SMART CAREER MOVE

CNN reports that Scott Pruitt wanted to seize an opportunity:

Embattled Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt directly appealed to President Donald Trump this spring to fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions and let him run the Department of Justice instead, according to three people familiar with the proposal. In an Oval Office conversation with Trump, Pruitt offered to temporarily replace Sessions for 210 days under the Vacancies Reform Act, telling the President he would return to Oklahoma afterward to run for office.

Advisers quickly shot down the proposal....

The Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 gives the President the authority to temporarily fill a vacancy at a federal agency if the official "dies, resigns, or is otherwise unable to perform the functions and duties of the office."

An April CNN story said that Trump was considering this move, but it's news that Pruitt was lobbying for it. (Pruitt has denied the report.)

Splinter's Paul Blest thinks the idea is preposterous:

Not sure what’s more wild: that a guy did this while facing over a dozen federal probes right now, mostly for things related to being a tacky dipshit, or that he firmly believes he has a political future waiting for him back in Oklahoma right now.

But of course he has a political future waiting for him back in Oklahoma. He's under investigation, but who's worked up about what he's reported to have done? Liberals. Democrats. The mainstream media. Who's upset at the things he's done as EPA administrator? Environmentalists.

If he wants to run for office in Oklahoma, he has all the right enemies.

And if he'd been given the opportunity to shut down Robert Mueller's probe, how do you think that would be received in Trump Territory? He would have been a hero -- after Trump, he'd have been the single most admired political figure in Red America. How pro-Trump is Oklahoma? In 2016, Trump beat Hillary Clinton in the state 65%-29%. According to the most recent Morning Consult poll, conducted in May, Trump is viewed favorably by a double-digit margin in the state -- 53% favorable, 42% unfavorable. A January poll from Harstad Strategic Research had the margin as 57%-38%. And a poll conducted last month by the Republican-leaning Magellan Strategies said that Trump has 80% approval in the state, and only 14% disapproval.

Pruitt wanted to be the biggest non-Trump hero in Trumpistan. If he'd gotten his wish, the governorship would have been his for the asking.