Politics July 31, 2021

Living In Delusion: Mark Meadows Says Trump Meeting With ‘Cabinet Members’ And Is Still “Fully Engaged”

WASHINGTON, DC DECEMBER 18: Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) speaks to reporters in Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol as debate on the articles of impeachment against President Trump continues on December 18, 2019 in Washington, DC. Later today the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on two articles of impeachment against U.S. President Donald Trump charging him with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Donald Trump and his group of advisors are taking wishful thinking to an entirely new level.

During an interview on Friday with Trump 2020 campaign advisor Steve Cortes on Newsmax, Mark Meadows, Trump’s last chief of staff, made some remarks that made it sound like the former president as well as the people around him are living in some alternate reality. Meadows said Trump is “a president that is fully engaged, highly focused, and remaining on task.”

Except, he’s not the president. Joe Biden is. Which means he has no “cabinet” anymore.

Fact check: There is no Trump cabinet. Not anymore. https://t.co/jjlC2wpQXV
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) July 31, 2021

As Mediaite noted, throughout the interview Meadows continued to refer to Trump as “the President” in present-tense manner — so did Cortes, incidentally — and suggested the meetings are a sign of upcoming action.

Mark Meadows from Bedminster: “We met with some of our Cabinet members tonight .. I can tell you this. We wouldn’t be meeting tonight if we weren’t making plans to move forward in a real way.” pic.twitter.com/kQHCLcxk02
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) July 30, 2021

What action could that be? Only the Mar-A-Lago/Bedminster “Cabinet” knows. Perhaps they were talking about the criminal complaint filed by the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) against Trump and Meadows that accuses them of trying to undermine the 2020 election.

Donald Trump and Mark Meadows tried to subvert our republic and undermine democratic rule. They must be held accountable to the full extent of the law. We filed a complaint. https://t.co/ULG0FVHkZE
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) July 31, 2021

It’s not unprecedented to refer to a former president as “Mr. President.” Don’t just take our word for it. The Emily Post Institute, an authority on etiquette, says the proper way to address an ex-President is to say “Former President Last Name.” However, the institute also points out that many people ignore this convention and often just go with “President Last Name.” In a setting like Newsmax which is blatantly pro-Trump with two strong supporters like Cortes and Meadows, it’s no surprise they would do that.

I can’t stop thinking about this interview. The former chief of staff is talking as if there’s a shadow presidency going on (there isn’t) at a time when there’s a conspiracy theory that Trump will be reinstated (he won’t) and as Trump has urged some advisers to keep saying it.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) July 31, 2021

Meadows’ choice of words could very well just be an attempt to keep his famously-sensitive former boss happy, while also sending a subtle dogwhistle to those MAGA supporters who keep believing the My Pillow guy’s conspiracy theories of an August reinstatement for Trump.