Our
Caesar Disgustus ran for this office pledging to drain the swamp.
He drained it alright—right into the White House. The
swamp-monsters, as Senator Elizabeth Warren so aptly calls them, are
now emerging from the bowels of this administration at break-neck
speed.
Steve
Benen is reporting on Rachel Maddow's blog that the newly minted
Secretary of the Interior, David Bernhardt, is now subject of an
ethics probe four days after his confirmation by the Senate.
A
former corporate lobbyist for the oil industry, and it is no surprise
that our Caesar Disgustus would chose just this sort of fox to tend
to the hen house.
“There are a handful
of ways to look at a story like this one,” writes
Benen. “The first is to note the incredible speed with which the Republican cabinet secretary found
himself facing an ethics probe.
“Bernhardt certainly
isn't the first member of Donald Trump's team to find himself under
investigation, but the interior secretary may have set some kind of
land-speed record: he was confirmed on April 11, only to receive word
about an ethics inquiry on April 15.
“The second is to ask
how in the world 56 senators voted to confirm this guy. None of the
controversies surrounding Bernhardt is new; each were well documented
before his nomination reached the Senate floor. (While serving as
former Secretary Ryan Zinke's deputy, Bernhardt had so many conflicts
of interest the 'Washington Post' reported last year that he had to
'carry a small card listing them all,' because he 'worked for years
as a lobbyist representing many of the businesses he now
regulates').” (1)
Bernhardt has now joined a growing list of swamp creatures that have emerged, albeit reluctantly, into the national spotlight, including his predecessor at Interior Ryan Zinke. Then there's Labor Secretary Alex Acosta, accused of protecting a sex trafficker in underage girls, “former EPA administrator Scott Pruitt, former HHS Secretary Tom Price, former regulatory adviser Carl Icahn, HUD Secretary Ben Carson, former CDC Director Brenda Fitzgerald, and White House counselor Kellyane Conway.
“And that wasn't an exhaustive list...(T)here have been related controversies surrounding Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and former VA Secretary David Shulkin.
“While we're at it, lets also not overlook controversies surrounding Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and former FEMA Director Brock Long. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan is also facing an ethics probe—and he hasn't even been nominated for his current post, much less confirmed.” (2)
“An Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh”
Impeach and Imprison.
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