Mick Mulvaney Donald Trump OMB director recently told a group of bankers “If you’re a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didn’t talk to you. If you’re a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you.” he was referencing his time in Congress. Scott Pruitt has been embroiled in numerous scandals recently including being given $50 a night rent in an apartment owned by a lobbyist who had business before the EPA. These scandals are just a few of the massive scandals that have plagued the trump administration.
It’s important to keep in mind what these scandals are they are not Trump scandals but Republican scandals. Mick Mulvaney and Scott Pruitt may be members of the Trump administration but they are also run of the mill republicans. Mick Mulvaney was elected to the House of representatives in 2010. Scott Pruitt was also first elected to serve as Oklahoma attorney general in 2010. The reality is that these guys are not weird and fringe Trump acolytes the way Paul Manafort was but are mainstream republican office holders. The GOP embraced graft and corruption long before Donald Trump came along and will likely continue long after he is gone.
It is important that we keep this in mind especially over the long term. If Donald Trump goes down in flames in the 2020 election many Republicans will try and distance themselves from Trump and his administration and will try and convince everyone that the Trump administrations graft and corruption was just an aberration and not the norm of the republicans party. This is not true and the fact that many of the trump administration members embroiled in scandals like Pruitt and Mulvaney are run of the mill Republicans demonstrates that fact.