
A strong, smart, competent woman was tapped to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Naturally, Trump is trying to replace her with a man.

Donald Trump continues to pretend that laws somehow don't apply to him. And in the latest example, his misogyny also comes into play.

Richard Cordray recently announced his intention to step down from his position as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency set up after the 2008 Wall Street crash with the purpose of enforcing financial regulations and protecting consumers in the marketplace.

Cordray used his authority to appoint the agency’s chief of staff, Leandra English, as deputy director. English has a long career in public service, including senior positions at the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management.


According to the Dodd-Frank Act, which created the CFPB, the deputy director shall "serve as acting Director in the absence or unavailability of the Director."

In a properly-running government which respects the rule of law, the White House would nominate a new director, who would then go through the Senate confirmation process. In the meantime, English would lead the CFPB.

But Trump is trying to do an end-run around the Dodd-Frank Act in order to prevent English from leading the agency at all, instead installing current White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney as head of CFPB, effective immediately.

Why have a competent woman lead the agency when you could try to install a sycophantic crony hellbent on destroying that agency?

Mulvaney has called the CFPB "a joke" and would likely will follow in the footsteps of Scott Pruitt at the Environmental Protection Agency. Pruitt regularly undermines the mission of the agency he leads, so much so that even Fox News has called him out.

Mulvaney has already shown that he is generally incompetent at his job. He made a $2 trillion math error in the White House's first budget. And when asked about cutting off funds to the Meals on Wheels program, Mulvaney lied to reporters, claiming that the program didn't work.

Trump is seeking to use the Federal Vacancies Act, which "allows the president to install a temporary acting head of any executive agency who has already been confirmed by the Senate to another position, like Mulvaney has as leader of the Office of Management and Budget."

It is likely that a federal court will need to intervene to determine which law takes precedent. The good news is that Trump has a poor track record in court.

The fact that Trump is seeking to install yet another man in a high-level position should come as no surprise. According to an analysis by The Daily Beast, 80 percent of all his nominees sent to the Senate for confirmation are men (women make up 51 percent of the U.S. population).

As the 2016 campaign showed, Trump is unnerved by strong, competent women.

He remains obsessed with Hillary Clinton, and is going to extraordinary, possibly illegal lengths, to prevent women from assuming positions of power.