Politics

Politico profile describes Meadows as 'Trump whisperer" and 'go-to guy'

By Bill Moss, Published: January 20, 2019

U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows continues to enjoy broad influence with President Trump despite being passed over for the White House chief of staff job, Politico reports.

In a story under the headline "Mark Meadows, Trump whisperer," the website describes Meadows as the president's "go-to guy," a close ally who talks on the phone frequently with Trump and serves to enforce the conservative hard-line positions that the Freedom Caucus stands for. Meadows and Trump speak several times a day on some days and sometimes for an hour.

"The result is that a three-term congressman little known outside the Beltway has earned an outsized influence on shaping the direction of the Trump administration — and the country," the report said. "Meadows has the president’s ear on any number of topics, from immigration and border security to criminal justice and international affairs. And he’s used that access to push Trump toward stances aligned with the rapidly ascendant House Freedom Caucus, the hard-line conservative and libertarian caucus founded in 2015 that Meadows chairs.

"In other words, Meadows — who many people, even those in D.C., probably couldn’t pick out of a lineup — might be one of the country’s most powerful lawmakers."

The story traces Meadows' close relationship with Trump to the presidential campaign when Meadows, one of the first members of Congress to endorse him, became "the de facto chairman of Trump’s operation in North Carolina." While other congressional leaders were putting distance between themselves and Trump when the Access Hollywood tape broke, Meadows and his wife, Debbie, sprang to his defense.

“Debbie was on a bus with Christian women on Billy Bush Saturday, which was basically the acid test for hardcore Trump supporters," a Trump campaign official told Politico. "She and Mark were at the barricades with us.”