EPA chief’s paranoia reaches fever pitch—and jeopardizes agency’s future --
| What Is Scott Pruitt So Afraid Of? In an influential and now canonical essay published in Harper's Magazine in the autumn of 1964, historian Richard Hofstader warned against what he called "the paranoid style in American politics." Hofstader's warning was mostly aimed at the presidential candidacy of Senator Barry Goldwater, the Arizona Republican who many feared was a nuclear-trigger-happy extremist. But, as Hofstader illustrated, paranoia has a long lineage in U.S. politics—one that includes the nativist and Know Nothing politics of the early 19th century, and "free silver" platform of the late 19th century Populist Party, the anti-Catholic fervor at the turn of the 20th century, and through to Senator Joseph McCarthy's hysterical anti-Communism. Hofstader wrote, "I call it the paranoid style simply because no other word adequately evokes the sense of heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy." Turns out that heated exaggeration and conspiratorial fantasy never really go out of style. Look no further than EPA administrator Scott Pruitt. Pruitt's over-the-top security measures have generated a flood of media attention and criticism, including from some Republicans. The exposés reveal a cabinet official obsessed with the idea that he is under threat. But what, exactly, is Scott Pruitt so afraid of? And why?
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt | Photo by AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais It's Time to Boot Pruitt: Scott Pruitt’s dirty dealings put us in danger. Rollbacks of the EPA's clean car standards are just the latest example of him choosing corporate polluters over our health. He is unfit to lead. #BootPruitt!
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