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All things considered, it’s been a bad month for the EPA’s Administrator Scott Pruitt. Despite a number of high-profile controversies, the Kentucky native has been one of the longest-standing officials of the Trump administration, so far managing to avoid the fate of the likes of Steve Bannon and Rex Tillerson and remain in the notoriously volatile president’s good books.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.But now, with several ethical and spending scandals coming to light while the Dems ramp up their campaign to oust him from the post, things could be changing.
Then, there’s his latest fail: Not updating his LinkedIn profile.
At the time of writing, he is still listed as the Attorney General of Oklahoma, a post he took up in 2011 and retired in 2017 when he was confirmed Administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Even more embarrassingly, he has forgotten to delete this particular zinger that describes himself as “…a leading advocate against the EPA’s activist agenda…”.
British comedian and political commentator John Oliver was the first to notice this slip up, pointing it out to viewers in a recent episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.
“This is a pretty sudden fall from grace for Pruitt who’s been a conservative favorite for his aggressively pro-industry stance,” the TV host said. “So aggressive, in fact, that even though he is literally in charge of the EPA, his LinkedIn page still lists him as a leading advocate against the EPA’s activist agenda.”
True, Pruitt’s anti-EPA stance is not exactly breaking news. Trump totally ignored the neon signs flashing major “conflict of interest” when he appointed Pruitt, a man who has sued the EPA a total of 14 times during the Obama administration.
But this latest revelation is still shockingly blatant and only adds fuel to the fire of those who want to #BootPruitt – including more than half of his own staff. His current approval rating stands at a measly 29 percent, lower even than the president’s, which hovers around the 40 percent mark.
It’s also not the only contradiction on his profile. Pruitt also claims to be “a leading voice for fiscal responsibility” and, on his Oklahoma State Senator section, “the leading spokesman for… greater accountability for government spending”.
This all sounds just a tad hypocritical when he is being questioned over a number of spending scandals, including his $50 condo rental, $800,000 plus security bill (in his first three months), exorbitant travel costs, and questionable pay rises etcetera, etcetera.
