Former aides dish on 'go-getterish grandma' Ginni Thomas and her influence on Trump’s White House
Who is the real Ginni Thomas seems to be the question being bantered about up and down K Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., in recent days.
When it was revealed that the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was in regular communication with White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, urging him to do everything he could to overturn the 2020 presidential election results and keep former President Donald Trump in power, the nation's capital shuddered.
Conservative activist and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon says Thomas is “one of the most powerful forces in the MAGA movement — a force of nature.” But others in the know in D.C. think she's more of a gadfly, name-dropping unserious person who uses her last name and marriage to the Supreme Court justice to garner attention.
According to Politico, she was known by Trump officials for sharing the names of people she wanted hired and fired by the president. Among them were friends of the couple, members of her right-wing network of activists and operatives at Groundswell, and people Thomas believed would be unfailingly loyal to Trump. She occasionally visited with Trump at the White House, officials said, and would offer words of flattery."
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“I put her in the category of ‘her husband is a big deal and she can’t be doing too much damage,’” one former senior White House official told Politico, who recalled seeing Thomas with Trump. When with Trump, she was known to discuss news of the day, offer him a pep talk, the former official said, and “basically kiss his ass and tell him he was doing a great job and was the greatest president.”
Depending on who you ask in Washington, Thomas is either a political powerhouse or a harmless busybody with too much time on her hands. And depending on who you talk to in Trumpworld, she was the type of overeager, well-connected D.C type that every administration must deal with, or a serious player who helped maintain the political coalition that elevated Trump.
“She has to get involved in everything, she just has time on her hands [and] is a go-getterish and involved grandma,” a former White House official told Politico.
Another former official told the publication that her influence grew over time. "The maniac types had more power at the end," the person said.