Source: Politics<\/p>\n
During Brett Kavanaugh\u2019s controversial 2018 Supreme Court confirmation hearings, President Donald Trump \u201cstrongly considered\u201d dropping the nominee and instead going with a \u201cstronger candidate,\u201d according to a new book by Trump\u2019s former chief of staff Mark Meadows. <\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t because of accusations that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted Christine Blasey Ford while in high school, but because he\u2019d professed that he \u201cliked beer\u201d during his hearings and was, in Trump\u2019s estimation, being too apologetic. <\/p>\n
Meadows writes that Trump, a teetotaler who was \u201cextremely put off\u201d by Kavanaugh\u2019s professed affection for suds, proposed the idea of dropping Kavanaugh during a flight on Air Force One while Meadows was still a sitting congressman. Meadows advised against it for fear the \u201cblowback would be severe.\u201d <\/p>\n
At the time he was having private reservations about Kavanaugh, Trump was publicly fighting for his confirmation, mocking Blasey Ford\u2019s testimony at a rally and brushing off concerns from GOP lawmakers about his viability as a Supreme Court nominee. <\/p>\n
The new book by Meadows, \u201cThe Chief\u2019s Chief,\u201d contains several such insights into how the Trump presidency worked, largely while casting the 45th president in a glowing light. Meadows\u2019 book, out on Tuesday, defends Trump\u2019s false claims of a stolen election, offers intimate details about the state of Trump\u2019s health, takes shots at Trump critics and echoes Trump\u2019s paranoia about leaks to the press as he speculates by name about who exactly was talking to reporters. <\/p>\n
At times, it reads like a hagiography. Meadows, for example, compares Trump\u2019s speech upon returning to the White House after his Covid-related hospitalization at Walter Reed to Abraham Lincoln\u2019s Gettysburg Address. <\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough the prose wasn\u2019t quite as polished as the Gettysburg Address, delivered by President Abraham Lincoln after the bloodiest battle of the Civil War, it had the same compressed, forceful quality that had made President Lincoln\u2019s words so effective at the time they were delivered,\u201d Meadows writes.<\/p>\n
But Meadows\u2019 book also provides revelations that have reportedly angered Trump. The main ones concern Trump\u2019s health as he battled Covid-19 in the fall of 2020. He reveals that Trump tested positive for Covid ahead of his first presidential debate with Joe Biden, potentially exposing dozens of individuals to infection and that Trump\u2019s blood oxygen levels dipped to \u201cdangerously low\u201d levels, all while the White House painted a different picture of the president\u2019s health. <\/p>\n
Meadows acknowledges that while Trump tried to project a picture of strength, privately, he was battling serious symptoms of the virus while at Walter Reed. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was clear that the staff at Walter Reed was prepared for a long stay \u2014 weeks, maybe longer,\u201d Meadows writes. \u201cI wasn\u2019t happy to hear that, but I also knew it probably wasn\u2019t going to happen. If the president had his way, we would be up and out the door in a day or so.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ahead of Meadows\u2019 book release, Trump has attempted to muddy characterizations of an excerpt that said he tested positive for the coronavirus ahead of his debate with Biden and may have exposed dozens of individuals to the virus. A spokesperson for Trump did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
For all his praise of Trump, Meadows offers plenty of criticism of those in Trump\u2019s orbit. He describes his chief of staff predecessor, Mick Mulvaney, as out to lunch as the White House scrambled to respond to the pandemic at the beginning of March as cases were on the rise. Mulvaney was in Las Vegas on a golf trip, Meadows writes, and suggests that made Trump apoplectic. <\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s just say displeased when he learned this news. I don\u2019t know who was in the room with him when he found out, but I certainly don\u2019t envy them,\u201d Meadows writes. <\/p>\n
Meadows also says Trump was \u201cfurious\u201d when news leaked to the press that he retreated to a secure bunker beneath the White House as violent protests over the murder of George Floyd erupted in Washington. Meadows writes that Trump demanded to know who leaked the news and ordered him to find out who it could be. <\/p>\n
\u201cI could already tell, based on the way the story was reported, that the leaker was probably not someone with firsthand knowledge of Secret Service protocols,\u201d Meadows wrote. \u201cTo this day, everyone has a theory about where the leak came from. If I had to bet, I would say that it was probably Stephanie Grisham, Emma Doyle, or someone from the VP\u2019s team.\u201d Grisham was chief of staff to the first lady, and Doyle was deputy chief of staff for policy to the first lady in the White House at the time. <\/p>\n
Throughout his book, Meadows \u2014 like his boss \u2014 pays close attention to press coverage, taking note of positive and negative coverage, mentioning reporters by name, and discussing Trump\u2019s famous media diet. <\/p>\n
Meadows takes repeated swipes at Fox News and its Washington managing editor, Bill Sammon, who he said rebuffed his entreaties to cover Trump more favorably (Meadows portrays this as heretical). Sammon, he writes, told him he did \u201cnot answer to the president\u2019s chief of staff, and your opinion on Fox\u2019s programming is not important to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meadows, peeved that Dana Perino\u2019s show had aired a Biden rally instead of one from Trump, responded by threatening to block White House officials from going on her show through the election. <\/p>\n
Fox News did not return a request for comment.<\/p>\n
Lately, Meadows says Trump has been pressed by supporters about whether or not he will run again in 2024. Meadows recounts a somber conversation with Trump after the Biden administration\u2019s bungled Afghanistan withdrawal this summer and says following recent phone calls with Trump, he has walked away with a new mission from the former president \u2014 to start preparing for a second term. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn short,\u201d Meadows writes, \u201cI was given the task of finding secretaries and undersecretaries who wouldn\u2019t undercut the president. It is a challenge that I look forward to tackling.\u201d<\/p>\n