Scoop: Trump considering Mark Meadows for chief of staff

[Julian Englis]

Source: Axios

Over the past 24 hours, President Trump has been privately asking many people who they think should be his new chief of staff, according to three sources with direct knowledge.

What's happening: Trump has asked confidants what they think about the idea of installing Rep. Mark Meadows, the chairman of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, as John Kelly's permanent replacement, according to these three sources. Trump has also mentioned three other candidates besides Meadows, making a list of four, according to a source with direct knowledge. I don't yet have their names.

Nick Ayers, previously considered the favorite, is out of the running to be Kelly's replacement, according to sources with direct knowledge. "Nick couldn't give POTUS a two-year commitment so he's going to help him on the outside instead," one of these sources told me. (This news was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.).

Ayers is expected to run the pro-Trump outside group America First, according to another source with direct knowledge. Trump will make a decision on Kelly's replacement by the end of the year, the source said.



Read more: https://www.axios.com/donald-trump-chief-of-staff-mark-meadows-nick-ayers-1dcbc46d-e14c-461b-b8b3-3edc8d61a8a9.html

---

Tweet by Nick Ayers declining to re-arrange deck chairs on Titanic:

Thank you @realDonaldTrump, @VP, and my great colleagues for the honor to serve our Nation at The White House. I will be departing at the end of the year but will work with the #MAGA team to advance the cause. 🇺🇸 #Georgia

Link to tweet

[PJMcK]

1. Damn! Who'd want that job?! (n/t)

[EarlG]

3. It's going to end up being Hannity isn't it?

[BigmanPigman]

6. You may be joking but seriously...

I wouldn't be surprised a bit if he is hired. This is Bizzaro World after all.

[PatSeg]

17. That would entail a serious

salary cut for Hannity for a very short-lived job.

[TrollBuster9090]

22. "Puffdaddy" Hannity would have to go from $35 million per year to $140,000.

He's a peckerhead, but he's not THAT much of a peckerhead.

[PatSeg]

24. Exactly

He's good talking on the phone with Trump, but he's not going to give up his cushy job for him.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

25. A creative Hannity should be able to make $35 million in grift, bribes for access, etc.

Chief of Staff could be a lucrative posting for the clever con.

[TrollBuster9090]

29. You could be right about that. After all, it's a job he'd only have to keep for a year or so.

And then he can go back to radio and TV, and, IN ADDITION, he'd now be entitled to WINGNUT WELFARE from the plutocratic overlords. That means he'd get fellowships to the American Enterprise Institute, the Heritage Foundation, and the Cato Institute (good for $100,000 per year each); and he'd be on the boards of directors of a dozen Koch companies. Those directorships would be good for $100,000 per year each, and he'd only have to show up once or twice a year. Nice work if you can get it!

[Julian Englis]

5. That's the basically the way AP's story reads--who'd want the job?

The Latest: Trump's pick for chief of staff out of running

President Donald Trump’s top pick to replace John Kelly as chief of staff, Nick Ayers, is no longer expected to fill that role.

That’s according to a White House official who is not authorized to discuss the personnel issue by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Ayers is Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff.

The official says that Trump and Ayers could not agree on Ayers’ length of service. The father of young children, Ayers had agreed to serve in an interim capacity though the spring, but Trump wanted a two-year commitment.

[NastyRiffraff]

2. Who the hell would want that job?

I can't imagine a worse one. Trump wants a sycophant, which is exactly what a Chief of Staff is NOT supposed to be. Not only that, but everyone in Trump's orbit is indelibly stained, whether guilty, complicit, or innocent.

[GWC58]

26. Innocent in Trumps orbit?

Next question, please. 🤔

[Renew Deal]

4. The only job worse is being his wife

[Wellstone ruled]

7. My guess is,

this will give Charles and David Koch at ring side set in the Oval office.

Getting kind of predictable as to who will be the next chair warmer,is it not.

[Julian Englis]

8. NY Times reports Ayer's didn't want it:Nick Ayers, Aide to Pence, Declines Offer to Be Trump's Chief

Nick Ayers, Aide to Pence, Declines Offer to Be Trump’s Chief of Staff

Nick Ayers, President Trump’s top choice to replace John F. Kelly as chief of staff, has declined to take the job, according to three people familiar with the talks.

Mr. Ayers, 36, the chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, is expected to leave the administration in the coming weeks as his family returns to Georgia, according to people familiar with his plans.

That leaves it unclear who will take the top West Wing job as Mr. Trump enters the 2020 campaign confronting growing danger from the special counsel investigation into Russian election interference and from Democrats who have vowed tougher oversight after they take control of the House next month.

Mr. Ayers had told the president that he would do the job on an interim basis, through the spring. But Mr. Trump wants a permanent chief of staff as he heads into the fight of his political life.

[Marthe48]

9. trump: stop pretending

Stop running through your cannon-fodder henchmen. Get out already and go somewhere you can't be extradited, you treasonous criminal, because that's the only way you're staying out of prison for your criminal actions and treason.

[Scarsdale]

10. What?

Ivanka does not want the job, either?

[Chemisse]

11. She'd actually have to work.

I don't think she breaks a sweat very often.

[Eugene]

12. Reuters: Mnuchin, Meadows considered - sources

Ayers will not become Trump's chief of staff; Mnuchin, Meadows considered: sources

The president is considering current Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Republican Representative Mark Meadows, chairman of the right-wing House Freedom Caucus, one source said.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-staff/ayers-will-not-become-trumps-chief-of-staff-mnuchin-meadows-considered-sources-idUSKBN1O80RD

[DoctorJoJo]

13. Meadows Would Be Perfect:

Would take one of the worst wing-nut cretins out of Congress, and taint him forever. Win, win!

[DeminPennswoods]

15. +1

Gym Jordan would be happy to have 1 less competitor for most crazed tea-partier, too.

[PatSeg]

16. Excellent point

That's one way to get rid of a right-wing nutter in Congress.

Like so many people have said, who the hell would want that job?

[CRK7376]

28. Added Benefit to Meadows would be

Gov (D) Roy Copper would appoint Meadows replacement.....

[SergeStorms]

14. It appears as if...

Trump wants to solidify the hate filled Tea Baggers with the hate filled Party of Trump. Both groups are certifiably insane, and they could officially meld into one bottom-feeding, low-life, bat-shit crazy group of loons. They're damned close to being the same anyway, but this would make it official. Trump needs to stanch the exodus from his cult, and the exodus from the republican party , including the Tea Baggers. If they all go any farther to the right they're going to fall off of the flat earth many of them believe in.

[jgmiller]

18. I was convinced it would be Ayers

but now I bet it will be Hope Hicks, she clearly is still attracted to that whole mess and this is her chance to get back in.

[machoneman]

20. Hope Hicks takes a knee....or both, to service.....

the orange blotard!

[calimary]

23. Welcome to DU, jgmiller!

It still makes one wonder, though, why ANYBODY would want that job. Destined to be a crazy-maker, leave a HUGE black mark on your resume - maybe screwing you professionally for the rest of your life, and possibly implicating you in some pretty shady stuff. As Rick Wilson, one of many rehabilitated former GOPers put it in the title of his book: "Everything trump Touches Dies".

[klook]

19. What -- David Duke's not available?

What about one of the Fox & Friends morons? They’re already his senior advisers.

[BaronChocula]

21. Sure!

Mark Meadows? WTF not? Anyone who can make a bigger mess in Trumpland is OK with me! Maybe he can help with some further obstruction and get himself some jail time.

[mpcamb]

27. Ayers... to run the pro-Trump outside group America First- They'll practice goose stepping

with extended forearms.