Bernhardt also seems to have been one of the central administration players in the drama of Lafayette Square, when protesters were ejected by military police to make way for Trump and his Bible.
But he’s not volunteering any information. “The Babe Ruth of stonewalling,” said Ron Wyden, the Democratic senator from Oregon who’s been following Bernhardt’s career for a long time. Bernhardt traveled recently to Wyden’s home state where he met with Native American tribes — and refused, Wyden noted, to wear a mask.
If you’re into the environment and want another option, there’s E.P.A. head Andrew Wheeler, a former lobbyist for — wait for it — energy companies. His latest crusade is extending the life of gigantic pits of coal sludge.
Or how about U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer? He’s not in the news as much as some of the others, but we’ll always remember his speech defending Trump’s China wars, revealing, “I don’t know what the end goal is.”
More! How about health and human services head Alex Azar? He’s been on the job a couple of years now, which by Trump standards makes him a hardened veteran. When he’s not busy failing to respond to the pandemic, one of his other missions is overseeing the administration’s attempts to gut the Affordable Care Act and replace it with … some other thing.
You don’t have to reward splashy bad behavior if you prefer the more modest figures who prefer to screw everything up from behind the scenes. Like Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, whose standing in the Worst poll soared when people realized they had a secretary of education who didn’t like public schools.
Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao may not have done much for infrastructure, but she sure is connected. Wife of Mitch McConnell, Chao is also a member of a wealthy and powerful family that’s deeply into shipping contracts. That got up to $1 million from our government’s recession-fighting Paycheck Protection Program.
So — who’s your favorite? Send me a Worst Cabinet Member pick in the comments. Voting’s open until midnight Eastern time on Sunday, and we’ll announce the winners next week.
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