President Trump hopes the fourth time will be the charm

7-9 minutes

President Donald Trump was eager to share the news of his new pick, and had grown increasingly frustrated with outgoing White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images

President Donald Trump’s new chief of staff plunges into a White House confronting a global virus outbreak and a spooked economy — not to mention a re-election bid increasingly imperiled by both.
It’s a gnarly set of challenges for Mark Meadows, but then again, each of Trump’s three previous chiefs of staff saw their fair share of chaos: Reince Priebus often just tried to keep the administration afloat in its calamitous early days; John Kelly sought to rein in a boss he saw as mercurial and dangerous; Mick Mulvaney helped him stumble into an impeachment scandal.
“It’s hard to overstate the importance of the White House chief of staff role,” said Chris Whipple, author of an authoritative book on the subject, “especially now in the midst of a pandemic when it’s really critical that information is accurate and that the administration is on the same page.”

“I think he’ll calm things down for a while,” a person close to the president said of Meadows. “He’s a quality big player who will command a lot of respect.”

The announcement itself took staff in the White House by surprise — while it was no secret Meadows would be replacing Mulvaney as part of a post-impeachment staff shakeup, Trump’s Friday-evening defenestration by tweet was unexpected. But the president was eager to share the news of his choice, and had grown increasingly frustrated with Mulvaney.

The breaking point for Trump, one person familiar with the president’s reaction said, was Mulvaney’s long-planned trip to Las Vegas. An annual tradition going back decades, the weekend jaunt struck the president as poor timing given the administration’s efforts to grapple with the coronavirus spreading throughout the country. Trump was “not a fan” of the trip, another person familiar with Mulvaney’s Vegas trip confirmed.

On Saturday, staffers expressed optimism about the coming Meadows era, casting it as a fresh start as the White House prepares the president for a grueling campaign season. Aides are looking forward to the return of Hope Hicks, the former communications director, a 2016 campaign stalwart who was a calming presence at the president’s side. Hicks returns to the White House on Monday to work for Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, and will work out of the office across from Kushner that has been used by the president’s scheduler.

Some in Trump’s orbit view the Meadows pick, along with the re-emergence of Hicks, as another way for Kushner to consolidate his power — the two men are close. But a senior administration official cautioned that Meadows has ties to just about every major power center in the White House. He speaks to the president almost daily and has built relationships across the West Wing as well as with Brad Parscale, Trump’s 2020 campaign manager, and Corey Lewandowski, who led the 2016 election effort early on.

“The president is working to make improvements and operations enhancements post-impeachment and as we look towards the 2020 re-elect,” another senior administration official said. “It’s something that’s been in the works for a while.”

Unlike the abrupt departures of Trump’s previous chiefs, a senior administration official noted, this transition will be much smoother as Mulvaney plans to stick around for a few weeks to ease Meadows into his new role. And unlike Priebus and Kelly, both of whom were summarily ousted, Mulvaney gets a softer landing as Trump’s special envoy to Northern Ireland.

Meadows also starts off with the goodwill of Trump’s allies outside the administration, who welcomed his hiring with a hailstorm of congratulatory tweets and positive press. A Breitbart story on the move said the former Freedom Caucus chairman’s arrival had “fortified” the White House.

“There wasn’t a single person that raised their hand in protest,” a White House official observed.

There are still outstanding questions about what kind of chief of staff Meadows aims to be. Trump boasted in a private gathering on Friday evening that Meadows could be his “James Baker,” in reference to President Ronald Reagan’s storied chief of staff, who also managed his successful 1984 re-election efforts. But the president is known to go his own way, regardless of the counsel he’s given.

“The irony here is that Mulvaney is exactly the kind of chief of staff Trump wanted, who was a sycophant and was a lap dog, and there’s no indication that Meadows will be any different because that’s the way Trump operates,” said Whipple. “He has no use for a chief that will tell him hard truths so it’s really unlikely that anything will change.”

It’s also unclear what will happen to some of Mulvaney’s closest allies in the White House, such as his deputy Emma Doyle and policy chief Joe Grogan. Multiple officials said Meadows did not have plans to dramatically shake up the staff, especially during a crisis like the coronavirus and as the president marches into his re-election efforts.

“He’s not trying to be some revolutionary or disrupter,” a senior administration official said. “That would demoralize staff and interrupt some of our well-laid plans.”
For now, Meadows is enjoying what one official described as the “honeymoon” phase of a new chief of staff.
“No matter who the chief of staff is, the president will eventually get sick and tired of that person,” a person close to the president warned. “It's the natural slow death that begins from the moment that one walks in the door."
Nancy Cook contributed reporting.

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