Why Does Scott Pruitt Need a Bulletproof Desk, a Bulletproof Car, and $3 Million in 24/7 Security?

Cheriss May/NurPhoto via ZUMA

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Donald Trump stands by his man:

While Security spending was somewhat more than his predecessor, Scott Pruitt has received death threats because of his bold actions at EPA. Record clean Air & Water while saving USA Billions of Dollars. Rent was about market rate, travel expenses OK. Scott is doing a great job!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 8, 2018

Death threats! My goodness. Well, let’s see them:

I had filed a #FOIA with EPA for any records of death threats made against Scott Pruitt.
EPA said it had zero recorss. https://t.co/XsCctrPYi7
— Jason Leopold (@JasonLeopold) April 8, 2018

This is shocking. The president of the United States is just baldly lying? But that’s not all. He’s not even putting his heart into it:

.@realDonaldTrump tepidly Tweeting @ 8pm from who knows where sitting w who knows who:
• Pruitt’s security: “somewhat more than his predecessor.”
• Pruitt’s rent: “about market rate.”
• Pruitt’s travel expenses: “Ok.”
He can’t even convince himself.https://t.co/kV7CCd2j1u
— Philippe Reines (@PhilippeReines) April 8, 2018

Are you following Philippe Reines on Twitter? You should be. Reines is a famously, um, colorful guy who’s a longtime Hillary Clinton aide, and after she lost he took to Twitter and decided he didn’t give a shit what he said anymore. This naturally makes him great fun to read.
Oh, and as long as we’re on the subject of Pruitt, Michael Grunwald has a long piece in Politico making the point that Pruitt hasn’t actually accomplished much. He’s certainly good at self-promotion, but the fact is that rolling back EPA rules takes years of careful, detailed work. Will Pruitt pay attention long enough to do any of that? We’ll see. But so far it doesn’t seem like it. The press coverage seem to be what he’s really after.