brendan greely, a contributor to the economist free exchange blog and nile stannage. happy thanksgiving to you. president trump, i was very shocked with his comments, bau because he didn't need to say anything. we criticized and said aren't you going to weigh in? he had a pass to say let the people of alabama decide but he didn't, he dipped in. how deep is he going to go? >> i wasn't surprised by the president saying that. the president is a very loyal guy. when you're loyal to hill, he's loyal back to you. roy moore's been very loyal to donald trump. so with donald trump, he's got a way with him where you saw when he was on board marine one -- >> one more time, you just said president trump is a very loyal guy, for real? >> i think when you take a look at -- look, he's not bad mouthed steve bannon. the reason why he's not bad mouthed steve bannon, because steve bannon has been very loyal to president trump when he left the white house. >> you don't criticize him, he won't criticize you. >> i think that's pretty pred t predictable with the president. when he was about

joining me now, brendan greely, contributor to the economist free exchange blog. you said president trump is right here. >> yes, let's start off with the obvious fact that mulvaney brought doughnuts when he showed up at the cfpb yesterday morning. after he brought the doughnut, his press guy tweeted out a picture of all the doughnuts having been consumed. it's a well established precede precedent, if you eat the doughnut, you endorse the director, that's how it works. >> all right, get serious. why do you think the president's right here? >> i do think from everything i've read, from receipt puttable legal experts, there's a good case to be made for both sides. there's a federal statute that says the president has the right to appoint an acting director of an agency like this. there is a statute within dodd/frank that says that the deputy director becomes director. again, i've read competing legal arguments. it doesn't seem like this is an obviously and heinously indefensible act like the president. the real question is why are both sides picking this fight? there