Prospective U.S. Senate candidate Corey Lewandowski, the former manager of the 2016 Donald Trump presidential campaign, has hailed acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney for his work in the administration in a Tuesday op-ed in The Hill.
Lewandowski, a Trump loyalist, described Mulvaney as “one of the unsung heroes of the Trump administration” in the op-ed, stressing Mulvaney’s clampdown on leaks and to push the administration towards the anti-establishment policies that characterized the Trump presidential campaign.
“Mulvaney isn’t a glorified body man who simply wants to orbit the president, nor does he think his job is to act as a “check” because of a grossly mistaken belief that a modern chief of staff drives the agenda,” Lewandowski wrote. “Mulvaney knows that he is the “chief of staff” but that the two words “of staff” are the bolded text — and he knows the importance of letting Trump be Trump.”
Lewandowski drew a distinction between Mulvaney and past Trump Chiefs of Staff John Kelly and Reince Priebus, who sought to rein in Trump and bring him more in line with conventional Washington politics.
“Mulvaney is the first chief of staff who is truly in the president’s corner, a loyal conservative doing everything he can politically and administratively to help the president succeed and make America great again,” he added.
Mulvaney, a libertarian and a former U.S. Representative, has seen an astronomic rise during his time in the Trump administration. Despite his support for Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) during the 2016 Republican primaries, he joined the Trump cabinet as Budget Director as soon as the new President took office. Unlike many Trump officials who struggled to last more than a few months within the administration, Mulvaney has remained in his post, and subsequently also taken the post of acting Chief of Staff, effectively serving as the gatekeeper to the President.
