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Mark Meadows says Trump meeting with ‘cabinet members’ despite not having a cabinet

Donald Trump is meeting with a “cabinet” of advisers plotting his next political moves, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said on Friday. (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
Donald Trump is meeting with a “cabinet” of advisers plotting his next political moves, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said on Friday. (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Donald Trump may no longer be president, but his allies are still acting like he is as he plots his political comeback, saying he’s been taking meetings with his “cabinet” officials in preparation for a potential 2024 presidential.

“We met with some of our cabinet members tonight,” Mark Meadows, his former White House chief of staff, told Newsmax on Friday.

“We actually had a follow up member meeting with some of our cabinet members and as we are looking into that, we are looking into what does come next. I’m not authorised to speak on behalf of the president, but I can tell you this: we wouldn’t be meeting tonight if we weren’t making plans to move forward in a real way with president Trump at the head of that ticket.”

The Trump loyalist also insisted the former president is “fully engaged, highly focus, and remaining on task,” and that “the magic is still there,” even though one of Mr Trump’s recent political endorsements in a Republican runoff race fell flat.

Earlier this week, Texas state representative Jake Ellzey defeated Mr Trump’s preferred candidate in a special runoff election for Texas’s 6th congressional district, following the death in February of Ron Wright, who had contracted Covid.

Mr Trump had endorsed Susan Wright, the late congressman’s widow, and backed her with a robocall and $100,000 ad buy from an associated political action committee.

After the events of 6 January, the briefly chastened president went quiet for a few months, before blasting back onto the national stage this summer for what was dubbed his “revenge tour,” his first series of post-2020 campaign style rallies. The events took place in Ohio, Florida, and Georgia, and often involved the former president going after GOP lawmakers from those states who backed his impeachment and boosting their opponents.

At the rallies, Mr Trump returned to his thoroughly debunked claims that the 2020 election was “rigged.”

“We’ll never stop fighting for the true results in this election,” the former president said at one event. “I’m not the one trying to undermine American democracy. I’m the one that’s trying to save American democracy,” adding, “Who the hell knows what will happen in 2024? We’re not going to have a country left. If we don’t figure it out, we won’t be in a position to win in 2022.”

Throughout the year, the ex-president has sought to cast himself as a kingmaker within the Republican party, and has frequently issued threats and condemnations towards fellow GOPers, to mixed success. Some party members ignored his calls to oppose the recently advanced bipartisan infrastructure package, which Mr Trump called a “loser for the USA.”

“It is a loser for the USA, a terrible deal and makes the Republicans look weak, foolish and dumb,” Mr Trump said of the infrastructure plan in a statement, adding, “Don’t do it Republicans – patriots will never forget. If this deal happens, lots of primaries will be coming your way.”

While the former president has stopped just short of formally announcing a 2024 run, one thing is certain: we’re going to be hearing from him a lot more between now and then.