow Ritz-Carlton ... the putative "golden shower" one!
4
"... another red-letter week for Draining the Swamp."
"... Paul Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, ..."
As the Times obviously knows, Manafort was never in the Trump administration, so his case is irrelevant to the Times's thesis.
2
Isn't the Times trying to make a point of the swamp that Trump originates from even before he was elected? That he has little ability to exercise discretion when it comes to character evaluation, which is really what the "swamp" term alludes to when Trump used it during his campaign?
8
Pruitt's Fried Chicken and Used Mattress Emporium will soon be set up on the National Mall. Grifters. Every last one of them.
13
What I can't get my head around, re Trump's continued high ratings with Republicans, is that (though I might like to think so) most of these people aren't idiots. If any person they knew: their brother-in-law, their cousin, the guy who ran the garage, or the hardware store, or a real estate broker in town, behaved like this they would brand him, at best, as a liar, and at worst, a crook. They certainly wouldn't lend him money, give him the keys to their house, buy a lawnmower from him, or ask him to do a property deal. They'd have too much common sense for that!
So why, oh why, do they believe these grifters should have the keys to the most important house in the country and make decisions about national and global security?
What is the collective lobotomy?
9
It's because what party you "belong" to is an integral part of your identity. To disagree with the party members can be psychologically damaging to yourself. Most people can reject this if they are aware of it.
3
Anyone that still supports Trump is ok with liars, fraudsters, criminals, and white supremacists running the government.
They call our government the enemy, and they mean it. They call taxes "theft," then cut their own taxes and raise taxes on high-tax-state workers. Then they use the money to line their own pockets. Trump says he pays no taxes because he is "smart," which means those of us that pay our taxes are not smart. In Staten Isl Trump supporter, Michael Grimm, who had to resign when he went to prison for felony tax evasion is running for his House seat again, and his signs are all over Staten Island.
The Republican Party has been completely taken over by thieves and liars. Only those that oppose Trump deserve the time of day.
Meanwhile centrist Democrats are still voting for Trump appointees and legislation. Two Republicans voted against known torturer Gina Haspel, so Democrats voted to confirm her nomination!
Those that call the government the enemy, should be the enemy of all loyal citizens. The U.S. government was created by our Constitution to implement democracy. They are against democracy because the will of the people cuts into their profits. They have declared democracy the enemy and attack the government with every tool they have.
Now they have a pathological liar and his billionaire cabinet stealing everything that's not nailed down while they attack every institution of our Republic and claim the president is above the law.
SHUT TRUMP DOWN
17
Trump turned the swamp into a cesspool -
Drain the cesspool !
And, stop wasting taxpayer money on excessive personal expenditures !
6
>> using the agency’s staff to run one’s personal errands is, of course, a breech of ethics rules
That should be BREACH, not “breech.”
6
Aaaaannnd.....the Congressional Repubs do nothing. And their constituents don't care.
VOTE.
19
The what's-in-it-for-me President surrounded himself with like-minded sycophantic minions. Thieves and liars everyone of them. Using government employees as their own private servants. Scott Pruitt is a disgusting human being. One thing is for sure. When this evangelical Christian meets his maker, the elevator he will be placed on can't be sent down far enough.
11
I'm not sure why Trump and his cabinet shenanigans are classified as news? Nothing new here, just on going incompetence and ripping off the stupid American voter and taxpayer. I suggest you try to come up things we don't already know.
1
If it comes a time when we consider these actions to be business as usual, it will be a very sad day indeed. Thank you NYT. Please continue shining a light in these dark times.
10
Good grift (apologies to Charlie Brown)! What do we expect if the president is the grifter-in-charge?
7
The party that is ‘against government’ stands to gain when they trash it.
9
Hail to the chief . . . fail as the chief . . . jail for the chief.
13
We've only seen the tip of the iceberg. When the full extent of the cynicism, corruption, and criminality of this administration is ultimately revealed, it will be breathtaking in its scope. Trump will forever be a byword in the annals of American history.
12
At what point, though, will they pull their fingers out of their ears? Denial is hard to get around.
5
Trump is "Reigning the Swamp," certainly not draining it!
9
The arrogance of these clowns is staggering. It seems they just dare you to call them on their in your face immoral and criminal activities. Thank heavens they are not very smart, too bad the voters are not either.
11
"Grifters Gonna Grift" - The plundering of America by the Trump administration.
5
Whatever Trump's intentions? Anybody who actually believed Trump will go down in history as a fool. And if that's at third of the country, so be it.
We became such a dumbed down country under Reagan all of this was inevitable. The massive immaturity of the United States at large has been revealed.
And in come the grifters. Don't think for a minute it could have turned out any other way. The country is now permanently lowered. No matter how much one wants to believe differently.
7
When the Virginia Republican congressman Tom Garrett resigned ten days ago after staffers accused him of using them as 24/7 domestic servants, he resigned and blamed his behavior on “alcoholism.”
Scott Pruitt offers no excuses for using his staffers in the same way and milking his office for personal gain. It’s just in his nature, and as natural as breathing.
Corruption for Scott Pruitt is just “grift” to the mill.
3
The term "swamp" is now wholly inadequate for the grift that keeps on grifting, in Brave New Washington. "You're going to need a bigger" metaphor.
And for Pruitt's mattress escapade, he made his bed and now must sleep in it, or better, profit from it.
3
“...a breathtaking, overly vivid circus of conflicts of interests, abuses of office, ethical lapses and breaches of democratic norms...”
Here in Chicago we call it smash-and-grab style robbery. And, like Chicago, Washington seems quite short-handed on the police force. It’s beginning to look like a full-scale daytime looting.
4
trump voters thought trump would reduce corruption and grift in DC. What. A. Laugh. And even today they support trump because they still naively believe he is working for them and America's best interests.
The brainwashing is powerful. Mighty powerful.
4
Cabinet meetings are a round table discussion of "what you got away with." High fives all around!
4
I don’t believe this behavior is anything new in Washington D.C. After all, it’s where tax dollars go to be abused.
When I worked in the Senate years ago, it was common place and expected that staff and aides would double as valets, drivers and personal gophers on both sides of of the aisle.
How about a presidential pardon for Volkswagen? This company cheated and lied to the EPA for many years, with illegal devices in their cars. Trump pardons them so Scott Pruitt can get his wife a job there.
Pruitt's use of the EPA reminds me of the old George Carlin bit where he recommended that if you got pulled over by the police, you should say, "Aren't you a public servant? Go get me a glass of water!"
In the drained swamp, it's - "Aren't you a public servant? Go get my wife a Chick-fil-A franchise!"
2
So true! But how do you explain the Democrats in New Jersey voting in yesterday's primary by 62% to 37% for that king of the grifters, Robert Menendez? Seems to me that the Progressives need to do some housecleaning themselves.
2
37% of Democrats voted against him.
If 37% of Republicans disapproved of Trump his approval numbers would be under 30% right now.
1
Draining the swamp-- right into the Oval Office.
3
Don’t lose sight of the Taxpayer funded tax cut the 1% and corporations received. They lead Trump’s pack of grifters.
6
The Trump Era is also proving to be a master class in the many ways a Republican Congress has decided to undermine America. That ain't a swamp, that's a huge sink hole.
6
In all these many depredations, let us not forget that depraved Donald Trump is mentally ill — a sociopathic narcissist with psychotic features, beautifully illustrated by his positing of a ‘spy’ that supposedly infiltrated his campaign. As with most psychotics, there is no independent external evidence for the voices they are hearing or the ‘visions’ they are seeing — just the constant ravings of a madman.
If one looks for a single descriptor that sums up the many facets of his personality disorders and mental illnesses, I would suggest we think of him as a ‘comprehensive lunatic.’
1
I figure the mattress in question was imported from Russia, and has sentimental value to the Pruitts.
2
Grifters are gonna grift especially when you're working for a life long grifter running a kleptocracy We must vote the Republicans out 2018/20 or the Union is doomed.
3
Sarcasm...just another service; love it Editorial Board, good job!
2
Unusual grifting patterns abound from this grifter: the silence box, the cheep room at the lobbyist's home, the Morocco trip, including layovers in Paris for everyone--what fun--and salary increases. That was pretty basic, for now we've got what? used mattresses from a Trump hotel, a Chick-a-lay franchise for the little woman, and now we have to wait impatiently for news later today or tomorrow or the next day to see what this latest swamp critter will do. When examined, will be found to be similar to other grifters from similar ponds, or will this be a new breeed entirely, surprisingly changed from only a short time in the very green, very slimy pond. Greasy Lake, in fact.
3
With the "leader" they have in the White House as an example, it's hard to imagine they would be anything but candidates for the quicksand of swamp. A disgusting bunch of people, not fit to do janitorial work, much less be in high echelons of government. A pox on them all.
3
Dear NYT Editorial Board:
Please publish the names of the contractors or companies given these plush, overly outrageous expensive contracts. It is completely foreign to me to see someone billing $40k for a phone booth or $1,500 for pens. Our readers and I would surely like to see where all this grift and waste is going.
9
It is said that it's impossible to prove something doesn't exist but Pruitt and the trump administration prooves that there is no just god and that karma is a hippy fantasy.
2
Can we please just dispense with "the swamp" and just start calling it what it is, Lake Trump?
But I'll bet he says Merry Christmas.
6
Donald J Chaos & Co. Fixer Wanted: You must have bare-knuckle experience in either NYC construction or "protection" rackets. Shake down... excuse me, debt collection experience also accepted. Must have history of absolute demonstrated fealty to a NYC or major US City Don. Be at phone booth on corner of K street and Pennsylvania Ave at midnight tonight.
Anyone with one moral bone in their body and half a brain who was offered a position working for the most corrupt president in our history would have declined the offer.
3
Simply get Trump and all his cronies out of office!
5
The swamp will never drain until the blockage is removed. Somebody call the honey wagon and get the septic tank pumped out.
1
Trump and his gang of kleptocrats come from the 1%, most of whom are tax-avoiding, government-hating thieves. What did we expect?
4
Republicans-do not ever criticize a Democrat for anything, ever again. (Oh but they will).
4
Trump's circle more closely resembles the Keystone Kops (Keystone Krooks) than a master's class.
4
A slight correction to the headline: "Grifters Gonna Grift."
Assuming the phrase was adapted from the song "Can't Help Lovn' Dat Man" (sung by Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Barbara Streisand, among others), the lyric in the song doesn't say "fish gonna swim, birds gonna fly, but "fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly."
What's the difference re Trump and his swamp monsters? These "best people" that Trump surrounds himself with are not mere swamp creatures that are "gonna" engage in grifting; these are swamp monsters that are driven, possessed, crazed, and addicted to grifting.
Devoid of a conscience and knowing no shame (sociopathic and/or psychopathic), they "gotta" grift.
It is an obsession with Trump, for sure, and probably the other corrupt and self-serving swamp monsters mentioned in this editorial.
This what they do, and how they spend their time: plotting and planning, lying, manipulating and taking advantage of others to serve their voracious needs and interests, and doing damage all along the way with nary a concern or care.
Jeb Bush was accused of "crony capitalism" when he was governor of Florida. We are at a much higher level now with the Trump administration, which has become a virtual franchise operation: Grifters 'R US
Take a break and enjoy Ella Fitzgerald's rendition of "fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZBAtFTaWPo
3
Trump's Washington is no longer a swamp he intended to drain, he let it morph into a cesspool that is engulfing his administrations.
3
Malignance tempered by incompetence, multiplied by corruption, amplified by uttter dishonesty and faux indignation.
Pruitt is the Poster Boy for exactly how far someone can get on pure ambition and a sycophant’s elasticity...propped up by evangelical right wingers.
Upon broken wings and blind prayer, such as they are.
3
I wonder how Pruitt has avoided the swamp-draining for so long? How does he get away with such blatant robbery of our government. I am glad I am very old........
2
The only surprising thing about Pruitt is that he was willing to purchase the mattress with his own money.
6
It continues. There's no rhyme or reason to this trump swamp. It's the pirates of trumpville we are dealing with.
What a disaster!
2
Who'd have thought that an arrogant corrupt real estate developer known for multiple bankruptcies, stiffing vendors, and not releasing his tax returns would surround himself with such disreputable people? Oh, that's right. Anyone with two working brain cells.
6
A used mattress? Very classy. Seems fitting somehow.
5
I have two mattresses in my garage that I need to get rid of. Perhaps Scott Pruitt will take them off my hands. I won't charge him a dime since I know how desperate he is for money.
4
Based on the facts in this story it doesn’t appear Trump is draining the swamp, but, rather, loading it up.
2
Calling all Swamp Critters! It's truly amazing how Trump has managed to collect so many.
At what point does the Trump administration become the first RICO administration in American history? The RICO act didn't exist in Harding's time, and Watergate and Iran Contra are not so obviously racketeering, per se. (The Reagan administration sent more people to jail than any other in American history, a combination of Iran Contra and plain old venal corruption.)
Manafort is on his way to jail, possibly for the rest of his life. The only interesting question remaining is does he squeal, who does he take down?
Pruitt on the other hand, remains uncharged, indeed remains in office.
Lewandowski's book says that Trump fired Manafort immediately after the NYT broke the story of Manafort's 12.7 M$ from the Ukraine. As Lewandowski tells it, Trump said "“I’ve got a crook running my campaign,” and wanted him fired.
Bannon argued for window-dressing and the campaign 's new line-up was Bannon with the title of campaign CEO, Kellyanne Conway as campaign manager, and Manafort was left with the title of campaign chairman.
Trump has a crook running his EPA. Rumor had it that Trump wanted to rearrange the deck chairs on the Trumptanic, getting rid of Sessions, and installing Pruitt at DOJ.
I don't think that's going to happen now, and I wonder how long it will be before Pruitt joins Bannon ... or even Manafort.
3
Government for sale: It's conveniently located in a currently mild client, believers need not pay any attention to the climate change. Each office is already lavishly accommodated, and of course you'll have an open budget personalize. Price is negotiable, but highest bid takes all.
3
Gangsters all...with no consequences. Great gig if you can get it.
3
Another day and another round of improprieties to deal with from the world of DJT. Let's go back to the origins of this, specifically the collusion, yes collusion between HRC and the two bozos running the DNC, Wasserman-Schultz and Brazile. That was as swampy as it gets, and you can thank them for your daily dose of Trump world.
You are focusing on Pruitt, the grifter, when you should be focusing on the biggest grifter of all ....his boss. the "boss" has made millions off his properties since becoming president.
4
Just when you thought this cretinous slime-ball couldn't do anything more self-servingly heinous, another ethical outrage surfaces like the Chik-fil-A insanity. And Republicans in Congress when asked what they think shrug it off and get on with their day. November 2018 can't come soon enough.
4
Ask not what you can do for your country; ask what your country can do for you.
5
Greed and power madness have infected the body politic. D.C. is the power center of the world pooling the most aggressive sociopaths in the country, which is why the founders created checks and balances. They knew there would be a swamp comprised of ambitious, conscienceless individuals with criminal minds feeding on the rest of us. This is old news. What's new is the inability of the other two branches to act because the infection has spread to elected or appointed individuals with neither courage nor morals.
3
MAGA-Make America Grift Again and again and again.
4
He’s draining the swamp for certain - right into the Oval Office!
1
Man, Oh Manafort! America waits with bated breath: Will the Grifter-In-Chief pardon Paul Manafort's series of offenses individually, or wait to collect the whole set? He ought to just issue a blanket pardon for all the co-conspirators who voted for him.
3
The swamp is being drained. The sewer it's going down just happens to run through the White House.
4
As regards to Pruitt’s search for a used mattress..do you think we can get the Russian’s to sell him the Ritz-Carleton one from the Steele dossier?
6
Grifters goin to grift. This time we do not shake it off:)
4
Are you watching this circus, you guys in the holier than thou South and Midwest? Do your own local papers carry this or do you only get the FOX POX fake news? What’s really amazing is that inspite of all the unethical behavior of this administration your Representatives in Congress are absolutely silent. What a degrading spectacle this is.
10
For me the most disgusting is Manafort’s money laundering shopping spree.
1
To paraphrase The Who: Come meet the new swamp, same as the old swamp... just more nattily furnished.
2
This article and the comments accompanying it are all published in the NT Times. The republicans in general and the Trumpistas in particular regard anything in the Times as false news designed to undermine the mission of the Dear Leader, (I do not refer here to KJU of N. Korea, he has his own personality cult) I often wonder if the Trumpistas will ever realize that they've been fooled, what would it take from the Dear Leader to make them understand that they've been had, if they ever come to the realization they've been fooled then what will they do? Then again, if you've believed the Big Lie, then you must always defend that Big Lie, to do less would be unacceptable to the the ego.
4
Master class in Disgusting and Devious Behavior Sanctioned by "Election" Results is in session!
2
Pruitt is the #2 Grifter, behind thr Grifter In Chief. One thing Trump has made abundently clear - in Trump’s administration, nobody trumps Trump!
5
“Ask not what you can do for your country, ask what your country can do for you.”
A contemporary revision on an antiquated notion of service above oneself, brought to you by Donald Trump & Co.
2
Honestly these guys are taking their tips from Putin and pals in the early 2000’s it’s been the same playbook
4
Sarcasm here is normalizing contempt there. Put a stop to it.
1
Please... breach not breech. Unless you are talking about Manafort’s pants.
3
Trump and his pack of scoundrels - taking US for all we're worth.
3
The first rule of the Trump Crime Family : Nothing matters, unless indicted. Then, zip your Lips, and wait for the faux-gold plated pardon. This is entirely the fault of His Collaborators, the Vichy Republicans. Want it to stop ??? Vote in the Midterms. Vote them OUT. ALL of them. It's the only way to stop this ongoing disaster. Seriously.
8
It's the "Prosperity Gospel" financed by you THE AMERICAN TAXPAYER. Praise the lord.
3
And these grifters are true believers and have their god on their side and have a holy book that will explain to them who to love and hate. And they are happy with all the money and favors as they have god on they’re side and it’s his blessing to them because shucks they deserve it. And so far we have let these grifters get away with our money and many of us actually believe they can walk on the swamp.
1
Pruitt and his like are protected from arrest while Mexican workers are taken out of their low-paying jobs in handcuffs and separated from their children. Sickening.
2
Since our school days, we knew right from wrong. I am amazed this administration's headhunters in the personnel office fail to begin an interview with a potential hire with the Grandmother Rule: "Is there anything in your past which, if revealed in detail, would embarrass and disappoint your grandmother?"
Then again, their hand is often forced by a executive diktat from Mr. Trump such as a suggestion his personal pilot would be a good choice for FAA administrator or Scott Pruitt would be good for the EPA because he sued it multiple times as Oklahoma AG. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/as-trump-puts-l...
A fish rots from the head.
4
I ponder the use of the term "swamp". A swamp is a highly diverse and essential ecosystem. Draining that swamp implies the destruction of same, probably for something less diverse and essential.
The Trump Administration is not a swamp that needs draining. It is a cesspool for which the definition "an underground container for the temporary storage of liquid waste and sewage....a disgusting or corrupt place" is perfectly applied.
2
How long do we have to put up with Mr. Pruitt's antics? If he was a Dem, the GOP would be demanding his dismissal, pronto. This is highly frustrating and an outrage.
2
Really, what did you expect? Trump had no governmental experience coming into office and little support from the so-called "establishment" Republicans.
This is what happens with populist candidates who spend their whole time running against the "elite", i.e. people who know what they are doing.
The response to this from so-called populists is that things are a mess. Really? I prefer to think that the US is the greatest country in the world - the world's strongest military and economic power with a high premium on individual liberties.
If the country is good it's because of the elites the alleged populists hate so much. When you put people in office who are incompetent (or who believe such ludicrous things that they can't be taken seriously) don't be surprised if you get an administration full of charlatans and thieves.
2
Seems to me the swamp has been replenished.
2
Red letter weeks have become fuscia. My country is unrecognizable.
5
By refusing to declare, disclose and divest his assets and interests into a blind -trust Donald John Trump, Sr. has become the Grifter-in-Chief. That is why Trump is hiding his personal and family income tax returns and business records from the American people.
Along with tropical rain forests and coral reefs, swamps are among the most diverse and productive ecosystems on Earth. Draining a swamp is the absolute worse damaging thing that can be done. Which is why they have used such a deceptive ignorant metaphor.
4
Used mattress? I'm not sure what Pruitt's interests (ahem!) are, but that's kinda gross, is it not?
Where I live, no charity will accept a used mattress and I'm not even sure you can sell one, even if George Washington slept on it.
We're talking bedbugs and all sorts of cooties.
Ick.
1
For how long a period of time can they lock up Scott Pruitt?
He is one of the poster boys for the Trump administration's lack of any sense of proportion or ethics, and for being a two-bit grifter and chiseler. He is a self-important little man, who always finds others to blame for his misdeeds.
Donald Trump definitely has him beat on many counts. When Trump does it, he is so far over the top that the term grifter is insufficient to do his misdeeds justice. Trump is a bald-faced liar, a crook, and a Russia-loving traitor who has no regard for the rule of law. Trump is a would-be dictator.
The list of lawbreakers in the present administration is too long to catalog here. The challenge is to find an honorable and honest person in the entire bunch. My guess is the one Cabinet officer who qualifies as such is James Mattis.
3
The nefarious individuals King Trump put into place don't just feel that they are above the law -- they believe they are above all of us.
1
I am impressed that the EPA director is recycling ... used mattresses.
5
Everyday it is something new with this bunch. The problem, the rubes don't care. Trump is their boy, so anyone or anything attached to him is ok. But these are some odious creatures. Pruitt might be the slimiest of the bunch. And he makes his moves without a second thought of how it looks or effects the country at large. Will it change? Nope, Repubs will still control the House and the Senate as we roll to 2018. Trump will be re-elected and it will be four more years of the same grift and graft.
2
Donald Trump and his merry band of thieves and miscreants continue to reek havoc on the country, it's institutions and it's citizens.
All the while, Congress refuses to act, and the country, inexorably, day by day inches closer and closer to being a third rate country being run by thugs and a delusional and unhinged man that thinks himself a King, not a President.
Perhaps the time has come, that we, the people, heed the call to save the Republic from decline and destruction. Time is growing short.
4
The pattern is clearly established: brash flaunting, should be embarrassment, would be humiliation, defiance, national disgrace. Over, and over.
2
[Copy editor: breach of ethics, not breech]
Ethics and morals are too vague for the modern world. We need Congress to make laws that are crystal clear as to what is illegal. And we need to include in the law exact, immediate steps that can be taken to promptly oust such lawbreakers.
Obviously the current Congress won't pass such laws. I wonder who we should give the majority to this November?
VOTE!
4
Pruitt behaves badly with impunity. Baffling how few saw this coming and more baffling how trump's base and the GOP continue to support this criminal regime. Everything he said he was going to do he has done just the opposite. He brought the suckers in and now we are all paying for it, and the damage may take generations to repair. It was clear from the beginning he was a liar with no ethics, a notorious chiseler and worst didn't feel the need to brush up on the most basics of governing. Most disturbing are those who still defend him and absolutely refuse to see his actions as criminal. Or unfathomable those who refuse to recognize or appreciate Obama's contributions that left this successor sitting pretty. Most awful are those donning hip boots and slogging through the mire holding their noses. With Pruitt at EPA the swamp may no longer just be metaphorical.
2
Honest historians will look back on this sham presidency as a multiple compound-fracture of the American moral and legal solar plexis.
More astonishing revelations are before us. Believe it. See it.
All for your own honest pleasure.
4
iIt's like a oghlicarcs fire sale.
Everything the public owns is now for sale for pennies on the dollar.
1
Pruitt is a thoroughbred when it comes to corruption: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/scott-pruitt-scandals_us_5b16ef35e4... ("EPA Chief Scott Pruitt Has Racked Up At Least 10 New Scandals In Just The Past Month," 5 May 2018).
One can find varied lists of the most corrupt administrations in US history and the current cadre is right up there.
1
The Trump squads ability to out Teapot the Teapot dome scandal earns plaudits for self dealings. The leaderboard may show Pruitt on top however a little digging should produce results in every corner.
The Spoils System as employed by the President grafts his family $ friends as suckers on unsuspecting entities. The enrichment,royal prerogatives with dished out sinecures a sign of the times.
Grab as much as you can as fast as possible? Picture the Trump team lined up on Coney Island at Nathan’s Hot Dog eating competition. Gluttony was one of the seven deadly sins, in Trumpland, a virtue.
2
Thankfully we all know the Clinton Money Machine is clean, acquired $500mm totally clean. Five Hundred million dollars from zero. Fascinating.
The swamp is inhabited by democrats as well as republicans, and we must be wary of big government and its corruption temptations.
He said he would drain the swamp. He did not say what he would fill it back up with. Now we know.
2
This is not my idea of a swamp. A swamp is something that exists in nature, without human intervention.
This is a nuclear waste dump site. Man made from the beginning, and out of control.
3
Is it just me, or does the prospect of buying a used mattress from a hotel seem "disgusting" and a used Trump site mattress especially "Icky"?
7
Are they all above the law? Is there no justice, no accountability?
What has this country become? A Tin cup Dictatorship?
God Help America!
5
indeed, grifters will grift, and let's not ever weary of tracking them down, but for NYT to find them only on trump's watch is past disingenuous, continuing its complicity in the division (aka subversion) of the "umum."
and, btw, grifting is petty theft compared to the threats to national security and our constitutional guarantees posed by the mishandling of classified information and erosion of trust
in government institutions charged legislation, investigation and enforcement (not to mention a press gone from its fourth estate houses to the landfill of advocacy flack).
too bad, as we pass the 50th commemoration of robert kennedy's assassination, NYT couldn't manage an editorial page replay of his call for unity after the king assassination and its variations during his campaign for the presidency.
1
It is absolutely amazing how this president has dragged the whole country in nothing but scandals , cheating, destruction of health care , cruelty at the borders involving children, I surprised myself reading in respected newspapers such NYT or Washington post, for almost two years we are fed gossips, sex scandal, Ivanka getting patents from China , Jared getting loan from not so friendly characters, the destruction of Nafta, Iran deal, NATO, we are upsetting are friends and partners in Canada & Mexico , what this president actually do for the progress of humanity and this country in particular ? He is so busy destroying the progress of the past president that there is not enough time in a day to come up with ideas , again , we are caught in the melodrama that we cannot even see clearly anymore, he send the press chasing bad and false ideas ,that even Chis Mattew is getting dizzy, please we need help here , someone has to jump in with a voice of reason.
3
All this comes from the Grifter in Chief whose hotels and other venues reap huge benefits from his being the Grifter in Chief. And of course his daughter Ivanka who got another 7 trademarks in China and only then did the Grifter change US policy towards ZTE, a very large Chinese phone marker. Our country is run like a mob clan. There are sideshows, Pruitt et al. being one of them. The Grifter really doesn't care at all about anything else than grift, than getting more money (and of course applause).
The Grifter's recent impugning of the Eagles' patriotism when he fakes singing America the Beautiful shows where we are at. He is nasty, cruel and quite stupid. Not really the best combination of traits to lead a large (or even small) country.
8
The first 500 days and they most corrupt regime in American history. What is worse is that it is corrupt and traitorous and cruel.
We are now rippiing children from their parents and holding them in cages on Trump's say so alone and the UN sees us as a human rights violator. This "president" has declared himself to be above the law with rights no other citizen possesses. Will be have camps to hold those that Trump doesn't like in a year from now. This president does not hold press conferences but Mr. Putin says he speaks to Trump regularly on the phone for advice.
What do the congressional Republicans say about all this? What is the sound of silence? It sounds like a fascist over through of our government by domestic enemies aided by a hostile foreign power who has bought our president. Both are grifters.
3
I'm not sure that "hapless characters" is the correct terminology for those drawn to Trump. Those who engage in sordid, unethical, and/or criminal behavior can hardly be called "unfortunate" characters.
Maybe it's "birds of a feather flocking together", but that impels me to apologize to birds which don't deserve such tarnish.
Far too many things, in Trump and his administration, carries the stench of something corrupt, rotten and decaying... like something that draws flies.
1
Pruitt attempting to get one of his aides to buy him a used mattress from Trump International Hotel is the first and only instance of him being environmentally friendly.
4
Where are the checks and balances on this runaway train of an administration? Your highly polarized, party before governing, two-party system isn't working. Time for a change America. And thinking that replacing the GOP rats with the DEM dogs isn't going to fix it.
3
If only this Editorial came from The Onion.
2
Shine the light on these shameless abusers of power. Get out the vote!
2
Pruitt is the most corrupt member of the most corrupt administration in American history. Dotard must be proud. He should hang a huge "For Sale" sign on the White House or, better yet, spray paint the words on his great big beautiful wall.
2
We’ve traded the swamp for a sewer. Whatever you do —don’t vote for a Republican. I’ll take a Democratic swamp over the Republican sewer any day
3
What is EXTRAORDINARY is the fact that Republican Party membership, including leadership, simply doesn’t hold itself responsible to the electorate. They are willing to humiliate themselves as long as their donors continue to pay them.
Sheldon Whitehorse was correct when he said the high wealth interests have invaded the party like the aliens in Men In Black — big financial interests wearing the skin of the Republican Party.
Total corruption.
And Sarah Sanders has made history as the oiliest liar in the White House press office ever.
She is almost ten percent as shameless as Betsy Davoss
1
Yes indeed, the grifter in chief opened the door to every low life grifter in the US and then some. Time to rid ourselves of all o f these low life.
2
With this president and his administration all I can say is:
I am ashamed to be a white person,
I am ashamed to be an American,
I am ashamed to be a human being.
4
Hookers hook, taking suckers wherever they find them, whether in swanky digs owned by pimps or alleys rained on behind dark taverns. Never though have I overheard a hooker try to buy a used mattress from a hotel. Was this hotel in DC or Moscow? Is it an infamous Russian mattress Mr Pruitt hopes to peddle on EBay? Trump understands perfectly since it’s how he has done dirty and failed business for four decades.
2
Why would someone want a filthy used mattress from the "trump" hotel?
1
Grift? How about Grand Larceny?
2
Yep and they all report/reported to the biggest grifter of them all. His entire life Donald J. Trump has lied, cheated, misled, and pushed his way to the top. Why wouldn't he pick a pack of liars, cheats, and traitors for his cabinet and other roles? It stands to reason that he'd see them as smart for their crimes.
2
HE STILL HAS A JOB?!? Before we even get to his open grifting, I'd like to know why Pruitt was home napping in the afternoon and how he slept through firefighters breaking down his front door. And why didn't his staff know his whereabouts? Then I'd like to know how this grifter gets a pass. Trumpworld.
2
When you drain the swamp you lose the gators and pythons, and cut down on the mosquitoes, too. But moving all that surface water out, exposes all the moldering decomposition below.
Don't drain the swamp if you aren't ready to find the corpses of moat monsters and various inconvenient truths, bloated and gross, surface to stink up the place.
Trump, campaigning, made overt racism and overt jingoism OK again. Neo Nazis marched, we became OK with terrible treatment of migrating families, we faced the outrages that spurred Black Lives Matter and football protests with contempt for the victims.
Trump's Administration is doing for corruption and graft what they did for nationalism and racism, making it central and generally acceptable. The swamp contains the other guys' crooks. Our crooks are OK.
We don't have to accept it, but for so many, the corruption is excusable as long as we can continue the discrimination and hatefulness. Fair trade-off, and as icing, it really irks Liberals who deserve irking. So what if it destroys trust, destroys the idea that those in Washington have some semblance of probity, honor and national service? At least we got a tax cut.
2
Pruitt might want to weasel himself a Chick-Fil-A franchise. I can see him working the drive-through lane. "Hey, Scott, can I get your Swamp Sandwich Special You got that in a foot long?"
2
Chik-A-Fil, keeping it classy eh' Pruitt?
7
Rather than draining the swamp, Trump and his trumpets have turned it into a sewer.
3
Pruitt is the largest bottom-feeder in the swamp that ever existed. Oh way, the biglyest one is trump.
3
Thanks for the reminder in the penultimate paragraph. I had forgotten Price, McEntee and Porter - it fittingly sounds like a dubious law firm.
1
Once again we are reminded that we have a lawless, reckless, tragically unprepared and dangerously unprincipled ‘fake’ president who is an unabashed leech and an unrepentant liar.
Nothing about his time in office has been normal and nothing about him has changed. He is grossly incompetent and proves it daily. He is using the office to enrich himself and his spawn, and proves it daily.
3
My wife's domineering, cruel, manipulative and dishonest boss of bosses was a psychopath who went to prison.
Almost certainly she would have been acquitted by a jury of the initial charges of defrauding the Commonwealth because the charges were complex, technical and far too difficult for a typical Cairns jury to understand.
If they hadn't fallen asleep by the end of the trial, which juries up here have been prone to do, then they would not have convicted because they would not have understood.
No, the reason she ended up in the clink for six months was for trying to tamper with two witnesses. She had such a high and mighty opinion of herself, she was so used to pushing the little people around, she couldn't stop herself from doing everything she could to determine the outcome of her trial.
Complex fraud cases are difficult to understand for the average Joe or Jill. Witness tampering is not.
6
Ask not what you can do for your country but what can your country do for you.
1
Birds of a feather flock together.
With all the con-artist, shilling, and grifter talent in Emperor Trump's administration they could do a fabulously castes re-make of the film "Glengarry Glen Ross", with the Trumpster Dumpster, of course, playing Alex Baldwin's role of the arrogantly motivating boss.
"First prize --- a Cadilac convertible.
Second prize --- a set of steak knives.
Third prize --- you're FIRED!"
Emperor Trump would already know his lines.
2
I'm still trying to figure out whether it's the case that Trump has an affinity for amoral grifter types and selects them for key roles in his political and business dealings. Or, do otherwise normal people with regular moral scruples just automatically become scheming swamp-dwellers by becoming associated with Trump?
1
The cure for rot at the top is of course to investigate and prosecute the malefactors. But that can become a bad habit in a democracy. Prosecutors are not always saints, and elected representatives are not always sinners.
More proof that republicans and Trump voters don't actually care about "the swamp" or spending, or anything else they claim to hold dear.
Let’s not take them down one at a time, but in one grand act of justice, all of them at once.
It was clear from the start that draining the swamp had anything to do with the classic Mr. Smith Goes to Washington reform of corruption and self-serving. All it meant was Obama or Democratic appointees.
Trump may have found Washington a swamp, but he's definitely leaving it a Superfund Site.
.....used mattress ???
In corporate America, Mr. Pruitt's actions would not raise an eyebrow. This is why you don't want to run the Government like a business...
1
Greed Over People (Socrates)
Grifters Gonna Grift(Son of Liberty)
Let's pick a label and attach it to the forehead of all of GOP & Trumpies.
We have to apply same medicine to them, what Trump is giving to others. Our will be correct one and based on fact though.
3
P2
I agree in that we could really use someone who has a gift of sarcastic responses.
Wishing I had the talent, some timely street theater would be great. For example, the other day Giuliani declared Trump being above the law via self-pardoning.
If only a horse drawn carriage had come up Pennsylvania Ave, pulling into the White House with a fully costumed Louis XIV and perhaps a Marie Antionette emerging, he saying “L’etat cest moi” she, with cake in hand offerings morsells to a supplicant, suitably costumed rabble.
Of course, we’d have a Madame Defarge sitting by the side, knitting needles in hand.
i'm sorry but i just can't get past buying a used hotel mattress
9
Brings a smile to my face to imagine that Scott Pruitt, after a life of grifting and abuse of authority the likes of which we can only imagine (given his stellar performance in his biggest starring role to date), still has cash flow problems. As for Mrs. Pruitt, how 'bout finding a job and working? It's an American and immigrant tradition.
At the same time as enabling Pruitt's corrupt antics the Trump administration has, with far more lasting and harmful repercussions and in its zeal to satisfy its rabidly xenophobic base viciously separated from their parents something like two thousand children (and counting) ranging from infants to twelve year olds; a number so large and totally unplanned for that these vulnerable children are being temporarily housed in 'cold boxes' together with unrelated adults also in the grip of the criminal justice system. Besides no proper bathrooms these 'cold boxes' reportedly have neither beds nor bedding. Please readers, give more than a passing thought to these children and to this crime against humanity AG Sessions is so openly committing and happily defending in the name of America and her people.
Unabashed arrogance generally defines many in Trump's world
1
It occurs to me, this is what Trump meant when he said his line about 'shooting someone on 5th Ave and his base not caring.'
His base doesn't seem to care about the graft, corruption, the lies, the utter contempt for the law, or about him actually helping their lives... as long as he is 'sticking it to the arrogant intellectual left.'
Can you imagine the tornado of outrage if an Obama cabinet did even one of the things Pruitt has done?
3
I appreciate the NYT for calling these swamp dwelling members of the Trump cabal as what they are, grifters. Trump and all the people who are required to kiss his ring hide behind titles which give them an air of respectability. It is part of the misdirection that this administration uses to direct us away from their corruption.
Magicians use misdirection to do their tricks, but none of us think that it is any more than a trick. Trump and his cronies try to tell that misdirection and flim flam flummery is the truth while picking our pockets.
3
Abraham Lincoln asked Thaddeus Stevens about the honesty of Simon Cameron whom Lincoln appointed his first Secretary of War. Stevens is supposed to have said that Cameron “would probably not steal a red hot stove”.
And then we have Scott Pruit...
2
Corruption, Graft, Self dealing, and self-enrichment, under Trump administration and the Trump family businesses, you couldn't make this up.
I guess it makes sense that he spends much, much, more time at Mar-a-Lago, golfing than he does at the Whitehouse actually working.
40% of the country will not listen to facts. The Gifter in Chief and his Administration has a culture/cult following. They will never admit they made a mistake. Keep the pressure up so the King of Queens either resigns to save his brand(cult following)or is impeached.
1
Absent the will of an informed electorate, none of these egregious abuses that we see at the Cabinet level of the 45th president will stop. The average voter is so busy in the electronic weeds, drooling and gurgling over the latest post on one's social media, that this administration correctly surmised it could whatever it wanted, and get away with it. No danger of any reaction from those whose brains are already dumbed by their puerile obsessions online...
3
Trump's swamp is a bottomless vortex. Meanwhile the GOP watches as if mesmerized, though some shake their heads, a few even squeaking out meaningful expressions, but mostly just standing and staring.
2
I imagine Tom Price is wondering how Pruitt is getting away with it. Nah. he's likely saying "More power to him". It never ceases to amaze me how much of this stuff is absolutely acceptable to the base. And they rationalize it as "they all do it". No effort to even try and get ethical compliance. When you have absolutely no line in the sand..... These folks would support Larry Nassar as Surgeon General and not think twice about it.
1
And this is just the slime floating on the surface. Imagine what's lurking in the oozy depths.
2
Same swamp different fish...
It amazes me what has been unleashed upon the American people....a lying, cheating, self absorbed grifter and his band of merry marauders! Make America great again!
Trump’s cabinet and Trump himself are on a spending frenzy on the backs of the poor and middle class. Shame on all greedy government shopaholics. You all will pay up very soon!
1
The whole country needsto take the knee
Until trump is gone.
In our family, we refer to the act of following the news about the latest administration scandal (or reprehensible policy initiative) as "Trumpster diving." Although it is necessary to pay attention and resist these incredible developments, at the end of the (daily) process you feel soiled by all of this garbage and in need of a shower or a drink, if not both. Not only that, the behavior is so brazen that it takes your breath away. This is so-o-o-o-o not normal, but at the same time, given the character of the man at the top, it is so-o-o-o-o not surprising. Trump talked about draining the swamp. This is more of a sewer.
4
Drain the swamp? Trump, et al., is the swamp.
Don’t have a mattress to sell but I do have some used but fairly clean undies in my rag bag. Too far gone to give to Goodwill. What’s your best offer, Scott?
1
Trump certainly appears to have fallen well short of “hiring only the best people.” Or, perhaps we simply misunderstood what he meant those hires would be “best” at......world class grifters, cut from his own crooked cloth? And as for “draining the swamp” I suppose he never actually promised to get rid of the creatures inhabiting said swamp. Let’s give the poor man the benefit of the doubt.....sure.
1
The quesrion is, are the worst offenders going to get busted?
1
Pruitt using his government position and tax payer paid help to get his wife a franchise with Chick-Fil-A. Do we really need to worry about contaminated food in addition to contaminated air and water? They can't even pass a legitimate security or ethics clearance, let alone a Chick-Fil-A application.
Imagine the abuses going on that we do not know of because we are so focused on the worst - but there are so many in the worst category!
Not all the journalists, FBI agents, law enforcement agents in the world have the time and resources to investigate and prosecute all the shenanigans in this one administration. That's what trumplicans are counting on.
Scrutiny? By whom? Everybody is already too busy with the big fish and top predators playing hide-'n-seek, misleading, lying and making false accusations against the press, law enforcement and everyone else.
Incredible, it was the Sierra Club that uncovered the Pruitt-Chick-Fil-A outrage! In the current environment it will take ALL of America's citizens to scrutinize and keep this administration in check and as accountable as possible.
What trump always meant by draining the swamp was replacing it with his toxic swamp.
5
After buying high end"stuff", he wants a used mattress? You can't make this stuff up. Every day is an adventure as to what incredible new action of this administration will be uncovered. It should not be a surprise that Trump's cabinet members are rich, weird, or just plain stupid. As a narcissist, Trump has chosen people that reflect his image, that will genuflect upon request, and will become the swamp. What makes Pruitt's latest gaff even news is that he wants a "used " mattress, otherwise it is business as usual.
1
Since Trump aspires to becoming an Emperor of sorts, let's lavish him with various new majestic titles. How about CON-MAN-IN-CHIEF.
3
And at the White House today....the police arrested a 29 yr old man working for the National Security Counsel. I hope law enforcement officers relieved him of his White House pass (it's been confirmed he had one) as they executed his outstanding warrant for attempted murder.
Yes, only the best working in this White House.
7
I can see a strange pattern emerging here – Pruitt appears to be channeling Maxwell Smart, the bumbling spy of Get Smart fame, who regularly used a soundproof phone booth and possessed a fountain pen with an inbuilt listening device. Is this a sign of Pruitt’s growing paranoia or is he moonlighting as a Russian spy?
5
pruitt may end up being the first swamp monster to face federal charges. Unless sessions does what the Dear Leader wants and obstructs justice instead of obeying his oath to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the United States.
Pruitt has repeatedly and openly broken federal law. When is he getting charged?
3
Birds of a feather flock together-Literal translation from Plato's Republic
2
I foolishly believed that after this country elected a Nixon/Agnew we would not be stupid enough to elect another pair of criminals. I guess we never learn. Trump appeals to people who can't see through his lies. Did he really say he would "drain the swamp"? From my vantage point he seems to be filling it.
3
What is the problem with US citizens who support these criminals - I fear they are the largest problem. The blinders are incredible. The lack of education, reason, any international and historic perspective or knowledge, the willingness to plunge the USA into a horrific suicide. Its much worse than Germany in the 1930´s as with the great depression and the Versailles reparations there was ample reason for upheaval there. Sorry, but changing employment rates due to globalisation and automation do not measure up as reason to go for a fascist gang of crooks.
4
Swamps are wonderful ecosystems teaming with life both plant and animal.
"Draining" them is a metaphor for destroying everything good in this nation of ours. For "draining a swamp" would do just that. We have been fooled by that Potus in the White House. But then again may he just doesn't know what he is talking about...that is nothing new with him.
4
Yes, but where are the Republican leaders (McConnell, Ryan et al.)? Their enabling by inaction is frankly disgusting.
4
"Busted"? Looks the opposite to me. Price went home, where he should have gone to jail (even before his cabinet position, for using his Congressional seat for insider trading). Eagle Scout Zinke is still sitting pretty. Add to that the various loonies & extremists on the roster. & top it all off with Trump & family, the most corrupt gang ever to stink up the halls of the White House.
4
What was once a swamp is now an ocean, complete with our political dinosaurs (Mitch et al) devouring millions of taxpayers’s money in plain site.
2
The swamp has indeed been drained...and repopulated with new and slimier swamp creatures.
1
I don't know what made me laugh louder, Pruitt buying a used hotel mattress or trying to get his wife a Chick-fil-A franchise. Yes, he's a grifter but also a cheapskate and one who seems to be remarkably inept at hiding his self-dealing in the sewer of corruption created by Trump's "best people."
6
Ok, I know that among all of the things this serial abuser of power is doing attempting to buy a used mattress is pretty small. But why would anyone want to buy a used mattress!? This reeks of some sick fetish. It's bad enough that our country's in the hands of crooks. Now we find out that they may be perverts too. MAGA- turning the swamp into a sewer.
How to Drain A Swamp — The Quick & Easy Way!
Fill your swamp with so many swamp creatures, there's no room left for the swamp water!
1
Trump will pull the chain of this infantile nation until he flushes it or it flushes him.
2
Didn't everyone else know that when the Clown and his circus team say they want to drain the swamp, they want to drain it into their wallets!
3
Is there anyone in the whole Trump entourage who isn't pre-tested for corruptibility by Trump himself?
2
I bet ya Pruitt never recycles !
2
Pruitt has all the class of a dung beetle, but then he is a Trump appointee so what else is new ?
5
Greed, lust for money and power all at the expense of the tax payers. Pruitt does not have a conscious if he does it’s buried in the swamp. Pruitt has the immoral and contentious audacity to destroy decades of environmental regulation while enriching himself and his constituents making sacrificial lambs of the tax payers and the environment. He is bad news all around and it amazes me that there is not more outrage against this money sucking parasite. This is the reality of Trump’s ‘making America great again’.
And in the meantime, Congress sis on their useless rear ends and does absolutely nothing about this sorry situation called the Trump Administration.
Congress doing the people's work? If it wasn't so pathetic, it would be funny.
The Trump cesspool is running over.
2
Given his mission is to dismantle the EPA, maybe the personal diversions aren't such a bad thing. But see how much the bar on ethics has been lowered for this administration?
3
A so-called "swamp," in nature, is actually a wetlands that is an essential part of the ecosystem. But wetlands are vulnerable to invasive species. And what we have now, with Trump, is the political incarnation of "Swamp Thing."
5
Misspelled "breach" as "breech" twice. Or perhaps the point is that the undrained swamp is rising up to our breeches?
78
The only "good" that might come is public revulsion and a demand for reform. A long shot. And in the meantime this aspiring oligarch continues to attack the very agency he controls.
But If the reform does not include campaign finance reform, we will only have the wealthy and those who are able to hustle up enormous amounts of campaign donations - for which there is always some price - become our "leaders."
14
It all seems to come down to whose gravy-train they ride.
2
Among his other stellar qualities, Pruitt exhibits profound cheapness in seeking to buy a used hotel mattress - even if it is a beautiful, fantastic, winning one from a Drumpf hotel. Isn't he grifting enough to afford a new one?
35
Buying a used mattress indicates thriftiness,which in some circles is a attribute.
2
No, buying a used mattress indicates weirdness. Specifying that it must come from Trump's Hotel indicates something even more weird going on in Pruitt's brain. Maybe something like 'all payoffs are good, even the trivial ones'?
However, what's at issue is not Pruitt's personal financial habits, but whether he is using government resources to support his personal lifestyle. Millan Hupp is paid $114,000/year, or about $57/hour; with benefits and employee tax contributions, that comes to about $100/hour. Every hour that she does personal work for Pruitt is equivalent to a $100 theft from your tax contributions.
Many Americans would be overjoyed to have a free personal assistant paid for with taxpayer dollars. Unfortunately, it's not legal. Hupp was hired as a Federal Government employee. She's supposed to work fulltime on EPA work. If there isn't enough work to keep her busy, she should be discharged and taxpayers can save her $114,000 salary next year.
6
No. It indicates grossness. Even charities will NOT accept used mattresses. For GOOD reasons.
1
Clearly, Mr. Pruitt is a thrifty man -- when his own money is involved.
Otherwise, when spending our money, he seems not to be so thrifty.
1
Scott Pruitt’s corrupt behavior and violations of law have been documented for months. Speculation was in news in late April that his days were numbered yet he is still slurping in the swamp. Much has been written about him being in the grip of the Koch brothers. Is that what’s keeping him in office? Does HE have to shoot someone before he resigns? Where’s the outrage, the pressure to get this grifter out?
15
Scott Pruitt is a poster boy of trump, himself, the Grifter in Chief. That is precisely why he remains.
1
My sentiments exactly. Why is this shameless grifter still in office? He has been busted over and over again and still no consequences. Still getting away with. I have been wondering if he has something on Trump. Why does he still keep him on?
2
The focus needs to be not on Pruitt the grifter, but on Pruitt the polluter. The pens are a distraction to the real damage he is doing "in victories for industry" by giving us and our kids dirty air and water.
62
Sorry to say but this is exactly what I expected. To a person this is an administration of personal entitlement (much in the image of Trump himself). That they are so willing to throw the poor and refugees under the bus again and again is not surprising. And their total lack of humility is most telling. These grifters never tired of "winning" especially when it is our expense.
6
What disturbs and frightens me most about the Republican depravity of morality is how Widespread it Is!
As I have suffered hour by hour with all this, I keep coming back to my grave suspicion now that this behavior is the new norm for
America.
When we threw out the baby with the bath water in the 1960s we got rid of most of the fabric that made our Republic the true leader of the world.
9
No it is the new norm for Trump supporters, who are working tirelessly to make it the new norm for America.
That is why we must oppose Trump with every fiber of our being.
NO COMPROMISE
SHUT TRUMP DOWN!
This is but the tip of the iceberg err swamp. The mess has spread with the outsize influence of special industry interests in the legislation proposed and regulations enforced since Trump took office.
7
The advantage (if you can call it that) which Pruitt has derives from the obvious fact that his immorality and greed mirrors those of Trump. They are two peas of a pod and so neither can really complain about the other without tarnishing (... too late) themselves. They will survive or fail together.
6
The dozen fountain pens takes the cake for me.
A fine pen is an item of personal style which an adult man buys for himself.
You only buy one and carry it with you in your suit jacket interior breast pocket. You care for it lovingly because fine pens are beautiful objects, and costly.
You don't prearrange to lose expensive fountain pens by buying a dozen.
What horrible manners in this administration.
32
So what are you saying? That he should of bought one pen for $1560, instead of 12?
A gentleman buys his own fountain pen.
Pruitt is truly remaking the EPA, now it stands for Expensive Pricey Always.
On top of that he's going to leave the planet ruined for generations to come.
Think about this in the coming midterms.
10
It's shameless, with no end in sight.
We awaken to another day where we'll hear that this president lies so often he can't be questioned on probable criminal acts where a foreign country hacked U.S. elections.
The nation marks 74 years ago today the U.S. and allies liberated an occupied Western Europe. But the president marks the day with familiar slanders, complaints, accusations & diversions to distract/divide us.
A man who cannot speak in cogent sentences. Who maligns a free press, speech and right of association. And spends days reminding us he can pardon himself. Having induced a foreign power for political gain and now obstructing justice.
9
Anyone who has lived in Connecticut, as I did for the first sixty years of my life, knows that the name of Manafort has long been associated with corruption and criminal activity.We also knew exactly what was up with Enron, enabled by the same accounting firm that masterminded Colonial Realty, an unabashed criminal scheme that nearly bankrupted the State and swallowed up the investments of people who, frankly, had money to spare and who were looking to make any easy buck or two. From Enron the road led directly to George W. Bush (formerly of Connecticut), who financed his run for President with proceeds from Enron and sale of the State financed sports stadium. In a mere few months after his appointment to the Presidency by the Supreme Court, Bush fomented an invasion and occupation of Iraq for the enrichment of Dick Cheney, Bechtel, KBR, and Blackwater. Is the Trump saga any worse? I really don't know.
10
As the mountain of misdeeds by Trump & Associates grows ever higher, I find myself wondering what outrages they're still able to keep under wraps. Because every time I think there can't be more, there's more.
10
"the Trump era is proving to be a master class in the many ways to abuse power — and the many ways to get busted for it.".
This would make for great comedy, Trump on stage braying "Lock her up" as his grifting cronies are backstage stealing the fixtures.
Well, do as I do is the mantra in the White House. Trump is profiting from his office as is his family and possibly close friends and associates, so, why shouldn't the rest of the crooked cabal join in on the spoils.
Yes indeed, those previous administrations were failures-failures in not practicing the greed and graft this bunch of swamp dwellers are, and that includes the self-annointed savior, Trump, to make America great again-as his picks the pockets of the people.
But, we are winning....
13
Isn't this what Trump promised? Draining a swamp INTO Washington?
None of this is as important as the environmental damage he is facilitating, but at least Trump's base can understand these scandals.
3
These administration actions that the Times decry are no strangers in the business community. The majority party enables these excesses by not exercising due diligence. The only solution is to bring in oversight by truly government workers and not shills and stooges.
3
Excellent reminder, thank you! And now you can add to this Steven Mnuchin's habit of redacting virtually his entire schedule using an exception related to “techniques and procedures for law enforcement” (Daily Beast today). Now, we cannot see where he and Louis Litton are grifting off to next in their publicly-funded "company" jets--even under the Freedom of Information Act.
Ah ha! Pruitt hasn't thought of that one! But, really, you leave out the fact that grifting and abusive behavior is integral to Trump's psyche. He thinks it's part of his and all of his staff's jobs to plunder the government for all it's worth. And his supporters seem to think so too. In his mind, they are doing a great job. And, if grifting and abuse of power is your standard, then indeed they are. I fear that these articles only serve to entrench these parasites further, but, they must be written. Keep up the good work!
5
Perhaps we could instead call them thugs and the mob:
"When candidate Trump vowed to drain the swamp, he most likely didn’t do so with the thought of targeting his own cadre of aides and advisers."
The "best people".
8
The swamp Trump promised to drain was everyone getting government aid. His supporters heard swamp and thought it meant lying politicians...
1
May the rest of them in the Trump swamp be busted. Trump has set new standards for corruption, for himself, his family and all those around them. If America can't rid itself of this octopus and its many tentacles, the "new normal" will become a hideous way of life. Trump is trying to make things "okay" that are NOT okay.
3
Mom always said, "Cheaters never prosper."
But Mom didn't live to see the Trump regime.
29
Your mom was wrong. The opposite was true ever since life began.
You don’t really believe that mr. Gowdy’s committee is going to scare up some genuine concern for honest and competent governance in this ‘era,”... do you? Good luck with that thought. The wrong man.. aided and tolerated by the wrong administration.
8
“Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.” John F. Kennedy, in his inaugural address January 20, 1961. Somehow in the 60 years since “Camelot” we have veered into a very different space where cabinet officers grab what they can. I hope the country regains its sanity and boots these scoundrels out of office in every upcoming election. We need moral fiber in the White House very badly.
26
The change did not happen gradually over the last 60 years.
It's all happened since January 21, 2017.
2
Pruitt is a piece of work---wouldn't a normal person in this position just cool it for awhile? Not Mr. Pruitt, grifting is compulsive. He desperately some type of AAA intervention for his continuing need for governmental freebies.
9
Well Daddy's doing it, why can't I?
The Trump Family of Grifters show the way. If they are going to get theirs, I might as well get mine.
The Trump Administration is using every advantage at their disposal to take as much tax payer money as they can for themselves. It's a GOP feeding frenzy which starts at the top and is endorsed by our GOP Congress.
Jason Chafftez couldn't run fast enough from DC. He knew what was coming and had no intention of investigating fellow GOP so he had to cut and run.
But hey, there is always Hillary!!!
7
Trump said lots of things to get elected... "Drain the swamp" was merely one of those things...
Those who bought that line were likely the "uneducated" that Trump loves so much
4
Pruitt's wife doesn't have an income.
His kids are in expensive colleges. .
He is not "from money."
So how is it he got himself an $ 850,000 house ($ 5K-plus a month in mortgage) in OK on a public servant salary ?
I am curious what kind of shady deals he did and how he spent tax dollars when he was AG in OK.
The math surrounding this guy does not add up.
97
NYTimes published a detailed expose of Pruitt's financial history last month:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/21/us/politics/scott-pruitt-oklahoma-epa...
Worth reading.
6
And yet people keep supporting these greedy creeps. In fact, they think trump's group is the best thing that every happened to America. Talk about your hopes/wants overcoming the facts... as the song says "a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest".
1
Casey Stengel famously said about the early inept NY Mets “Can’t anyone here play the game?” One can wonder about Trump and his gang of Cabinet buccaneers : Can’t anyone be competent and honest and ethical and truthful? Is that too much to ask?
6
Was the plan to drain the swamp of water only to fill it with some sort of festering goo? It seems like it.
38
Instead of condemning him for his brazen theft of public goods and services, Pruitt's contemporaries are awestruck by his chutzpah. They’re taking lessons from a master.
And instead of feeling shame, remorse, or fear, or cutting back on his disgusting abuse of power and waste of public funds, Pruitt revels in his feelings of entitlement and continues to grab, grab, grab. At least when he’s not busy sabotaging our environment.
Fire him. And for a going away present, I suggest a souvenir used mattress from an upscale Moscow hotel.
40
If you would still rather compromise with Trump and hate, fear, greed, and violence over the left base that fights for love, courage, sharing, and peace, then you need to go join the Republican Party and leave saving our democracy to those with the courage to do so. Go tell Republicans to compromise for a while.
There is no compromise with Trump's Republican Party.
SHUT TRUMP DOWN
Thank you Editorial Board for continuing to highlight these developments in plain language and ensure that the latest is not lost behind the latest fake controversy smokescreen
9
Trump could shoot James Comey on Fifth Avenue, Sarah Huckabee Sanders could call it fake news, and Trump could pardon himself and Republicans wouldn't bat an eye. For the GOP, the next best thing to no government is a dysfunctional government.
66
throw the bums and their willing henchmen out, especially their willing henchmen who make it all possible -
3
It is a lot easier to steal in the middle of chaos. Trump's job is to create that chaos.
Compromise with thieves is conspiracy with thieves.
Compromise with traitors is conspiracy to commit treason.
Don't compromise with Trump and his supporters.
2
Grifters Gonna Grift? Then Prosecutors Better Prosecute.
I sincerely hope the crimes committed by the Trump administration result in serious jail time, not just slaps on the wrist. The level of corruption in this administration is beyond belief, and it extends to the entirety of the Republican party who stand mute with smarmy grins on their faces.
I also hope the "nervous chatter" of the lobbyist class is well warranted, and that they're cracked down on as well. It's deeply infuriating to read about the sleazy, pocket-stuffing behavior of lobbyists and crooked politicians who simultaneously excoriate working Americans while they tear our social and economic stability to shreds.
29
Yes, Republicans have decided that the solution to politicians that lie and sell us out to crony capitalists, is to find the worst pathological liar to be the president so he can put the crony capitalists directly in charge of looting at the highest levels.
No, the solution to corrupt government is not to find the most corrupt government possible.
The solution to corrupt government is to prosecute crimes by government officials and put them in prison.
When the Confederates realized that democracy was not going to let them expand slavery into the new territories because a majority of the country was against it (their idea of state rights), they formed an army am attacked our Republic. They were traitors that attacked the government. They were beaten.
Now those that look back on traitors with reverence, protecting statues to traitors with torches and Nazi slogans, and also call our government "the enemy," are directly attacking the rule of law, the Constitution, the institutions created under it, and saying that Trump, who said maybe we should give "president for life" a shot here, is above the law.
These people worship traitors, worship our enemies, call our government the enemy, and want to deficit the Civil War.
There is no halfway between attacking our Republic and saying it.
Compromise with Trump and his followers is conspiracy to commit treason.
SHUT TRUMP DOWN.
Yet for every egregious offense there is a what-about retort that seems to compare their firing a scud missile at a neighbor with a Democrat illegally launching a bottle rocket in their back yard on the Fourth of July. For the "base", and therefore for Republicans in Congress, the bottle rocket is proof enough that "everybody does it".
5
Well sure, there’s nothing surprising about the level of shady, low-life deals that have transpired during this presidency,
Including perhaps the latest, very strange attempt to purchase a used mattress from the Trump International Hotel.
Could it be that Pruitt is trying to protect, or compromise, a high-level foreign visitor, who may have engaged in a
steamy, away-for-home affair, that left behind “substantive” evidence of such affair. Grifters, indeed.
Robert Preston said it best…
Ya got trouble, my friend, right here,
I say, trouble right here in River City.
10
So Pruitt calls Chick Fil A about a franchise. It sure sounds like he was hoping for a freebie. Get what you can get while you can get it, I guess. I’d estimate the lifespan of his marriage at about another two years, and the lifespan of his political career much less than that. He is self-destructing in plain sight.
6
Trump simply filled the swamp with more leeches. This and other abuses of power make me wonder what the difference is between Extreme Capitalism and Dictatorship. Both survive and thrive through the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a minority. And both are equally as difficult to dislodge.
The 'least worst' socio-economic system is beyond doubt the northern European capitalist model which many Americans sneer at. I often wonder why, because it combines the possibility to earn unlimited riches (The Aldi family have a net worth of around 43 billion Euros) while ensuring a superior quality of life for the less fortunate who enjoy universal health care, free education, generous employment benefits (lengthy vacations, job security and re-training for laid-off workers) and reduced rates of crime and drug abuse.
The antidote to America's 'Klepto-Democracy' is re-education of the masses from primary school onwards. The nation needs a cultural change aimed at altering its citizens' attitudes to guns, finance, capitalism and 'democracy'. Without such a generational change the nation is doomed to suffer increasing injustice, inequality and lowered standards of living. Without such a change one Trump will simply be replaced by another.
3
This sort of terrible Tump Effect is why conservationists are boycotting L.L. Bean--the two principal owners of which supported Trump and Cruz financially. So much for love of the outdoors and conservation as presented in their catalogues!
10
It is all led by, and implicitly endorsed by, the con-man in the White House. While Trump and his morally corrupt administration are worrisome and embarrassing for our country, the real despots in this story are the GOP congressmen and senators that allow it to happens because their own fecklessness.
4
The Trump effect can now also be seen all over the world, autocrats from Eastern Europe to Southeast Asia have picked up the term "fake news" and weaponized it to silence opposition, even putting "fake News Prevention Acts" into law.
2
Ethical lapses from the Trump administration? What a surprise! - not.
This is the way Trump has always operated. The law is for little people. Ethics? He comes from a world where ethics are not as important as money, power, and relationships. Everything is transactional.
Scott Pruitt's efforts to enrich himself in everyday possible way is no different from what his boss is doing - and it's the way he's always operated as well. His job is safe because he always tells Trump what he wants to hear, flatters him - and never tries to get him to read long memos or change his mind on anything.
In fact, Trump probably enjoys seeing his enemies (Liberals, the press, etc.) getting angry and frustrated over Pruitt's personal crime wave. It's a sign to Trump how powerful he is, that his people can get away with this right out in the open.
The biggest crime is this though: the Republican Party is fully complicit in all of this. No hearings. No calls for anyone to be fired. As long as Trump signs off on tax cuts and lets them stack the courts with pet judges, they see nothing and say nothing.
The only explanation for their complicity has to be that they expect no consequences from any of this. Considering what they got away with under George W. Bush, they may well be right.
9
Corruption always starts at the top and these grifters have such a good teacher and example. When Trump won the election despite his history of misogyny, bankruptcy and cheating investors and would be students it is all to be expected.
President Obama was an honorable man and Republicans had to dig hard or make up things to even find a whiff of corruption. Now the stink in Washington and the GOP is so bad that dozens of Republican Congress people are deserting the swamp. Let's hope that the new Democratic House will at least bring back some sense of clean norms.
13
Am I the only one that thinks trying to buy a used hotel mattress is slightly yucky? That Pruitt is still around says an awful lot about Trump's ethical standards. This isn't a matter of environmental regulation and what sort of changes ought or ought not be made. This is about a guy that seems to want to put his hand into everyone else's back pocket. Even Republicans ought to feel a sense of shame at Pruitt's behavior.
10
About this "swamp" that Mr. Trump tasked himself with draining: It appears he is trying to perform this feat by the "over-population" method. The most common result of this form of "eradication" is not the elimination of the species, but the stunting of the critters, usually physically but in this case it appear the intellect has taken the hit.
As for this mattress Mr. Pruitt sought, one has to wonder if a particular person was known to have used (if not exactly slept) on that particular piece of furniture. And in regard to putting his wife to work, is she so unhireable as to need to buy work, in the form of a franchise?
1
To exploit the tax payers fnancially and at the same time to deceive them with wrong political ideas is apparently the crowning of the new political class of the United states.
4
The fish rots from the head. A corrupt and mendacious “president” attracts the same kinds of ethically challenged followers. So long as our nation is saddled with the kleptocrat in chief, his administration will remain staffed by dubious characters like Pruitt.
The best way to begin draining the Trump swamp is to shine light on them. We know the GOP Congress won’t do at thing. The obvious solution is to elect a Democratic led Congress in November. That’ll help begin the healing of our country.
Vote!
8
Along with swampishness, Mr. Pruitt's competence in asking EPA staff to help arrange a Chik-fil-A franchise is particularly impressive, since the company does not offer franchises.
3
There are so many crimes and abuses from Trump and associates that it is hard to keep a focus on the most important things. We should all try to do that. Liz Warren is good at doing that. Keep a short list of the major crimes and don't let anyone miss those. There are just too many of all the others that distract attention.
1
I've come to the conclusion that there is no bottom to how low Scott Pruitt can sink.
Aside from a playlist of extravagent spending that stretches all the way back to his days as Attorney General of Oklahoma, to his most recent hits including the $43,000 soundprooof phone booth for his office and trying to retrieve a used mattress from the Trump Hotel; now comes news that he tried to secure his wife a lucrative business opportunity at Chick-fil-A.
Honestly. Is there no end to the depths that this president and his administration won't sink to further enrich themselves on the American taxpayer's dime?
And you call this 'winning?'
9
Don't forget Dr. Ronnie Jackson, now under investigation for behavior unacceptable in the military.
Another example of the Trump administration's failure to vet (or deliberate choice of) unqualified candidates for high level positions.
5
If someone in the Obama, George W, Clinton or George H’s Administration did even one of Pruitt’s worst actions that person would be fired immediately. And the respective president would have called a press conference to explain it to the American people.
6
Let's face it; the only reason the NY Times cares about Pruitt's expenses is because he's been effective in rolling back overbearing and unnecessary environmental regulations. He is bringing a destructive, and meddling government agency to heel.
Notice, there are no stories (because there is no evidence) about his policies actually causing harm to the environment. Instead, he is reining in an out-of-control agency, that has caused untold damage to our economy.
But if it turns out. nibbling around the edges of Scott Pruitt doesn't actually bring him down--get ready for faux environmental catastrophes, that have nothing to do with his leadership. I'm sure, even as we speak, "investigative reporters" are combing through the garbage bin for stories that can be misrepresented and exaggerated.
1
"...untold damage to our economy"
Seriously?
The economy steadily improving since 2009?
That economy?
3
I hope you have the money to install your own air scrubbing system & water filtering system. Pruitt is making the environment toxic. But maybe you’re a business owner who was suffering from clean air & water rules. Unless trump & pruitt are gotten out of office, people won’t be able to leave their homes due to contaminated air.
1
The winning is accelerating.
The Donald warned us that we would get tired of winning. The Trump Administration may break all existing records.
Do you think they are doing PED's?
2
It IS business-as-usual. Anyone who has ever worked in politics, be it Congress or State Legislatures, knows that part of the job description for staff is performing personal errands. To deny that is disingenuous at best.
1
Only the best people work for this administration! Like the National Security Council contractor who was arrested yesterday for attempted murder. He had continued to work at the White House for weeks after a warrant was issued!
34
What is more serious than having his staff perform personal tasks for him, is the fact that he clearly tried to use his government position to get some preferential treatment in in his wife's attempt to acquire a franchise.
CEOs of a company with over 1000 franchises, do not handle franchises applications.
35
With the exit polls all around the country showing a Democratic surge, maybe the swamp that Trump wanted to clean up but made it worse, will be cleared by the Democratic majority in the congress.
Trump, reading the same exit polls as we're reading , is coming to the conclusion that soon his reign in Washington will be cut short.
No wonder we're witnessing some of the most furious tweets ever coming from him.
While Nixon just used his aides to pass on a message, Trump starts tweeting at 3 in the morning until he hears the roosters calling in the distance.
Although most of his tweets are against Mr.Sessions for not stopping the morbid Russia inquiry or the "With Hunt" but Trump never tweets against Scott Pruitt's character which all of us hate.
He's also not asking our current E.P.A. Administrator to resign.
Why ?
We find no answer even if we think that this is the same Trump who fired his last Secretary of State Rex Tillerson only because the ex-ExxonMobile Chief suggested to the media that he'd like to pursue diplomacy with North Korea instead of his boss's "fire & fury" monologue in the White House and at the U.N.
On the other hand when we don't see any message from our Twitter-in-chief firing Mr. Pruitt with a tweet like he did with Mr. Tillerson, we've to be quite apprehensive about the whole deal of Chick-fil- A franchise.
Maybe the aides in the E.P.A. were not trying to get a franchise for Mrs. Pruitt, but for their real boss in the White House.
Who knows !
16
Neander's comment hits the bullseye. Chomsky again: ..'As Noam Chomsky has recently detailed, the Republican strategy involves a 24 hour barrage of crazy and provocation from the President as a mechanism of distracting media and public attention from the surgical destruction of government functions designed to protect the public.' I think it's the theme of Manufacturing Consent. However crazy it looks, the surgeons are playing tag-team and working midnights. Trump is the perfect shill, pros say he can hit every mark in stand-up performance. It's easy to forget he is the reckless gambler, backed by deep pockets and high rollers. And it's hard to follow the byplay; observing, one is trapped in cigar smoke, coughing with tension and disbelief.
25
This abuse of power and use of connections is “normal” in most developing countries. Trump,his family, his circle of influence and his cabinet are developing America into a developing country. I came to America a few years ago to leave behind that craziness and corruption. Thank you Mr Trump et al for making me feel at home!
31
We have all misinterpreted the promise to drain the swamp. The assumption was that the swamp to be drained is in Washington. In fact, several swamps, located in various parts of the country, have been drained and the creatures recovered from them brought to Washington.
9
"...the Trump era is proving to be a master class in the many ways to abuse power." Yes, but since there is no GOP congressional interest in holding anyone to account, there's nothing to see here, folks.
9
Spike Lee refers to Trump as "Agent Orange." Whenever he spreads anything, including cabinet members, press secretaries, a vice president, personal physicians, children, wives, it is destructive.
18
One of the very few pleasures with this president are the many clever nicknames folks have come up with: Tangerine Scream, Grifter in Chief, Orange Poobah and so many more. It's a bit puerile I guess but satisfying. I can use all the chuckles I can get. Someone should make a list.
2
Puerile responses to a childish president; it seems fitting to me.
Think of the textbooks a 10K phone booth could buy for Snow Hill, North Carolina's school district.
16
A 4$3,000.00 phone booth.
1
Are Trump hotels doing so bad now that they have to sell used mattresses to stay in business?
29
And yet over 85% of Republicans see no problem with this. No problem at all.
56
They've got God and guns on their brains and they just won't go.
1
All you in the media can do now is report this corrupt, often criminal activity. Your chance to make a difference was before Election Day 2016 and you chose not to do that. You chose private email servers to investigate and write about. You didn't choose Russian intervention in our election or the lies and corruption of Donald Trump. Who did you expect such a man to choose for his cabinet--experienced candidates with morals? Come on now. The Trump voters, non-voters, third-party voters, the media, and the GOP have Trump--it is what they wanted and what we all now have. You can report the corruption but we all know that nothing will be done about it--and 40% of us like it. This is what we have and I think we better get used to it.
5
Agreed. (although I am hopeful for the mid-terms)
The legitimate media made a huge mistake by trying to achieve "balance" in reporting.
In doing so, they gave the same coverage to treason (DJT inviting russia to hack HRC's e-mail) as they did to making a common mistake with e-mail (note: Saint Pence used personal e-mail for official business as gov. of IN)
HRC withstood 14 hours of sworn testimony over this and nothing.
No more fake balance NYT.
Please
1
A used mattress from a hotel. seriously? You can buy a new mattress for $500. Hopefully when the used mattress was delivered it included the bedbugs!
40
You can be sure that The Donald still has not paid the mattress manufacturer.
4
Remember- the swamp that Trump supporters want drained has nothing to do with public corruption; it's about removing liberal (mostly) "elites" from government.
Since Pruitt (like Trump) is seen as doing "God's work," (as in promoting the "prosperity gospel" and preserving mankind's dominion over the earth and all of its creatures by dismantling EPA regulations), he's not considered to be part of the swamp, regardless of how personally corrupt he is.
Shame is a word that seemingly has no meaning for Pruitt and his boss.
52
As well as shame for all who support him. Especially evangelicals who still believe Trump has "strong moral character and is doing god's work.
3
Step one: drain the wetlands. Step two: fill it with toxic waste.
2
Recall that Tom Price promised to reimburse the US government for his excessive travel expenses. A promise made before he left his cabinet post.
Now that he is out, I wonder if he paid any money back. If none, it further shows the magnitude of Trump's swamp people.
Does anyone know how much he reimbursed...?
If so, please respond with the amount.
Thanks
21
Greed and cronyism by people at the top is of all times: insider trading, tenders written so the 'right' company wins, hiring favours, etc., it happens everywhere every day.
The difference is that the People installed by Trump take it a step further and grab what they can without subtlety or shame, and without any consideration for environment, poor people, credibility and continuity of government policy, etc.
8
One must ask the question "If Trump was a Russian agent sent to destroy America, what would he be doing differently?"
39
Whenever I have occasion to marvel at Trump's cabinet and aide picks—and the occasions are many—I imagine a Bizarro Justice League, in which the worst people in the world join together, waiting to be called for service.
18
And let us not forget Interior Department Ryan Zinke's friendand neighbor's two-person company somehow got a $300 million contract to repair Puerto Rico's electrical infrastructure. And we all know how that turned out.
57
cherrylog754, the corruption and criminality is rampant. The worst ever in the history of The United States of America. History books will have their work cut out for them. Watergate is nothing compared to this.
3
A fine editorial, New York Times; but one that misses a glaring point: the 63-million voters who installed Donald Trump into the Oval Office precisely so he could drain the (Democratic) swamp and re-stock it with larger, uglier, more rapacious and predatory specimens.
I'm saying that the fault is not really the rancid Trump administration. The fault lies in the citizenry to whom ethics and honor and rectitude and public service (that's what a "servant" is) means everything.
Perhaps the benchmark siren song for selflessness in public service in our time was the famous "ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country," the spear-point in the shining light of John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address on January 20, 1961. The summons to country is an antiquated relic.
Under Donald Trump, public officials in high (the highest?) office are beholden to their wealthy donors and other benefactors. They are those who fund the election and re-election campaigns for their personal candidates. That Scott Pruitt and Paul Manafort are the barnacles that have attached themselves to the rotting underside of the sinking ship Trump are proof enough that bad attracts bad.
The staggering sums that the president has spent jetting to and from his South Florida retreat; his refusal to assume the duties of his office as he wolfs down cheeseburgers while watching Fox News is proof enough that public service is whatever you want it to be.
"Do what I say, not what I do."
39
Joe
Remember that many of those DJT voters never though he would win. (neither did he)
Many cast a protest vote .
A lot of them are not happy at all about all this "winning."
He is truly odious, as are his direct reports.
2
The witness alleging subornation of perjury doesn't know the law. A subornation conviction requires proof that the perjury actually happened. In the Manafort case, no perjury has been proven, although it has probably been contemplated. Contemplation is not enough under the law, so the witness is just wrong.
As for Pruitt, he shamelessly engages in petty thievery. But I'm not sure he's worse than others. Richard Nixon's net worth increased 650% as a result of his Presidency. Gerald Ford's increased 400%. For Bush I, it was 475%. For Bill Clinton, 6,150%!!! And for Obama, about 200%.
I suspect the Presidents followed the ethical rules. But those rules don't seem to restrict them much. I doubt Pruitt will do as well as the Presidents, and he will have to break rules to get there. But I don't vote for anybody to get rich and I find the whole system offensive.
1
The difference between profiteers like Pruitt and the presidents you mention is that presidents wait until they leave office and then start making money on book deals and speaking fees, which they presumably invest and make even more. They leverage the celebrity they attain to make money rather than using the power of their office to enrich themselves.
And I don't begrudge them that. The president's salary is $400,000 plus a $50K expense account, $100K travel account and $19K for entertainment. That's way more than I make, for sure. But by the standards of executive compensation, it's almost laughable. A lot of what we think presidents get for "free" is actually paid out of that rather modest package. (By comparison Google what the CEO of Google gets paid).
I'd support paying the president a whole lot more; a huge salary increase would have negligible effect on the federal budget. So maybe pay our national chief executive $1 million/year or even $5 million/year. Even at $5 million a year he/she'd make in eight years what Sundar Pichai (see above) makes every 10 weeks.
3
As Babe Ruth said, he got paid more than the President because he had a better year.
But they were presidents and go on to make speeches for which they are highly paid and write books. Its apples and oranges. Not really swampy....practical.
Is anyone other than the 35% diehard Trump followers surprised by the fact that Trump has surrounded himself with people who are as corrupt as he is?
I continue to be frightened by the Trump presidency, but what frightens me more is the fact that four out of 10 Americans think he’s doing a great job.
22
The Trump era's signature is abusing power and displaying all sorts of conflict of interests because the boss sets the low standards.
As long as the entourage bury its values and substitute them by blind loyalty to the con man alike president, each one will remain on their jobs until inconvenient for Trump's personal gain. For Trump, all are disposable. Maybe that is a requirement to get hired by him: being a person with a criminal background or inclination so he or she can be fired easily or used as a distraction to try to hide "higher crimes".
8
It is just so galling how republicans (in general) rail against government as the ''problem'' at every turn, yet when they get into power (even if it is 50% +1), they act like it is their personal fiefdom.
The continued grift is to get people (again and again) to vote for these people back into office. (hoping that they will somehow be different)
To vote against oneself over and over is the ultimate con.
11
It is pretty obvious that Trump wanted to 'drain the swamp' so he could replace it with his own Trumpian cesspool, and he has. But this level of corruption inevitably sickens the body politic, fatally if it continues. The really sad thing is that some minority of the electorate seem to have personal standards so low that it doesn't bother them, they swim in it and don't even seem to need to hold their nose. They don't understand or don't believe that the strength of a society fundamentally rests in the personal standards of its members. This is why it is critical that the decent majority reassert decency and some reasonable standards of honesty and freedom from corruption.
26
During the campaign when Trump first promised to "drain the swamp," he was already an established liar, so why should we have expected his administration to turn out any differently than it has? The really sad part of this whole experience is the loyalty of his supporters in the face of unprecedented dishonesty and corruption. Although, I'm a Democrat, I would never support any politician in the Democratic party who behaved like Trump even if he/she agreed with all of my positions on issues. We desperately need someone to lead us back to honesty and integrity in government.
29
Mr. Pruitt is now looking around as the swamp is sinking. Since he's taken office he has reminded me of a game show with a contestant goes into a large food store and is given 60 seconds to fill it with his much food before the gong stops them. Only this cart is filled with pens, mattresses and a phone booth the likes of what Superman used to change into. Anyone connected to this presidency, it is fair to say that each day brings unbelievable shame upon this office. There has been so many sleazy deals, so many lies; I'm starting to feel like a housewife that's beaten every day and says to herself tomorrow it will be different. We are good people of America,we must stand up and say enough is enough. Never mind "draining the swamp" what we really need to do is, fill it with young new candidates that know what the word integrity means.
4
What Mr. Trump is doing is not new. It is normal business to bring in your friends and family members to enrich themselves when a new administration takes office. At least this is normal in third world countries. Are we there yet?
3
Of course, Trump will not fire Pruitt because he is arguably the most obvious member of the cabinet who make Trump look like an honorable man.
Pruitt has no sense of shame for using his public working hours pursuing his private personal interests, not once, not twice, not thrice, but dozens times.
Don't ask Sarah Saunders at her briefing about whether Trump finds Pruitt's behavior ethical because she won't get into a "back and forth" on that.
9
substantial constitutional revision is needed. That pardon power belongs to other eras. A bit of Boss Tweed with shades of Henry the VIII th. Newly appointed agency heads should have Max Weber explained to them. Strict separation between home and office; we were taught; was lacking in India and Egypt in the 50's
2
"A master class" in grifting and abuse of power--I love it!!
Yes, isn't it amazing that all these escapades still have the power to shock?
even though sustained outrage is hard to maintain, I personally do not want to get inured to an administration that views its electoral victory as license to squeeze maximum profit out of every aspect of their jobs.
I suspect I'm not alone in thinking this way--and realizing we need to make major changes in our expectations for on the job ethics.
Unless the old norms based on the honor system get codified into law, we leave ourselves open to new office holders who misconstrue the meaning of professional perks.
11
I am in my sixth decade, and in any other administration in my lifetime, Mr. Pruitt would have been fired long ago.
That he has not speaks volumes about Mr. Trump.
Shatter America into little pieces and use corporate money to gain and retain power by pitting those who oppose you against one another.
You give me the presidency, and I'll provide you with tax cuts and deregulation.
America isn't great again.
America is for sale, and that's far from great except for the few who have seized control over the many.
41
What disappoints me most about the exposure of these con-men and grifters is that they are likely just the tip of the iceberg. Just under the surface of our society, there are likely hundreds or thousands of wealthy 'gentlemen' who have acquired and maintained their wealth by lying, cheating, breaking laws, and generally abusing their fellow citizens. In government, in finance, in business, in religion...
When I was a child, I assumed that all adults were moral and that my less-than-stellar peers would eventually grow up and grow out of their imperfections. How wrong I was...
20
That old saw- no one pays full price for a mattress- well ?
If the trump era pushes more people to pay attention to the workings of our elected officials, and gets more people to vote, it will have served one purpose.
10
"Drain the swamp" was simply a marketing slogan as were most of Trump's campaign pronouncements - mere slogans. The guy is a marketer with zero capacity for doing anything useful except reading the "results" of the marketing campaign. He cares nothing about what he is marketing.
22
"Draining the swamp" has little to do with outside political party chairpersons. It is related to perspns who are in government. Focus should be on present and former FBI officials.
1
When a reigning power gives licence to vile behaviour, vile behaviour will spread, like mould. The only thing that restrains it is fear of ostracism and the law, neither of which have applied in Republican circles and for a very long time. In fact, we now have a political party now that is dedicated to vile practice as its raison d'être, as its brand, and a lot of people are buying into it, as a way to confirm their supremacy and as a money maker.
The wraps are off now. We all knew they were there under every rock but now they have a champion, a mentor and they're crawling around in the open. We know where that leads.
The question is: do we have the pluck and the organisation to deal with them? There is. certainly no reasoning with such people. They are are either hate-based, grudge-bearing and vengeful or just plain crooked. One thing for sure, we must stand up for human decency, tolerance and respect once again or these virtues will fade. Then what?
17
Please send someone with a microphone to ask each member of Congress where they stand on these matters and where they stand on:
1. Whether the ZTE policy is a payoff for the $500 million China investment in our President's private Indonesian project?
2. Whether it's OK for a government official to sell a clothing line with the office holder's name on it without specific authority to do so?
3. Whether it's OK to force foreign diplomats to attend to the President at his private properties rather than public properties?
27
And let’s not forget my former representative, Ryan Zinke, working to take the public out of public lands.
If his colleagues in Trump’s Washington weren’t so corrupt, there’d be more attention to his unethical behavior at Interior. All for me and my friends and none for the American people seems to be their theme song.
17
Mr.Pruitt did not get the memo.He thinks that EPA stands for Enhance Pruitt All ways.He has worked very hard to enhance Pruitt- Someone please tell him that E stands for Environmental and that P stands for Protection.He may still think that it is his environment he has to protect but try explaining the purpose of the agency to him!
30
Scott Pruitt's tear down of the EPA, cozy relationship with shale companies and the policy rollbacks has the longer lasting impact
61
Just like Trump. The rest of his cabinet are occupied with dismantling the administrative state, emptying ever office dealing with law enforcement, good governance, and foreign affairs. What could go wrong?
94
Is Pruitt personally wealthy? Because his actions suggest a person who does not have much wealth; who got very lucky to be the head of the EPA and is now trying like crazy to accrue money before the Trump circus tent collapses around him.
190
Mr. Pruitt seems to have been quite good at finding plush places to live when he was on the public payroll in Oklahoma. I find it remarkable that on his salary, and without the housing or transportation benefits of a member of Congress, he seems to be living in Oklahoma (with large mortgage payments) and commuting to Washington.
There have been a few cases of bright young people coming to Washington and going wildly into debt to live what they though to be lifestyle fitting their status, believing that it could easily be paid off in the lucrative post-public years as a lobbyist or whatever. (Members of Congress seem relatively immune to the disease, so Trey Gowdy's committee might be interesting).
60
No he is not. When he was an attorney in OK before his political dreams he was only making $38,000 a year. So he wasn’t even a fair attorney. He is a pauper wanting to be king.
21
Looks him up and his net worth is something like 1 mill, which is not much by DC standards.
3
Conflicts of interest, abuse of office, ethical lapses, and no mark of shame let alone guilt characterise the Trump presidency that has turned out to be worse than the Washington swamp he had promised to drain out.
183
Something has to be done about Entitlements - and I don't mean basic social services, I mean the extraordinary sense of entitlement the American ruling class believes it has to enrich itself at the expense of the taxpayer...
643
I'm still wondering how Mr. Pruitt was able to hire his two young young aides and boost their salaries to $164,200 and $114,590? Now the commemorative used mattress story! Hopefully his wife isn't falling for any more bribes; Chick-a-fil franchise or otherwise. Please get to the bottom of this.
191
Please, Mr. President, no more of "only the finest people." If you can find anyone who is just honest who would work for you, that would be fine with us.
And, let Mr. Pruitt know that I will be moving soon. I have an extra used matress set that I would be happy to sell for $50,000. I am sure that will sound reasonable for him.
229
You are being too polite. They should get the boot.
4
As far as I know, the only truthful statement Trump ever made was that he could shoot someone of Fifth Avenue and his supporters wouldn't care. What would have been beyond the pale a few years ago is now becoming the norm. Democracy dies when the opposition is depicted as illegitimate. It has been said that all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.
I hope that we will be able to recover our country, but I am not optimistic.
A nation gets the government it deserves.
413
"A nation gets the government it deserves."
Please remember that Trump supporters are in the minority.
30
He also told the truth when he said that he "loves the less educated".
17
And it just shows what mindless sheep those supporters are. They don’t even get, how insulting that statement is.
8
The strong Evangelical backing of Pruitt is another puzzle coming as it does from those tasked with being stewards of the earth. Guess their translation uses other words such as "pillagers" or "defilers" or "exploiters".
357
Trump shares Pruitt's strong Evangelical backing, which mystifies me. The more brazenly these officials sin, the more the Evangelicals embrace them. I felt certain that the Shera Bechard case, in which Trump impregnated his side girl and then arranged for her abortion in 2017 (while married and in office), would have been the last straw for the Evangelicals. But no, not a peep from the faithful. Babies and toddlers ripped from their mothers' arms and dumped in warehouses by the thousands? Again, not a peep from the faithful. Two men refused a wedding cake by a fundamentalist baker? Man the barricades! The Trump administration is a ghastly American nightmare, but as long as Trump can point to his Evangelical support as validation, nothing will change.
32
"Forgive them for they know not what they do." and bless their hearts.
9
Actually, the word that they use is “dominion” which rather than being benevolent rulers, the evangelicals see as permission to rape the Earth for anything of value. This includes blowing the top off of WV mountains to get at the coal that DJT thinks should be subsidized. Meanwhile the environment, which we all share (vs. the profit that only the 1% share), is being squandered.
20
Grifters Gonna Grift. I never thought that the entire Trump administration and the GOP could be defined so precisely in three little words. Congratulations to the New York Times Editorial board for the most concise assessment of Trump's first 500 days.
1295
Never thought that would be a KIND way of describing a presidential administration.
Bush might have been an ignoramus and a disaster, but even he would blanch at this blatant corrupt theft.
43
We don't want third-world, banana-republic corruption to become an everyday affair in the U.S.A.
Oops, too late. Thanks, Trump voters. Thanks, GOP congress.
National "take out the trash" day, Nov. 7.
63
Reply to Mark: and don't forget to thank Jill Stein's voters too, as well as the people who stayed home.
Most of Mr. Trump's team view this as an opportunity. Rather than saying "how can I serve my country", his team says "how will this opportunity serve me".
313
It should be how can I help myself first?
3
Following the example of their leader.
3
But they all stand during the National Anthem, and some even know the words, so there's that.
629
Perhaps mr. Trump can get some tutorials
from the military choirs and learn to sing the
words of patriotic songs.
20
“Some”, but not the ringmaster of this circus.
16
Exactly. Such a patriotic bunch of thieves.
13
As Noam Chomsky has recently detailed, the Republican strategy involves a 24 hour barrage of crazy and provocation from the President as a mechanism of distracting media and public attention from the surgical destruction of government functions designed to protect the public, and the unprecedented large scale graft and lucre distribution to the wealthy minority.
Pruitt is true to form: amoral, self-serving and utterly contemptuous of the public interest and government standards of practice, just like his boss.
And, it bears noting, the Republicans in control of Congress could care less: their patrons are doing well and their constituents are none the wiser.
793
The Democrats and the media shouldn't need a linguist and thinker like Chomsky to understand the tactics of trump and his party to distract from the damage they are doing below the radar. They need a linguist and thinker to get them over being tongue-tied about it.
233
Yes, read Shock Doctrine to see the long history of using national chaos to remake governments into feeding troughs for the rich.
Trump creates shocks while his minions dismantle our Republic and Rlot the Treasury.
THERE IS NO COMPROMISE WITH TRAITORS.
23
Wow, makes your head spin, doesn't it? And this is just SOME of the low lights that we know about -- you can imagine this easily may only be the tip of the iceberg.
Not only does Trump have no intention of draining the swamp, he and his cronies (and family) are brazenly and repeatedly showing they are the new standard of graft, corruption, and lack of any kind of ethics -- and the GOP, day in, day out, show their approval by taking no action.
If this is what Trump's base wanted, they got it. I just can't work out how this makes their everyday lives 'great again.'
We can change this in November -- I hope, we the people, care enough to make our voices heard in the next election. And the one after that... and the one after that.
322
Along with publishing (monthly?) the ever-growing "List of Lies", how about an "Anthology of Alligators" - all these lovely little vignettes of abuses, breeches, conflicts, lapses, and questionable idiocy.
108
That's too unfair to alligators. How about a Litany of Leeches instead?
3
"and lo, as the waters receded, he did hire those loathsome creatures that crawled out from beneath the rocks, every one!"
107
It's fitting that the title of the Editorial makes a clear reference to the Godfather. For my money, Mr. Pruitt's doppelganger in that film is the hapless --and hopelessly squallid -- Fredo.
98
This administration is filled with Fredos. And a few Luca Brazzies.
4
Drain the swamp? That's so... yesterday. Get with it. As in... anything goes baaabyyy! After all, if we're really going to make America great again what does it matter if the busy bees doing all the heavy lifting get to sip the nectar from time-to-time? It's about time that Mike Myers get busy with that Scott Pruitt biopic and give credit where credit is due!
35
Apparently we're draining swamps INTO Washington DC
1
I wish trump would read this. But he won’t get it. Help..........
33
Swamp the drain more like it..
204
THANK YOU. The grifting needs to be relentlessly brought to the fore, till the outrage turns to action.
(Parenthetically:
--"breech of ethics rules": "breach"!
--and what happened to "whom" (not in this article, but peppered all over the Times)?
Sorry, but I can't not notice. )
90
You could, however, try to avoid double negatives!
1
Why would anyone expect ethical behaviour from a trump appointee.
313
Many of us suspected this administration would be the benchmark for greed, graft and corruption. But, all Trump needs to do is mention Hillary and the masses go wild and the reverence of all things Trump negates any grifting a corruption he and his cronies engage in.
8
Pruitt is the closest thing to a human tapeworm ever seen in a Cabinet for a US President.
His funky phone booth, his expensive taste in flying, his fountain pens for old guffs who haven't written with a pen in 20 years, his old mattress fetish- the guy is a freak! Now he wants a job for the missus from some chicken outfit.
He needs to quit and go into whatever his skill set is- who could know with this weirdness but it sure aint protection of the American environment.
He needs to be explaining himself in a Congressional committee with a jumpsuit waiting.
1012
Clearly he’s not the only one.
26
Let's not forget as Attorney General for the State of Oklahoma he was resonsible for attempting to buy illegal drug with which to execute people. It ain't all fun & games.
25
I was going to say tick or louse, but tapeworm seems much more fitting.
27
breach, not breech
48
DJT may have promised to drain the swamp, but he only wanted to create an even larger cesspool. GWB’s time in office was similarly awash in scandal after scandal, but the right wing said (and did) little to nothing. Actually, Ronald Reagan’s administration had an unusually high number of scandals....and of course there’s Tricky Dick himself. The GOP must have ditched their principles decades ago; they simply can’t stay out of the corruption pool.Still, it seems the GOP only has one “principle” these day: If a conservative does something it is always acceptable and licit; if a Democrat or Independent does the same thing it is appalling! Criminal! Morally atrocious! The End of Civilization As We Know It! Other than that, they got nothing.
139
It's always about the dollar signs. True story.
3
Yes, can Democrats finally figure out what Republicans keep telling them:
Republicans take compromise as a sign of weakness and treat you accordingly, no matter how many times you come back for more.
Look at their reaction to Obama trying to pass Romney Care, which was designed by the Heritage Foundation.
Every time you offer half, they demand the other half, while calling you socialists.
Bill Clinton gave them almost everything they wanted (NAFTA, slashed welfare, massive bank deregulation, mass incarceration, an expanded drug war, privatization of government functions, and freedom to buy up all media so they could control the conversation). They repaid him with impeachment and a vast right wing conspiracy that still calls Hillary a socialist.
What do you get for compromising with Republicans? You get to look weak and ineffective, costing you 2/3 of all elections.
Republicans are bullies. Bullies don't compromise. Either you give them your lunch money or you punch them in the nose. So far the Democrats have been giving them their lunch money every day for decades.
4
This administration makes the mob look clean.
374
From the first sentence to the last, this editorial put a smile on my face.
And it's only Tuesday.
82
Pruitt does have a great gift
For the arcane art of the grift,
A great Swamp creator
A climate change hater
And gave Nepotism a lift.
And maybe the Donald's worst choice,
Speaking with a knowledge free voice
A breaker, not mender,
A huge overspender
At despoiling the Earth does rejoice.
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In America every meadow, grove and stream,
The earth and every common sight
flinches in mid scream,
from tawdry crimes brought to light.
Those of Trump's and Pruitt's seem
yet uglier than those of yore.
Turn wheresoe’er I may,
By night or day,
The beauty I have seen I now can see no more.
Trump alone has worked his change
Let all who prate tu quoque hold their peace
and lay them prone upon the earth and cease
To ponder on their wealth, instead to stare
at heavens straining with tainted air
as the heat doth seek release, and yet
Pruitt's grifting and lies threadbare
are not policed.
15
Thank you Mr. Eisenberg for helping us get through another day of malfeasance perpetrated by Trump and his minions. Your way with words are a gift to us all and may you live another 90 years.
15
Larry Eisenberg, your best to date!
5
Donald Trump promised us the best, and that's certainly what we got. The best swine feeding at the public trough. This piece is rich with irony and incredulity - we could laugh so much that we start to cry.
W.B. Yeats foretold this moment in The Second Coming:
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
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"I learn a great deal by merely observing you, and letting you talk as long as you please, and taking note of what you do not say."
T. S. Eliot
4
"a breathtaking, overly vivid circus of conflicts of interests, abuses of office, ethical lapses and breeches of democratic norms that has captured the public's attention with it's audacity.". Would that it were, but it's not. I don't know why but these ethical and political affronts seem to be taking a backseat in voters minds. Especially Republican minds. 95% approval from his own party. Near universal blindness to outright criminal offences. The flaunting of the Emoluments clause. Jared Kushner being bailed out of 666 Park Ave by Qatar. China dangling patents for Ivanka. Trump renting out space in Trump Tower to the agency charged with his protection. You'd think he'd, at least, foot that bill. The list goes on and on but so do the excuses and denials from his supporters. Supporters who could see venal evil in every move Obama made, can't seem to focus on what's right in front of their eyes. I guess it's all different when the shoe is on the other, whiter, foot.
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"I don't know why but these ethical and political affronts seem to be taking a backseat in voters minds. Especially Republican minds."
That is, until a democrat is in charge. Then they dumpster dive for any little transgression (spending millions of taxpayers money in the process). And when they don't find anything salacious they just make something up.
85
I now finally understand what Procol Harum meant by "a whiter shade of pale". The lyrics always struck me as worthy of Lewis Carroll, and the implications about down the rabbit hole, through the looking glass and mad queens aren't lost on anyone. In sum, this administration is beyond the pale, as deep in the privileged white spectrum as one can go.
60
Well said, but let's give Qatar a break. 666 Fifth Avenue was not a bribe, it was protection money. Remember all that beating up on Qatar a while back, over the objections of Tillerson and Mattis? Well, it stopped. And now Jared got's his bailout from...Qatar. Maybe they *tried* a bribe, but it wasn't enough money? We'll never know...not for a while, anyway.
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The campaign that promised to drain the swamp has given us the most corrupt administration that we have ever had. The administration that did not collude with Russia to undermine our democratic elections has conspired with Russia time and again to undermine our democratic elections. The most inept and unfit president that we have ever had is capable of finding the corrupt, immoral, unethical, self-dealing and divisive opportunity in every presidential prerogative.
757
Let’s be fair. They thought the swamp was the size of a basketball court. Who knew the swamp was the size of France !
9
Ethical standards have taken a nose dive under Trump because of his scandalous behavior, using the presidency for fun and profit for himself and family members. Under his leadership, or the lack of it, the swamp has turned into a cesspool.
383
Very well said, Grainy. What else are we to expect from
America's first walking & talking grade IV glioblastoma of a POTUS?
The question remains, how long should America tolerate this monster's occupation of the White House?
Where is the cry for impeachment, particularly now that we see the similarities emerging between Donald and that good ole boy Billy C? If memory serves me, I believe POTUS Clinton was (technically) given the silver boot before he left office...
13
Why would Pruitt want a used mattress? Surely he can afford hundreds of them. And a used mattress is not exactly sanitary.
In my six decades on the planet, I have never had any first-hand experiences with any persons as seemingly capable of such odious and oleaginous actions as Pruitt and Manafort, not to mention the rest of the Trump conspirators. That old saying is true: the very rich (and wannabe rich) are different from you and me. As F. Scott Fitzgerald explained: "Even when they enter deep into our world or sink below us, they still think that they are better than we are. They are different."
328
"oleaginous"
Love it !
You must be an "elite " ! (in other words, educated)
39
Yes, Troutwhisperer, and as Nick continued:
“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”
68
And as long as we're quoting the greatest 20th century American novel 'exposing' Emperor Trump's crimes against what "flowered once for Dutch sailors’ eyes — a fresh, green breast of the new world." --- we might just as well provide a bit of modern 21th century history that F. Scott didn't live to see:
"somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic (now turned Empire) rolled on under the night."
27
It isn't so much that Trump and his minions are grifters; that much has been clear for some time. It's more that they are so...amateurish about it. It's like the gang who can't shoot straight somehow got the keys to the (national) vault and have lost their minds in the pleasure of it.
The whole elaborate structure of K Street and Washington D.C., et.al., weren't created by Trump in overnight fashion. Professional grifters of all types have been quietly and intelligently working to develop all the methods and procedures of that structure for nigh on the last half century. They've made it quite a piece of self-interested architecture during that time haven't they?
And now along comes Trump and crew, clueless inexperienced folks who've fallen into the candy store and, with the greed and avarice of all children in similar situations, is bringing levels of mayhem and exposure unexpected by the K Street clans. Perhaps while we punish the Pruitt's of the world we should also be thanking them? By their antics they make clear the pervasive stink of the swamp has not gone away, in fact it's intensified and really needs to be drained now more than ever.
John~
American Net'Zen
291
Pruitt needed help buying a used mattress? That is so pathetic it beggars further description. And he needed help to do this.
13
John: I love your analogy of Trump's crew to the gang that couldn't shoot straight. I believe they suffer not only from general incompetence and ineptitude but also an amplified sense of arrogance and entitlement stemming from the grifter-in-chief at the helm who believes he is above the law. After all, we are only the powerless schlubs who get to pay for Pruitt to have private conversations with Ms. Hupp in his $43,000 soundproof phone booth to procure a used mattress from Trump Hotel. This would be a great comedy sketch on SNL, but sadly, truth is stranger than fiction in Trump Swamplandia.
27
I was a public defender in NYC for 38 years. If one of my clients was accused of coaching witnesses against him, he'd end up in Rikers ASAP. But once again, a rich white defendant gets a pass preliminarily.
532
"If one of my clients was accused of coaching witnesses against him, he'd end up in Rikers ASAP."
You glossed over some important facts:
1. Manafort is "under house arrest on a $10 million bond." (per Times)
2. Manafort has the right to due process. In fact, "They [prosecutors] asked a federal judge to revise those terms [of Manafort's release] or send him to jail until trial." (per Times)
"... a rich white defendant gets a pass preliminarily."
What "pass"?
3
Would a defendant who had to rely on a public defender have the means to post a $10 million bond? And Manafort's house arrest still allows him to lounge in his mansion, not be cooped up in a 1BR apartment somewhere awaiting trial. Yes, rich white defendant gets a pass.
1
I believe Mueller will be asking the court overseeing Manafort's case to reconsider the terms of his bail. He may even have his bail revoked over this. So, we can't be sure at this point that he has gotten a pass. Anyway, he was indicted for "white collar" crimes before this happened. As always such defendants are treated differently from ones who are accused of crimes involving drugs, physical injury or theft.
1
It seems pretty clear that by "Drain the swamp" the president means dismantle the administrative state, made up of non-partisan professionals who run the government and create the public infrastructure which supports, among other things, the rule of law, economic prosperity, our international stature and the pursuit of happiness. This is what the president scornfully refers to as "The deep state", as he weaponizes and monetizes every lever of power within his reach for corrupt ends. An irony of this nightmare sideshow in the E.P.A is that when we discuss its chief we end up focusing on used mattresses, fountain pens and cones-of-silence instead of condemning his determined onslaught on the precious and irreplaceable environment his agency was intended to protect. Distraction is the most successful strategy employed by this shameful administration.
416
david, this is the simple win/lose factor for us all:
If Emperor Trump can make the message "Deep State" stick --- he and Empire wins.
But if 'we the American people' can stick Emperor Trump as causing our country to 'act like an Empire' --- we win.
Our odds are strongly favored, because a known 'Empire-builder' and insane "Empire-thinker", like Emperor Trump, being call-out by the American people, as being an Emperor, is like kryptonite.
11
"Distraction is the most successful strategy employed by this shameful administration." Yes, yes, and yes! When, oh when, will the media FINALLY stop chasing the distraction tweet of the day and focus on more serious issues, like why isn't the GOP Congress holding this misadministration accountable? How much longer to do we have keep hearing the constant lies from GOP Congressional members that the Dems are the ones being obstructionists when they hold the majority in both houses? AND, here's looking at you, Mitch McConnell, the second biggest hypocrite in the federal government right now, for whining on PBS NewsHour last night that the "reason" you're canceling most of the August congressional recess is because of "uncooperative Dems" when we who live in the real world know it's yet another dirty little political trick to try to undermine the #2018Bluewave? Pathetic, the whole GOP is just pathetic.
7
Not only is this occurring in the “drain the swamp” administration but the Republican Party has for years lived off a “regular folks” myth - and we Democrats are “limousine liberals” - while the actions of one after another in this cabinet show absolute tone deafness and a veritable lust for the trappings of office. Who takes a cabinet position and makes their first priority redecorating their office? Not to mention the other outrageous things Pruitt has done.
219
The federal government is not alone in its questionable ethics. I have friends who work with state legislators who also laugh at the ethics "rules" that are supposed to apply to them. Even on the state level, lobbyists show up almost every day with gifts and perks worth well beyond the approved limits. The amount of personal work done for legislators by their aides and assistants would probably be equivalent to a full-time job, that is if anyone was paid for it. I'm sure this goes in in blue states and red and in city and county governments, whether rural or urban. Government corrupts. Finding a legislator with clean hands is every bit as difficult today as it was in the time of Diogenes, which is to say impossible.
91
The only corruption worse that that in govt. is found in the private sector.
(Bernie Madoff, Micheal Miliken, Manafort, Enron, etc. etc. ad nauseum.)
20
This is an incredibly broad indictment. Government Corrupts? I am one of six. 3 of my siblings are or were in the government. One an assistant principal, one in administration at a public university and one was the top paid position in a very large county government. NONE of them have asked aids to do work for them, NONE of them have accepted gifts, ALL have worked tremendous amount of overtime not paid out, ALL are in their jobs for public service. Also, my spouse was a local elected official. We were out to dinner at a restaurant at a very large complex owned by one of the localities major employers. The restaurant owner knew my spouse had just been elected and offered us free dessert. We of course declined. DON"T put your feelings of this Administration on all government employees or elected people, that is what they want you to do - to believe what President Regan said "Government is the problem". Government is us, our neighbors, our friends, our relatives. Just as in private companies and organizations there are bad apples. All the bad apples don't go into government.
63
Your experience with state government was obviously very different than my own. When I was in state office, we were regularly sent inappropriate gifts. Inappropriate is defined as anything with a cash value exceeding twenty five dollars. Our solution was to hold department wide raffles or donate the gifts to charity. No manager or director was walking home with anything. Not even a fancy room at a hotel. You get what travel booked for you and they expect to see the expense paid.
Maybe we held ourselves to a higher standard. Politics often got ugly. However, I don't know anyone in our offices that would willingly abuse the honor of wearing the state seal for personal gain. That behavior is just plain disgraceful.
34
Trump and his Administration are providing a Master Class in How to Ripoff the Taxpayers.
And, no, the wonderful results obtained so far by Trump and his Merry Band of Reverse Robin Hoods do not justify the appalling and flamboyant disregard of conflicts of interest.
Congress should spend as much time investigating Trump’s numerous actual conflicts of interest as it has spent on the faux ones of Clinton.
Hopefully, one of the results of the Mueller investigation will be to provide Congress with a road map to shoring up our protects against foreign corruption of our elections.
Congressmen and women, do your job, or make way for those who will.
282
Mueller is evidently lost in a Wonderland of chained puppets.
1
What "wonderful results" did Trump bring? I haven't seen any at all. Last year's stock market run-up is matched by a fairly flat market this year, so they average out as ....average. That's not wonderful, though the bar is so low for Trump that average might be acceptable with him.
4
Politicians abusing their positions for political or financial gain is certainly nothing new. Around the world and throughout history, elected and appointed officials have arranged no-show jobs for relatives, directly stolen vast sums of public funds, arranged for the demise of those who stood in their way and everything in between.
But it always seemed that the United States stood out among nations as a place where such behavior was not accepted as the norm. Once revealed publicly, malfeasance was punished and careers were ended.
What has happened here that has allowed the bar of honesty and integrity to be lowered? Maybe it’s the same effect that has allowed evangelical Christians to support a president who would never ask, “What would Jesus do?” before making a decision.
As long as a corrupt politician is a member of my party, voting the way I want him or her to vote, and bringing home the “pork” to my district, illegal, unethical or immoral behavior can be overlooked. By permitting these abuses we go against the basic American principle of the rule of law and equality under the law.
I can only hope that we will find a way to restore our belief that the ends do not justify the means and that honesty and integrity isn’t just something we try to instill in our children, but something we demand of our leaders.
308
I didn't know that "the United States stood out among nations as a place where such behavior was not accepted as the norm." How about the Harding administration, and the Teapot Dome scandal? There's always been a certain reward for Barnum and Bailey politics, hasn't there? What about that maxim: A sucker is born every minute? The takeaway now ought to be "Those who accuse others of grifting, suppressing human rights, separating children from their parents, conflicts of interest (and so on and on and on) are most likely to have committed those transgressions themselves."
7
@DDiego. As for the quote you cite, "A sucker is born every minute". Wasn't that a guy who ran a circus and freak show? Excellent... ..you've made a wonderful metaphor for our curent administration.
Thank you - just right.
5
The president who claimed he would end such behavior has instead taken it to another level. We have to do a better job of revealing the extent of corruption. And rest assured, there really is a swamp in Washington; and it does need draining. Trump, while a terrible hypocrite, was on to something about the establishment. The public certainly believes the "system" is rigged, but it doesn't understand how. And that's largely the fault of the media. Too-lavish living at the taxpayers' expense; bloated and often redundant or irrelevant agencies and their employees; the capture of the political system by rich donors and, in blue states, public unions; the revolving doors -- these are things that the public doesn't grasp in detail, but should.
I'd like to see us do the things serious conservative critics of big government would like us to do before we start raising taxes and debating ways to improve socioeconomic mobility via government programs. The amount of waste generated by inefficient and bloated government is quite large. The Left focuses too much on raising taxes first, but that wouldn't be as necessary if we could deal with out-of-control and wasteful spending -- and corruption -- elsewhere (and as much as I support high military expenditure, even and especially there). The government doesn't have to stay captured forever. If we want it to work better for all Americans, we have to free it. To do that, we need to show the public where its chains are attached.
28
Where the chains are attached - healthcare spending.
Medicare spending alone will bankrupt the country if obscene cost increases aren't halted. And don't forget about drug prices, another obscene venue of waste, fraud and abuse.
The conservative position? Everybody has to fend for themselves as conservatives continue their quest to drown the government in a bathtub.
Opiate of the people - actually, opiates. We have to anesthetize ourselves in the face on ongoing corruption in government (thanks you Citizens United) and the power of oligarchs to destroy our lives.
15
Please don't forget the ridiculous, bloated military spending.
1
Trump and his cohorts have turned this administration in a booming business opportunity. They are not grifters, defined as small-scale swindlers. They are lining their pockets in full corruption mode and the danger is that too many are comfortable with this corruption. Ridiculous slogans like "boys will be boys" or "this is politics as usual" are dangerous and corrode social and ethical norms. If this is politics as usual, then we might as well sell political offices to the highest bidder and be done with any illusion that this is government by the people for the people.
In this administration, for cabinet members, flying commercial is only for the poor schlubs. Foreign governments patronize Trump properties for access. Eric Trump's foundation, Curetivity, has paid $150,000 to hold events at Trump properties, so part of your donation goes to line Trump's pocket. Panama and Indonesia are chomping at the bit to accommodate Trump properties.
Are we becoming anesthetized to all of this? Will future presidents refuse to release their tax returns? Will conflicts of interest be considered acceptable?
His base is perfectly comfortable with the corruption in this cesspool of an administration. The rest of us need to continue to be repulsed and sickened by it. Maybe we all need an anti-Trump vaccine. I want the disease to stop spreading before our entire government is infected by it.
107