Keep An Eye Out For “The Meadows Factor”

In a traditional White House, the Chief of Staff is normally referred to as The Guardian at the Gate. He is the last one an aide, staff member, or visitor sees before the holy doors of the Oval Office swing open, and you get the President’s ear.

The Trump White House was anything but normal. Trump had no interest in actually doing the job, has the attention span of a colicky two year old, and loved nothing more than to bullshit, especially about himself. Which led to an open door policy for the Oval Office. Priebus and Kelly failed miserably at reining in the madness, but Mark Meadows at least had modest success, perhaps due to his legislative experience.

But being the Chief of Staff in the lead up to, and commission of a bloody insurrection tends to put you in the white hot spotlight. And that’s where Mark Meadows finds himself. And while Meadows may have more successful than either Reince Priebus or John Kelly as a Chief of Staff, the way he’s dealing with the pressure shows that he’s every bit as stupid as his old boss.

Of course the J6 committee wanted to talk to Meadows, and get documents and data, he was the man closest to Trump throughout the Capitol riot. And being a typical Trombie, mainly thinking that his close proximity to Trump made him bulletproof, Meadows acted stupidly.

He tried pulling a typical Trump bait-and-switch. When the committee contacted him, he made compliant moo-moo noises, promising to schedule an official deposition, and turned over about 9,000 pages of documents, texts, and e-mails. And then when the committee pressed for a formal interview, he told them to pound sand. Which earned a subpoena, which he disregarded, claiming non existent executive privilege. Which led to a Contempt of Congress resolution, and a referral to the DOJ.

The dumb shit. I say that for one simple reason. Apparently, neither Meadows or his attorneys made any attempt at due diligence in actually going through the 9,000 pages of documents to the committee. The text messages alone have turned into Aladdin’s Cave of Wonders for the panel. Conspiratorial conversations with Don Jr., Sean Hannity, Sydney Powell, Utah Senator Mike Lee, Texas representative Chip Roy, and Ginni Thomas, wife of SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas. And all earnestly hitting at a conspiracy to defraud the US government of a free and fair election.

Everybody in the media, the blogosphere, and the Democratic party are literally screaming at Attorney General Merrick Garland to quit dicking around and indict Mark Meadows on the Contempt of Congress charge. Would everybody puh-lease do me a personal favor, and climb down off of Garland’s ass for five little minutes! After all, OSHA regulations require Garland to install seat belts on his ass for more than two riders at a time.

After four long years of blatant Trump corruption and personalization of the DOJ, Garland finally has it working as intended, in secret. When they have something to share, they’ll share it. And if there’s one thing that any law enforcement employee learns right of the bat, it’s that you never, ever tip off a potential subject, or better yet, target, until you’re ready to grill them. Look, we all already know that the DOJ is investigating, and likely empaneling a grand jury to look into the preparations and set up of the J6 rally on the Ellipse.

Never has there been a more natural subjeCt, or even target than Mark Meadows. Just look at the situation. Trump surrounded himself by a bunch of brainless sycophants that all thought Trump was a lock for a second term, so they could act with impunity. They had a get-out-of-jail-free card. But at the same time, you had Trump, with the attention span of a two week old kitten, whose current opinion was whatever the last person in his ear said, and the advanced planning skills of a three toed sloth. Trump couldn’t engineer knocking over a mom-and-pop bodega for candy bars.

So, you need a mastermind, one with an analytical brain. Enter Mark Meadows. His grubby fingerprints are all over everything! Meadows is the one controlling the attendance at Trump’s post election strategy sessions. He’s the one talking to Bannon and Giuliani in the War Room. He’s the one fielding text messages from everybody from Don Jr., to Ginni Thomas, to Ted Cruz on plans and strategy. And he’s the one briefing and advising Trump personally on the plans and progress. From what I can see, Meadows and Meadows alone had access to all of the moving parts.

So, cut Garland and the DOJ a little slack will ya? Right now, Meadows feels like he’s home and dry. His executive privilege claim is holding up, and nobody’s going to touch him. There is no hint that the DOJ has taken an active interest in him. But if the DOJ comes out on Monday and announces that they’ve indicted Meadows on the Contempt of Congress charge, then Meadows walls up behind his attorney to fight off the charges. And maybe he starts thinking, and takes steps to remove himself from as much incriminating material as possible before the FBI starts showing up with search warrants. Give the boys a little room to work. Just a word to the wise.