As Todd Blanche, Erica Schwartz and Jay Clayton face the Senate, a fundamental disconnect becomes clear

There’s been a lot of discussion in America this week about the meaning of integrity.

You didn’t hear the word used directly; it was alluded to indirectly – in wondering whether Lindsey Graham was an immoral opportunist or clever pragmatist; in suspecting Todd Blanche of being more loyal to Trump than to the nation; in distrusting Erica Schwartz, Trump’s latest pick to lead the CDC, when she said she would never compromise on the science; in doubting Jay Clayton, his pick for director of national intelligence, will tell Trump anything he doesn’t want to hear.

Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Guardian US columnist and his newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com. His new book, Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America, is out now in the US and in the UK

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