April 22, 2018
Amidst the escalating threat that the Southern District of New York’s investigation of Michael Cohen poses to Trump, the mounting evidence that Scott Pruitt is a avaricious grifter with a boundless capacity for corruption hums along like so much background noise. Yesterday, The New York Times detailed Pruitt’s 15 year history of shady self-dealing in the service of his inflated ego, demonstrating that Pruitt’s practice of using public funds to finance his lavish lifestyle is a feature, not a bug (Source: “Scott Pruitt Before the E.P.A.: Fancy Homes, A Shell Company and Friends With Money,” by Steve Eder and Hiroko Tabuchi, The New York Times, 4/21/18). In a pre-Trump era, Pruitt’s history would have disqualified him for nomination to head the E.P.A., let alone confirmation, but in their Machiavellian pursuit of empowering the person best suited to dismantle the E.P.A. and give corporations unfettered license to pollute, most Republicans sit on their hands while Pruitt is the subject of ten federal investigations. As egregious as Pruitt’s behavior is, he hardly holds the record for most shameless Republican public official. That dubious distinction belongs to embattled Missouri Governor Eric Greitens. Greitens, who has already been indicted on invasion of privacy charges arising out of a truly vile act of revenge porn against his former mistress, was indicted last week for misusing the list of charitable donors to a veterans’ charity to fundraise for his campaign (Source: “Missouri Governor Faces New Charge: Misusing Charity List for Campaign,” by Julie Bosman, The New York Times, 4/20/18).
Despite this, Greitens has defiantly refused to resign, decrying the charges as a political witch hunt. His fellow Republican lawmakers, make clucking noises of disapproval and ask for his resignation, rather than moving speedily towards impeachment. Once again, Republicans in Missouri are demonstrating that they value power at any cost. How else can they reconcile crediting the accusations contained in the legislature’s investigative report that the Governor assaulted and raped his former mistress, with their failure to demand that Greitens resign or be impeached? Greitens and Pruitt (along with Trump, of course) are just the most lurid examples of the Republican Party’s abject refusal to hold straight white men accountable for their actions, no matter who they harm or what laws they break. This is their brand, and their promise to their most loyal constituents. No amount of sexual assault, sexual harassment, financial corruption or self-dealing is ever punished, as long as the perpetrators pursue Republican policy goals of stripping women of bodily autonomy, further marginalizing and dehumanizing people of color and LGBTQ people, ripping up every ladder of opportunity for the poor and freeing corporations to prey on ordinary consumers in the pursuit of profits.
Make no mistake, every official with an “R” after their name furthers this agenda (I’m talking to you Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski), whether they personally commit these offenses or not. The evidence is simply too overwhelming to dismiss. Were Joseph Welch alive today to ask the Republicans his famous question, “At long last, have you left no sense of decency?” sadly, the answer would be, “No.”
#Votethemout
#Nooneisabovethelaw
#Bluewave2018