Is Mark Meadows the most unfit and ineffectual of Trump’s inner circle? I don’t think there’s any question about it …
Hours after recordings of President Donald Trump‘s sister surfaced — in which she describes her brother as having “no principles,” and alleged that “he doesn’t read” and had someone take his college entrance exams on his behalf — White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows came to the president’s defense Sunday, characterizing the claims as an inaccurate portrayal of the man he works for.
“The president that I have the privilege of serving is not the one that’s being described on a 15-hour … secret tape,” Meadows said on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday.
“You may see him when he goes to Marine One, there’s a cardboard box that is brought on Marine One. What’s in there are clippings and clippings, each and every day,” Meadows said. “He reads probably more than anybody I know, which causes me to have to read more because every morning he’s giving me a to-do list. Every evening he’s giving me a to-do list.”
“So listen this is politics as usual, by a niece that was written out of a will, that apparently just has an axe to grind because she wants Joe Biden to be president” he continued, referencing a family battle over Trump’s father Fred’s estate, after saying earlier, “You know, just another day and another attack,” echoing the president’s own response to the recordings.
“Every day it’s something else, who cares,” Trump said in a statement on Saturday.
In a normal country that wasn’t composed of 40 percent delusional fools, this would come back to haunt him:
MEADOWS: … I’ve been personally involved in this so I’ll be glad to tell you. Here’s what we continue to look at — and it’s not just the FDA. It’s NIH and others. As we look at the protocols and Dr. Hahn was very right to say we’re not going to cut any corners because we’re not cutting any corners.
But what we have is we have a China virus that came here. We’ve got to deliver answers and the president each and everyday is saying why don’t we have an answer today, why don’t we have an answer tomorrow. And so what happens is is that we continue to look at some of the trials and what’s happening and we want to wear a belt and suspenders the way that some of these bureaucrats want to look at it.
They want to do things the way they’ve always done it. This president is about cutting red tape. That’s what the tweet was all about. And I think you’re going to hear an announcement later today which really — he had to make sure that they felt the heat. If they don’t see the light, they need to feel the heat because the American people are suffering. This president knows it and he’s going to put it on wherever (ph) it is — the FDA or at NIH or anybody else to make sure that we deliver on behalf of the American people.
STEPHANOPOULOS: His exact words obviously they’re —
MEADOWS: Yes.
STEPHANOPOULOS: — hoping to delay the answer until after November 3rd. If he believes that the FDA is doing that, again, for political reasons until after the election, why wouldn’t he fire the FDA Commissioner?
MEADOWS: Well, I can tell you that we’ve looked at a number of people that are not being as diligent as they should be in terms of getting to the bottom of it. We’ve actually had people that have been relocated. You’ve covered that on your show.
When we — when we — look, it’s almost impossible to fire a federal employee regardless of what they do wrong. You — we need real civil service reform. But this president wants to make sure that we hold them accountable. And I can tell you that Secretary Azar was on the phone with the president and me yesterday as we were working through this.
But it’s not just on the announcement that’s coming today. It’s more announcements that are coming this week and the week to follow. But we really need to make sure that we have good science and the proper protocol. But we also can’t wait around and assume that this virus is going to go away. This president wants real results and that’s why he took to Twitter. But it wasn’t just Twitter.
I’ve answered a number of phone calls from the president and had a number of meetings this last week to sure that we move it forward.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So he does believe there are those in the FDA who are trying to delay approvals for political purposes, until after the elections.
MEADOWS: Well, I believe there are a number of people that do not see the same sense of urgency as he sees. And that as we start to look at it, they know that some kind of result today is good for the American people. And he just wants to make sure that they feel the same urgency.
He’s basically admitted that Trump is pushing the FDA to approve unproven therapies in order to help him win the election by accusing the FDA, without evidence, of refusing to do it in order to thwart his re-election. Meadows is just as dumb as Trump.
I do not believe anyone but the most deluded QAnon cultist can possibly believe that Donald Trump is the best guy to be deciding when and which drugs and protocols are approved. I know he’s a stable genius and all, and that all the doctors are amazed at how much he understands about epidemiology, but really — this is a very bad idea.