Mulvaney eggs Trump on in shutdown fight

Days after replacing John Kelly, the president’s new chief of staff is already putting a personal stamp on the role.

.. While his recently departed predecessor, Gen. John Kelly, often tried to restrain President Donald Trump, Mulvaney — who has said he won’t seek to be a check on the impulsive president — has been egging on the president in his confrontation with congressional Democrats over a border wall.

.. Mulvaney is among the top officials counseling Trump to reject any short-term funding bill to re-open the Department of Homeland Security, the agency responsible for constructing the president’s long-desired border wall, said one source close to Mulvaney and one administration official. That position has made manycongressional Republican leaders nervous even as it thrills Trump’s conservative base.

.. But Mulvaney served as one of the president’s few companions in what Trump himself described as an empty and lonely White House over the holidays, working out of the West Wing when most White House aides were on vacation or furloughed as part of the partial shutdown Trump has precipitated.

.. Thanks to changes the Trump administration negotiated to the NAFTA trade deal last year, Mulvaney explained, “American workers are going to do better, the government is going to do better, and you could make the argument that Mexico is paying for it in that fashion.“