The Washington Post outdid itself last week in the dog-bites-man department, trumpeting one of those yawn-inducing nonevents that have come to be hyped in the age of the Trump resistance. Here’s the ballyhooed breaking news item: A long-time EPA employee is retiring. Yes, that’s the story. Elizabeth Southerland, after a 30-year career at the Environmental Protection Agency, is retiring from her $250,000-a-year job. She’ll now be eligible for government retirement benefits.
“68-year old bureaucrat retires” rivals “worthwhile Canadian initiative” in the boring headline sweepstakes. But, give her some credit, Southerland made her routine retirement a significant national event. How? You guessed it—by blasting Donald Trump. So now it’s big news.
“EPA won’t be able to do the ‘right thing’ under Trump, says latest protesting official,” read the Post’s headline. On announcing her departure, Southerland criticized the president’s proposed budget, which slashes funding for the EPA. Of course, his budget hasn’t taken effect—and has almost no chance of ever being implemented. And lest we forget our elementary civics, it is Congress that writes budgets.
As for Southerland’s courageous protest? She may have left federal employ but didn’t leave behind her nice, fat government pension. Brave, brave stuff, that.
