TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “When Mark Meadows didn’t get President Donald Trump’s chief of staff gig, he wasn’t losing out on much. Just 10 days later, the powerful conservative lawmaker managed to engineer what has become the longest-running government shutdown ever — persuading Trump to pull the trigger right as the partial closure was on the brink of being avoided. Meadows picked up the phone to make his move just after Vice President Mike Pence had told lawmakers over lunch on Dec. 19 — two days before government funding would expire — that Trump was prepared to sign a clean spending bill to keep the government open through early February. The North Carolina Republican, who helped shutter the government in 2013 during a revolt against Obamacare, wasn’t prepared to back away from demanding funds for a border wall. And despite Pence’s clear-as-day comments, he assumed the president wasn’t either..Four sources with knowledge of their relationship said Trump talks to Meadows more than he does with many of his senior aides. They sometimes spend an hour-plus on the phone together or speak more than once per day. The result is that a three-term congressman little-known outside the Beltway has earned an outsize influence on shaping the direction of the Trump administration — and the country.”
–Gabby Orr, “Mark Meadows, Trump whisperer,” Politico, January 20, 2019 9:09 am