Welcome to Power Players, The i Paper’s opinion series in which our writers and experts take an in-depth look at the key figures in American politics as the US reshapes itself and the world. • The ‘swamp creature’ eclipsing JD Vance in the race to succeed Trump• The ‘pro-white nationalist’ whose power over Trump grows every day• Trump’s military cheerleader who is learning about war the hard way• The high-flying lawyer who turned tradwife for JD Vance• The right-wing judge who put Trump above the law• The female firebrand ready to reshape Trump’s America

Welcome to Power Players, The i Paper’s opinion series in which our writers and experts take an in-depth look at the key figures in American politics as the US reshapes itself and the world.

• The ‘swamp creature’ eclipsing JD Vance in the race to succeed Trump• The ‘pro-white nationalist’ whose power over Trump grows every day• Trump’s military cheerleader who is learning about war the hard way• The high-flying lawyer who turned tradwife for JD Vance• The right-wing judge who put Trump above the law• The female firebrand ready to reshape Trump’s America

When most White House officials see the president who hired them leave office, they think about where they’re going to land their next job. Russell Vought thought about how to bend the entire government to his will when he got back in power.

Vought is currently the director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the same job he held at the end of the first Trump administration. It’s a hugely important role that practically nobody in America knows anything about.

But in the past two years, Vought has used this position to essentially wrest the entire budget process away from Congress, which has the constitutionally recognised authority over spending decisions in the US government. Sometimes, this is called the “power of the purse”. That makes Vought a purse-snatcher.

This wasn’t something Vought stumbled into. He trained to be a purse-snatcher for four years, diligently thinking about how to centralise power in the hands of the president while making the other branches of the US government irrelevant. Today, he is implementing that deliberate plan.

Vought was kind of a nondescript staffer in Congress for several years, before forming........

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