Congressman Mark Meadows is to replace Mick Mulvaney, who has been the chief of staff at the White House. A dogmatic financial politician is thus followed by a loyal follower of President Trump.
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He moves from the legislature to the executive, but Mark Meadows remains true to his convictions: the North Carolina MP has long been one of President Trump’s most loyal allies. As one of the figureheads of the House Freedom Caucus parliamentary association, a group of conservative hardliners and state critics, the Meadows, who was elected for the first time in autumn 2012, made his mark as Trump’s defender, not least during the Russia affair and the impeachment process. Around the clock, so to speak, the 60-year-old, along with media-oriented MPs like Jim Jordan from Ohio, Matt Gaetz (Florida) or Devin Nunes (California), protected the president.
Republican Congressman Mark Meadows is to replace Mick Mulvaney, who has previously been chief of staff, in the White House.
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Now Meadows becomes chief of staff of the White House, as Trump surprisingly announced on Friday evening via the short message service Twitter. He had known Meadows for a long time and had a very good relationship with him, the president wrote. The previous incumbent, Mick Mulvaney, will work as a special envoy for Northern Ireland in the future – a post that had been vacant since Trump took office.
The timing of the personnel decision is particularly surprising: the White House is on the defensive because critics accuse the president of not taking the coronavirus epidemic seriously until a few days ago. Above all, the Department of Health leadership did a bad job, partly because only a negligible number of people in the United States have been tested for the corona virus. The The Atlantic magazine speaks of 1895 people, in a country with almost 330 million inhabitants.)
Predecessor with a loose mouth
The 52-year-old Mulvaney, on the other hand, had made himself scarce in Washington in the past few days and had largely left the spotlight on Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and Health Minister Alex Azar in the current excitement. Again and again the acting chief of staff, who had made a name for himself as a dogmatic financial politician during his tenure in the House of Representatives from 2011 to 2017, caused a sensation with his loose mouth. Mulvaney, for example, admitted during a press conference in October 2019 that the United States government had linked the disbursement of aid to Ukraine with the launch of an investigation into Trump’s anti-party opponents.
He also recently said during a speech to students in the UK that America desperately needs more immigrants – “we no longer have people to boost our economic growth.” While this may be true, President Trump is pursuing opposite goals. Then Mulvaney said last weekend at a conference of conservative activists near Washington that the Democrats were politically exploiting the coronavirus epidemic because they hoped Trump would not be re-elected.
Quid pro quo or no? Mick Mulvaney said that the holdup of Ukraine aid was tied to Trump’s DNC server demands. Then he said it wasn’t #WSJWhatsNow pic.twitter.com/nlo05J0ugi
– The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) October 18, 2019
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Meadows, in turn, had signaled months ago that he was ready for a new task. The former businessman had previously announced that he would not apply for another term in the House of Representatives in November. Rather, he wanted to campaign for Trump’s re-election, but without revealing in which position. “My work with President Trump and his government has just started,” he said at the time.
The affable MP is the fourth chief of staff since the President took office in January 2017. In contrast to cabinet ministers, his appointment does not have to be confirmed by the Senate. He is considered a thoroughbred politician who is well networked on the right-hand side of the Republicans. He reportedly exchanges calls with the President on a daily basis. He should also get on well with Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law. Mulvaney also served, at least on paper, as the White House budget director; No one has yet been informed of who will assume this position.
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