Ask a Pundit: Why Does Scott Pruitt Still Have a Job?

Mother Jones; Andrew Harnik/AP

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Martin Longman asks a provocative question: Why is Scott Pruitt untouchable? Trump has fired loads of other people, but despite Pruitt’s almost comical accumulation of embarrassing scandals, he has somehow managed to hang on. What’s the deal with this? How does Pruitt do it? I’m here to help:

He has not called Donald Trump either a moron or an idiot.
He does not argue with Trump about policy.
He does not bore Trump with lengthy white papers.
He believes climate change is hogwash.
Liberals hate his guts.
The press is gunning for him.
He is nakedly avaricious and enjoys taking revenge on his enemies—two traits that Trump approves of.
Trump doesn’t really care about scandals per se, only about scandals that threaten to touch him in any way.
Pruitt’s scandals don’t touch Trump in any way.

Any other questions?