Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney has quietly built up an infrastructure of influence from his post in the White House, hammering Cabinet secretaries weekly on their plans to strip back regulation from a whole host of areas.
According to the Washington Post, President Donald Trump has mostly turned a blind eye to Mulvaney’s moves, as the acting chief of staff gives the President ample leash to tweet and do what he wants.
Mulvaney reportedly came down particularly hard on ex-Labor Secretary Alex Acosta whose ultimate failure to live up to Mulvaney’s deregulatory standards resulted in lukewarm support from the administration before his resignation under the pall of the Jeffrey Epstein arrest.
Mulvaney does, however, face some congressional blockades as he is widely disliked on both sides of the aisle. Even Republican lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), admit that they’d rather deal with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.
