WWII bomber pilots often said you can tell you’re over the target when the flak is heaviest. That’s definitely true in Elaine Chao’s case. She’s Trump’s Secretary of Transportation and lately she’s come under a series of attacks in the media. It’s all because she refuses to play Washington games.
During bomber missions during World War II, B-17 pilots flew to Germany to bomb Germany’s Nazi war machine. The German resistance didn’t start attacking them until the bomber pilots were close to the target.
In Washington, the same principle holds true.
Elaine Chao is one of the most effective cabinet secretaries in the Trump Administration. She’s pushing some of the most comprehensive deregulation efforts including rolling back the draconian Obama era fuel economy rules as well as overseeing an investigation into the discriminatory attacks on Chick-Fil-A by two airports — one in Texas and one in New York state.
Federal law and regulation requires that airports not bar or prohibit anyone on the basis of their religious beliefs from “participating in airport activities” if the facility benefits or receives FAA grant funding.
The left cried foul, assuming that their narrow extremist views could be imposed against Chick-Fil-A without consequence. Instead of the accolades and applause of the leftwing “swells,” Chao backed an investigation that will likely lead to a complete reversal and possibly fines over the blatant and illegal religious discrimination carried out by these airports.
Last summer in a Wall Street Journal op-ed headlined “Make Cars Great Again,” Elaine Chao and EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler explained the implications of their agency’s joint proposed Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFÉ) reforms. This plan will make traditional cars — the kind that uses gasoline — affordable and safe instead of tilting the marketplace towards the less affordable electric variety.
Existing CAFÉ rules set up during the Obama Administration could have raised the price of cars using gasoline by as much as $10,000 higher than they would be ordinarily according to some studies. But the new Trump era rule shepherded by Chao and Wheeler eliminates that spike with cost savings measured as much as $500 billion — roughly $2,500 cost reduction per new vehicle — and reduce fatalities by more than 10,000 lives.
Rather than recognize these “missions” as significant and positive, the mainstream press has gone into attack mode.
Take the New York Times — which ran a front-page story alleging ethics concerns for Elaine Chao. Yet even the piece itself acknowledged there was no wrongdoing.
Attacking the Secretary personally rather than her and President Trump’s agenda is an insidious way to attack the mission. Looking out for the interests of the American people and promoting domestic manufacturing the way Chao has is what Washington policymakers should be doing. But the Deep State thinks that mission must be stopped.
During WWII, The Memphis Belle flew one its many famous missions. The plane had to get through a screen of German fighter planes as well as avoid anti-aircraft fire from submarines. That flight and 24 more were a success and ultimately helped American win WWII.
Let’s hope Secretary Chao similarly succeeds with her mission so America can win today.
Horace Cooper is a writer and legal commentator. Previously a visiting assistant professor of law at George Mason University School of Law, his research focus was on U.S. intellectual property rights policy, the role of the United States Supreme Court in the American constitutional system, political forecasting, the legislative process, and federal labor law. Mr. Cooper has also served in senior capacities in the George W. Bush Administration including at the Voice of America and in the Department of Labor under then Secretary Elaine Chao, and on Capitol Hill as Counsel to former Majority Leader Richard K. Armey. To read more of his reports — Click Here Now.
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