Pruitt, of course, still doesn’t seem to think he did anything wrong, and the only reason he’s packing his bags is because a bunch of vindictive liberals had it out for him. In April, when we didn’t even know about the Chick-fil-A and the lotion and the fancy pens, he insisted the revelations about his luxe spending habits and sweetheart housing arrangements that had emerged thus far were part of a liberal plot against him, and that his enemies would “resort to anything” to stop him from deconstructing Obama’s environmental regulatory regime. Speaking to The Washington Times, Pruitt said he was under attack by a “bastion of liberalism,” which apparently forced him to sign a rental agreement that virtually anyone could’ve told him was ethically iffy at best.

Perhaps, unsurprisingly, his few remaining defenders are in full agreement, and can’t believe Trump didn’t continuing backing their buddy. “I am just so disappointed in the president’s failure to support Scott against the angry attacks from the loony left,” Republican donor Doug Deason told Politico. “Nothing he did amounted to anything big. He was THE most effective Cabinet member by far.“ He added, “Scott Pruitt is a sacrificial lamb and I have no idea why.” To The Washington Post, Deason said: “[The president] is giving in to the loony left and is making a huge mistake.” Meanwhile, as CNN’s Brian Stelter documents, Pruitt’s pals in the media are convinced that his ouster was the result of journalists trying to take another “scalp.” Radio host Hugh Hewitt, who had his own personal line to Pruitt, said his friend had been “caricatured by left and MSM”. Fox News commentator Mollie Hemingway said the hit on Pruitt had been “well funded and media coordinated”. The Wall Street Journal editorial board called Pruitt a victim of the “permanent progressive state.”

Out here in reality, of course, it’s clear Pruitt was told to go because 1) his ethically bankrupt ways were getting in the way of his mandate to destroy the environment—something even Republican lawmakers acknowledged—and 2) a personal relationship with Trump will only get you so far: the president is only happy to condone extreme corruption until he sees it as a liability. It’s also clear that while Republican-controlled, Trump-brainwashed Congress initially seemed hesitant to hang Pruitt out to dry—House Republicans launched only one investigation into his wrongdoings, and G.O.P. lawmakers somewhat skittishly called for Pruitt to “answer questions” and told him he “can’t just go around acting like a big shot”—even the G.O.P. was willing to drag Pruitt through the mud once the president made his definitive opinion known. Because heaven forbid anyone ruffle the bright orange feathers of the grifter-in-chief.