Budget director Mick Mulvaney introduces himself by saying 'Hi, I'm a right-wing nut job!'

President Trump's budget director, Mick Mulvaney, has been called "the most dangerous man in Washington," a self-described "hard-core right-winger" who has brought his ambitions of slashing spending and regulations to the White House. "Republicans have said for years that government should only take people's money to provide absolutely vital services, but Mulvaney truly believes it," Politico Magazine writes, adding that the Trump administration's "lasting impact on American lives will likely depend much more on how often Mulvaney can push his conservative ideas into national policy."

Mulvaney himself admits that "I don't think anyone in this administration is more of a right-wing conservative than I am," a position he embraces with both a sense of humor as well as pride:

Mulvaney, who helped launch the Freedom Caucus, also proposed calling the group the "Reasonable Nutjob Caucus," but it didn't fly. Read more about Mulvaney at Politico Magazine.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up