So, another one bites the dust. On Friday evening it was announced that Trump fired … well, ‘re-assigned’ … White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney. Mulvaney will be a “special envoy to Northern Ireland”, another term for another useless person on the payroll doing nothing. Given some of Mulvaney’s actions, such as when he was attempting to defend the indefensible Ukraine phone call that led to Trump’s impeachment and he told us to “get over it”, I don’t have much empathy for ol’ Mick. But the person replacing him is none other than the extremely ignoble Mark Meadows, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina. I will tell you a bit about Mr. Meadows in a minute.
This is the fourth chief of staff that Trump has had in just three years … a turnover rate that says more about Trump than it does about the lackeys who held the position. If there is one word that best defines this administration, it is ‘chaos’. You cannot have stability in any organization with the turnover ratio Trump has. It’s not only the chief of staff, but I can name a dozen positions that have been revolving doors since day one.
Now, let me tell you just a bit about Mr. Mark Meadows.
Meadows is one of the founders, along with Jim Jordan and other such characters, of the House Freedom Caucus. The group was founded in 2015 as a part of the Tea Party movement, and have largely done nothing but cause disruption, obstruction and obfuscation.
- While running for office in June 2012, Meadows said, “2012 is the time we are going to send Mr. Obama home to Kenya or wherever it is,” implying that President Obama was not born in the United States. He made a similar comment later that month.
- In February 2013 Meadows voted against renewing the Violence Against Women Act. Meadows has said he casts his votes based not on his personal feelings but on what the majority of his constituents in “God’s Country” tell him to do.
- In December 2016 Meadows gave Trump a wish list of regulations to be repealed. It included a demand to get rid of federal funding to study climate change. He also requested Trump repeal several environmental regulations, including the Renewable Fuel Standard, end the prohibition of drilling oil on federal lands, and pull the US out of the Paris Climate Agreement.
- He is against LGBT rights, against any form of gun regulation, against net neutrality.
- Last December he blatantly lied about Trump’s phone call to Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, even though the transcript of the call put paid to the lie.
- Meadows presented a letter to Donald Trump in 2016 that demanded the repeal of certain laws that exist to ensure fair pay for public works employees, and also demanded the repeal of the federal overtime rule.
- Meadows is staunchly against the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and was largely responsible for pushing then-Speaker of the House John Boehner to shut down the government in 2013 unless the ACA was defunded.
Last December, Meadows announced that he would not seek re-election this year. Our friend Keith, who lives in Meadows’ district in North Carolina, explained that the previously gerrymandered district maps had been re-drawn and that Meadows’ chances of winning re-election would be slim-to-none. He is apparently hoping to run for the U.S. Senate seat that will be vacated by Senator Richard Burr in 2022. Meanwhile, I guess he plans to bide his time creating more chaos and havoc as Trump’s chief of staff until next January 20th when Trump will officially be escorted off the premises, and Meadows and all the others along with him.
And in other news …
Last night, amid the growing coronavirus pandemic, after visiting the CDC and making a complete fool out of himself, Trump entertained the torcher of the Amazon Rain Forest, Jair Bolsonaro at Mar-a-Lago. Not a care in the world for those two destroyers of Planet Earth …
Oh look … Ivanka and Jared are there, too. I can’t help wondering how much this is costing We the Taxpayer???
One last thought …
If you live in the U.S. and didn’t switch your clocks ahead one hour last night … stop reading this and go do so now, else you won’t know the right time and you’ll be late all day today! And speaking of Daylight Saving’s Time …
So, when is he going to fire Ivanka?
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Oh, probably never … she’s his ‘eye candy’, y’know.
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If his own daughter is his “eye-candy,” her hubby better be cattying a shotgun at family dinners.
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Methinks that hubby Jared cares not … he gets her on Saturdays, after all, and meanwhile, he is making all those contacts that … profit him and his business.
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Yeah, but! Would you want your momma’s leftovers? I surely would not want my sperm-supplier’s spoils.
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No, I would not either, but … these people are not like us. They don’t have the same values, the same human compassion. Their families, their spouses, their children … they are all just part of the power trip, the ego trip. I do NOT envy them one bit.
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I agree with you there. They threw their spirits under the buses.
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Jill, Mulvaney was asked to defang a successful agency, because banks and credit card companies did not like its success. The Consumer Financial Protection agency punished these folks for aggressive and fraudulent marketing. The GOP was told to defang it.
Mulvaney also confirmed that Trump tried to extort Ukraine and told us to get over it. He later backed away, but the line echoes. But, of course, the senate needs no stinking witnesses.
As for Meadows, the employees take on the personality of its leader. I have had over 100 calls with Senate and House staff members, by far, the most beligerent calls have been with Meadows staff members. Almost all of the other calls have been cordial. My personal favorite was the remark the nonpartisan CBO was often wrong when I said the tax law would raise the debt by $1.5 trillion over ten years.. After two years, the CBO appears to be correct in their estimates. I asked why do elected officials praise the CBO when their estimates support an argument, but condemn the same folks when they don’t?
Meadows will bring that to the White House. But, the one thing for certain is at some point, he will offend the king. As an attorney who worked for Trump for years said, if Trump likes you, don’t get used to it. Keith
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With all the brouhaha surrounding him in the position of White House chief of staff, I keep forgetting that he is also the Director of the OMB. I guess, since his sole purpose there was to destroy that agency from within, his job there is fairly easy. I wonder if he can do that and be in Northern Ireland at the same time?
I agree about Meadows … I suspect it will be a short amount of time before he will somehow displease Trump or the two will butt heads. It’s like one big free-for-all these days, isn’t it?
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Jill, Mulvaney should be remembered for being accused of sloppy-to-deceitful budget when he double counted the benefit of a change to make the numbers look better. As an accountant, you know how that is window-dressing. Keith
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Agreed … if he did that in business, he’d be digging ditches for a living now. Or, working for a shady outfit … oh wait, he is working for a shady outfit. 😉
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Maybe all that close contact at Mar-a-Lago will create a bit of havoc with tRumpsky’s health. Oh wait. No Democrats were present so all is O.K.
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Well, they did find that one of the guests at CPAC where he spoke last week tested positive. Not, mind you, that I’d wish any bad luck on the old ba***rd, but ….
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Gosh. One has to wonder how that person could possibly have tested positive because, like I said, not a single Democrat was present. And it IS all their fault, you know.
Wish bad luck on “anyone”? Never! 😈
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Give ’em time, and I’m sure they’ll find that there was a democrat working in the kitchen or something. Probably planted there by the subversive democrats.
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Yes, the chaos in Washington DC goes on… To make matters worse, I’ve just lost an hour of my day!
Since Mar-a-Lago has become our nation’s capital for entertaining visiting foreign leaders, its members can now hobnob with the president and his honored guests.
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Yes, I’ve been mourning the loss of that hour all day! And probably will for a week or two until I get back in sync. Considering that guests of Mar-a-Lago pay an initial $200,000 to join (it was $100,000, but doubled upon Trump’s inauguration), plus a fee of $14,000 per year, plus up to $2,000 per night … they ought to get something for their money! A glance at Jair Bolsonaro just doesn’t quite seem worth it, though. Ugh.
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Wow, that’s quite an elite group!
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For sure. Not one I would even aspire to … what a waste of money, eh?
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Well, I always blamed Daylight Savings Time on the golfers, but I also come from a place where we were smart enough not to indulge in it (Saskatchewan). Then we moved to BC. And then I had to get up this morning to go somewhere, and it was an hour earlier than it should have been, and well…coffee… Happy Lose an Hour Day!
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Golfers??? That’s a new one on me! Sigh … I didn’t have anywhere to go this morning, but still mourned the loss of an hour of my life that I may never get back! 😥
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Clocks may be real, but time is still a figment of our imagination. You cannot ever lose an hour of your life, although it may feel like it if you party too hardy. Time is probably the 4th worst-ever invention of humanity after god, gold, and government.
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Hmmmm … I think I agree with you on your perception of time, and it’s place in the hall of fame for mankind’s worst ever inventions.
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It was the unreality of time that led me to the others, but they surpassed time by miles, another figment of our imaginations. LuL.
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LuL2
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Jill, WTF is going on over there?
You don’t need to alter the clocks, you need to alter Washington.
Have a hug. 💝
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We have devolved into total chaos under a “leader” (and I use that term tongue-in-cheek) who has no idea what he is doing and is too stupid to listen to wiser heads. We apparently decided that we wished to be the laughingstock of Planet Earth, and we’re well on our way to that title. Sigh. Yep, we need to alter Washington and I surely hope we do that in November. Meanwhile … chaos reigns. Thanks for the hug! ❤
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Reblogged this on Musings on Life & Experience and commented:
Be sure to especially watch the short film at the end.
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Thanks for the re-blog, Suzanne! 😊
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Dalight Saving time is when the summer pixies take an hour away from everyone to make Sparkley dust to sprinkle on the waters of flowing streams and Happy Hums to float on the breezes.
Tell a Trump supporter the Democrats want to stop the summer pixies from doing that and they’ll believe the whole thing.
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I like your way of explaining daylight savings time! It makes losing that hour seem a little less traumatic! Yeah … da trumpeters will believe anything bad about the democrats … and in fairness, vice versa.
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Well they started it!
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‘Tis true … they did! 😤
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I always thought British Summer Time was adopted to help Children. Firstly to go to school while it was light and then to go home before it got too dark. It shows if a story is repeated often enough you’ll believe it.
Cwtch
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I wonder just how many theories there are about it all? Much of the state of Indiana do not change time, for the farmers say it upsets their cows to change their schedule. It gets confusing if you’re driving through the state.
Cwtch
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Increasingly looks like a cheesy modern remake of Nero.
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It does, doesn’t it?
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At the rate Trump is firing staff, I still think he is running the Apprentice show. Meadows does read like a piece of work
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I do think that Trump views the whole thing as just another episode of a ‘reality’ show. The fact that he is playing games with the lives of real people only adds to the thrill for him. Sigh.
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I think you are right. It could also explain why some of the appointments are of evidently incompetent people
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At this point, nearly every appointment is somebody unqualified for the position in which they’ve been placed, like a climate denier to head the EPA. A person in charge of the Department of Education who doesn’t believe in public schools. And the list goes on …
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There were some of those appointments to the federal courts of persons who have never been inside a courtroom.
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