Whether the question is “Did Donald Trump play golf last weekend” or “What policy changes is the Environmental Protection Agency planning,” don’t expect answers from the Trump regime. Trump has gone from campaign promises of draining the swamp and transparency to stocking the swamp with alligators under cover of darkness—and he has a partner in secrecy in Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who is keeping the Senate Republican plan to strip health care from millions of Americans as closely guarded as Trump’s tax returns.
Even some Republicans admit to being frustrated:
“I was very frustrated the Obama administration held things so close to the vest . . . but I quite frankly haven’t seen any change with the Trump administration. In some ways I find it worse,” said outgoing Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), who chaired the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform before announcing his retirement this spring. […]
“I see a bureaucracy that doesn’t want documents and the truth out the door . . . and just flipping the middle finger at Congress,” Chaffetz said.
But don’t worry. One of the most confident, if nonsensical, liars in the White House can explain how this isn’t really secrecy.
“I disagree, at least from a White House perspective, that things are happening in secrecy,” said Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the principal deputy White House press secretary. She said reporters walk in and out of her office freely asking questions, noting that a reporter from The Washington Post was “the eighth one in the last 10 minutes” to visit her on Monday afternoon.
Got that? As long as reporters can ask questions, it doesn’t matter whether those questions are ever answered (let alone truthfully).
This is a Creative Commons article. The original version of this article appeared here.
