(CNN) When I asked The Point's own Brenna Williams to gather up the most recent headlines surrounding EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, I knew that a) there would be a lot and b) most of those would be negative. But what she turned up surprised even me.
Here are the major headlines about Pruitt from just the past month:
Exorbitant pen costs! Using government staff as personal servants! Capitalizing on your office to further your own personal and business interests! And that's just in the last month!
Asked Tuesday about the latest Washington Post report that Pruitt had an EPA aide reach out about the possibility of a Chick-fil-A franchising opportunity, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said only that "we continue to have concerns and look into those, and we'll address them."
That is the same line that's been coming out of the White House for the last few months, as Pruitt has been buffeted by negative headline after negative headline -- the vast majority of which cast him as the swampiest of DC creatures, getting fat and happy on the privilege accorded to a Cabinet member and using the office he holds to pursue personal enrichment.
"He is about as swampy as you get here in Washington, DC," said Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst on Tuesday.
And yet, through it all, Pruitt is still the top official at the EPA.
Which raises a very simple question: How? And/or: Why?
We know, after all, that President Donald Trump doesn't like negative headlines created by anyone who is not him. And that, even for those he had publicly pledged support, he often simply decides it's time to get rid of them after too many bad headlines pile up.
Tom Price. Rex Tillerson. H.R. McMaster. David Shulkin. Steve Bannon. Anthony Scaramucci.
So why not Pruitt?
It's hard to definitively say.
But it seems that two things are keeping Pruitt in office long after what looks like his expiration date.
The first is that he is pursuing an agenda -- rolling back Obama era regulations, supporting Trump's decision to pull out of the Paris climate accords etc. -- that Trump very much approves of. If you judge a Cabinet secretary's success by their ability to do what the boss wants -- and in as short a time period as possible -- then Pruitt is without doubt one of the most successful Cabinet officials in the Trump administration, if not the single most successful.
The second is that Trump sees a kindred spirit in Pruitt. Pruitt is brash and unapologetic in his views. And that tone and approach has often alienated establishment types -- both in Pruitt's native Oklahoma and since his arrival in Washington. That's the same narrative Trump has for himself -- a china-breaker who freaks out the squares.
(Of course, Pruitt's deep swampiness runs directly counter to Trump's mental image of himself but, well, I guess the President doesn't care about that so much.)
While it has always been true that Cabinet secretaries serve at the pleasure of the president who nominated them, it feels even more true in the Trump administration. Trump revels in the idea that at a snap of his fingers he can get rid of a Cabinet official. And, as is the case with Pruitt, that he can keep someone he likes on even though members of his own party are basically now openly urging him to jettison the EPA head.
Trump likes that he holds Pruitt's fate in the palm of his hand. And that he confounds the establishment by keeping Pruitt in office.