We begin today’s roundup with Scott Bixby at The Daily Beast and his piece on EPA administrator’s Scott Pruitt’s corruption:
Not since Louise Linton—the Real Housewife of the United States Treasury who swanned into America’s collective consciousness with an Instagram rant defending taxpayer-funded trips on military jets and her use of hashtags like #hermesscarf and #valentinorockstudheels—has a member of President Trump’s coterie so aggressively courted the perception that public service is a smashing opportunity for graft. But where Linton only used her spouse’s position to build her online brand and catch the occasional $33,000 solar eclipse, Pruitt has used his position at the top of an underfunded federal agency to enjoy trappings fit for a head of state.
Ryan Cooper at The Week points out that Pruitt’s unethical behavior isn’t anything new:
Taking what look very much like bribes from energy lobbyists is just par for the course for Pruitt. Indeed, he may not have seen the ethical problem because he views his job as dismantling the agency for which he works on behalf of the fossil fuels industries. What's the big deal? It's not like it changed his views in any substantive way. He would have eagerly done the bidding of any energy lobbyist no matter how much money they were giving him. It's just what he did as the attorney general of Oklahoma, during which he repeatedly sued the EPA working hand-in-glove with oil and gas companies.
Juliet Eilperin, Brady Dennis and Josh Dawsey at The Washington Post:
Even as President Trump repeatedly expressed his support for Pruitt in public, top White House aides began to escalate their disapproval, suggesting the administrator has mischaracterized his role in boosting the salaries of two employees. On Thursday evening, two EPA officials confirmed that Pruitt endorsed the idea last month of giving substantial raises to senior counsel Sarah Greenwalt and scheduling and advance director Millan Hupp — although he did not carry out the pay raise himself.
Switching topics, Parkland shooting survivor Eden Hebron writes about her experience at USA Today:
Looking back, I see myself sitting under there. Under that table, thinking these were my last moments of life. And I may have just watched Alyssa die, but another person will now watch me die.
But I survived. I walked out of that classroom thinking, “Why not me?”
I still think this every single day.
Madeline Albright warns us of Trump’s foreign policy trajectory:
Instead of mobilizing international coalitions to take on world problems, he touts the doctrine of “every nation for itself” and has led America into isolated positions on trade, climate change and Middle East peace. Instead of engaging in creative diplomacy, he has insulted United States neighbors and allies, walked away from key international agreements, mocked multilateral organizations and stripped the State Department of its resources and role. Instead of standing up for the values of a free society, his oft-vented scorn for democracy’s building blocks has strengthened the hands of dictators. No longer need they fear United States criticism regarding human rights or civil liberties. On the contrary, they can and do point to Trump’s own words to justify their repressive actions.
On a final note, here’s Eugene Robinson on the status of Robert Mueller’s investigation and how a Republican congress can keep the facts hidden from the American people:
Spoiler alert: We already have evidence that Trump at least tried his best to obstruct justice; and despite the president’s frequent all-caps tweets to the contrary, collusion is still very much an open question. For more definitive answers, however, we have to await special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s findings — and there is no guarantee we will learn, in detail, everything he finds out. [...]
Now we have yet another reason to vote in November: A Democratic Congress is the only ironclad guarantee that we will fully learn whether Americans helped Russians subvert our democracy and whether the president tried to cover it up.