Steve Benen may be a bit puzzled over last week’s elevation of former Representative, current Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director, and former acting Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFBP) director Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) to the slot of acting Chief of Staff to President Trump:
… [Trump promoting] Mulvaney to lead OMB, where he peddled conspiracy theories, was at times disconnected from the president’s position on budget issues, and where he gave the banking industry some rather crude advice on how best to buy access to policymakers.
During Mulvaney’s tenure as budget director, the nation’s finances also took a turn toward the absurd: by some measures, the United States has never had a budget deficit this high during a period of strong economic growth.
He also unveiled a budget plan with a jaw-dropping $2-trillion mistake – and then insisted his colossal screw-up was intentional.
It’s against this backdrop that Trump decided to give Mulvaney additional responsibilities, so the president tapped him to lead the CFPB – despite (or perhaps, because of) the fact that Mulvaney opposes the existence of the CFPB. Predictably, he proceeded to gut the agency’s enforcement efforts, aligning the bureau’s priorities with the goals of the payday-lending industry.
And yet, the more Mulvaney’s record took ridiculous turns, the more the president was impressed. Every failure has been followed by a promotion.
But it seems fairly obvious to me. The clue is, of course, President Trump. Obsessed with image and brand, we often interpret him as motivated by the optics of a situation. But there’s also the reputational aspect. Whether Trump is conscious of it or not, he’s an amateur and a screwup. There’s nothing graceful about his approach to life and success, as we can see in his many visits with the legal system over the years.
But few people enjoy actually being visibly incompetent. Trump cherishes his image of success Therefore, Mulvaney, a fringe character himself, can continually screw up and only earn the appreciation of a President eager to disguise his own large collection of failings.
Add in the dozens of investigations targeting Trump, of which he’s eager to distract attention from, and Mulvaney’s appointment remains, in Trump’s eyes, nearly perfect. At least for the next week, this appointment will attract attention that would otherwise be assigned to Trump’s many, many failings. Mulvaney’s ultimate competency in the position will, at some point, bring approbation down upon him, at least from Trump, and then Trump will blame him for all things rotten with his Administration.
But this appointment may be better for Trump’s ego than that of Nick Ayers, Pence’s current Chief of Staff, who doesn’t appear to be garnering controversy through incompetency. He refused Trump’s offer of the position. I suspect his current perch gave him a great view of the chaos such a position entails, and refused to bite on it. Smart guy.
