Mark Meadows: The Trump Whisperer

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The mainstream media is finally starting to pick up on something we at First in Freedom Daily have been emphasizing for quite some time now: That the former Chairman of the House Freedom Caucus Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) is one of the most powerful forces on Capitol Hill, especially when it comes to commanding the attention of President Donald Trump.

That reality is encouraging, not merely because Meadows is represents a district in the Old North State, though that is something North Carolinians should be proud of, but especially because Meadows has been a consistent conservative, championing better government more in line with American principles of liberty.

From Politico:

“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.

Meadows was right.

The following day, at Meadows’ urging, Trump said he would veto any short-term funding bill that didn’t include $5.7 billion to build a wall along the southern border, a campaign chant-turned-top policy priority. Republican leaders scuttled a press conference planned to announce their agreement to keep the government open. A day later, a quarter of the federal government shutdown. Nearly a month later, little has changed. […]”

So congressional Republicans, and even President Trump were ready to kick the can down the road, funding government in yet another stop-gap measure that abandoned promises by Republicans to do what they said they would do when it came to border security. After talking with Meadows, Trump was emboldened to fight harder on behalf of campaign promises and not yield to the ways of the Swamp.

That’s something Meadows repeats often – ‘Do what we said we would do.’

The concept is almost taboo for politicians who regularly campaign with one set of talking points, and then govern with a completely different set of excuses. They either go along to get along, or give in to get ahead. But Meadows is a case study in just how a man of principle, that is not afraid of a political fight, can earn more and more influence in Washington, D.C.

That kind of dogged determination to win the day no matter the odds, has endeared Meadows to the commander-in-chief, himself a a fan of the hard scrabble.

“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. 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 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 Washington, couldn’t pick out of a lineup — might be one of the country’s most powerful lawmakers.”

If congressional Republicans were smart, they’d follow Meadows’ lead, proudly carrying the torch for conservatism, unafraid of media storms or Democrats’ complaints. If they do so, his influence could very likely lead to a reclamation of the House Majority in 2020, along with a second term of the Trump administration. But winning elections and then festering int he Swamp is not enough, and Meadows knows that; they have to win policy debates and political stand offs in order to actually project conservatism on to the federal government.

The best chances to achieve these ends, assuming a new Republican House majority, is to elect Meadows Speaker and commit to a new, conservative Contract with America.

In the mean time Meadows is helping navigate an end to the Shutdown with out giving away the farm. Find out how here.