Bona Fides! 2T Evidence! Mr. President Let Me Tell You What You Know-There are Saboteurs in Our Republic-Op-Ed; plus MHARR’s Mark Weiss on Trump 2.0 and Sunday Weekly MHVille Headlines Recap
Words can be accurate, mistaken, misleading, or even cheap and deceptive. Perhaps no one living on planet Earth today knows that better from first-hand experience than former and future President Donald J. Trump (#45 and the Good Lord willing #47), whose election was certified last Monday, January 6, 2025. In the thousands of pages posted online on this publication, there are several references to President Trump which coupled with evidence from the first Trump presidential campaign website are evidence of the bona fides of this writer as a political independent who supported the wrongfully deposed 45th president through thick and thin. The Trump campaign webmaster can confirm that the image below is an accurate screen capture from 2016. My immigrant wife, our son, and I have all supported Trump openly and publicly through three campaigns in the best ways we knew how. But why this matters to the American Republic can be summed up in the evidence-supported statement that properly supporting existing federal laws that have been neutered by the self-serving could boost the U.S. economy some $2 Trillion dollars a year without any additional taxpayer expenses. Yes, Mr. President, if you want to boost our economy by enforcing existing laws you could unleash previously chained parts of the economy and seal your legacy along with that of the MAGA/America First Movement.
Part I
1) Pictures can speak a thousand words.
2) Depending on someone’s browser or device, many of these images can be clicked to open in a larger size. Or download the image and follow your device prompts to reveal a larger size.
3) Our manufactured home industry focused publications are focused on manufactured housing industry issues. That said, a close look will reveal a series of strategic alliances with other publishers that allowed us to periodically delve into political, economic, and historical issues that informed readers why socialism, communism, fascism are problematic and why authentic free enterprise was superior and the intention of the founders of our American Republic. Our evolving yet unique styles over the years attracted a wide-ranging audience that included public officials, congressional staffers, investors, educators, nonprofits – and of – course manufactured housing industry focused individuals and organizations.
4) Mr. President and Trump Transition team members, for 4 years this publication and our sister site have quoted others who have called President Select Joe Biden (D) and Kamala Harris as a validly elected chief executive and VP. We publicly and strongly disagreed post 2020 election and have since, pointing out the 2020 election was the subject of apparent fraud. As a history buff, it has been my view that we are living in a kind of Vichy U.S.A., occupied territory from those billionaires and their corporate interests that betrayed our Constitutional Republic with apparent election fraud and voter manipulation that has been a problem for years.
5) We don’t consider our effort necessarily unique among the various steps taken by millions of Americans who supported Trump for a range of reasons, none of which demanded that Trump be considered a saint or perfect individual. But the difference between Trump and the alternatives was consistently and persistently highlighted by this publication, our MHLivingNews sister site, and also in the past 6 months of educational efforts on the Patch (see recent topics in our MHVille headlines recap below). We are involved in information and capital access warfare against a system that has been weaponized not only against Trump, but also against those who don’t want to toe the line in the billionaire-backed leftist march toward the global elitist agenda.
6) To be clear, we had articles and posts that were cited or provided by third parties that referred to Joe Biden as “president” or to Kamala Harris (D) as “vice president.” How historians will refer to this tragic period of Vichy USA now drawing to a close is yet to be seen. But for our part, we at MHProNews consistently and persistently just called Biden by his name or as PINO Biden, President Select Biden, etc.
7) From the left and right, MHProNews provided insights and separated the proverbial wheat from the chaff for over a decade and consistently pointed to the logic of supporting Trump over the alternatives in either major or minor parties.
8) No one in MHVille trade media has this track record. No one but MHProNews and MHLivingNews. Who says? Artificial intelligence (AI) powered Copilot, which is a product of left-leaning Microsoft (i.e.: Bill Gates) linked Bing. No one in MHVille documents as we have, citing our sources and then connecting the dots for readers in often detailed reports that have surprisingly become popular with our audience. By comparison, based on known data linked here, MHProNews dominates MHI and all of their associated bloggers and trade media, perhaps combined.
9) Even our rivals have at time acknowledged our superiority. That’s dominance.
10) Why does all that matter? Because while there were things that Trump’s first HUD Secretary Ben Carson could have done better, he was without question in this writer’s view the best HUD Secretary in the 21st century from vantagepoint of the manufactured housing industry. Unfortunately, Carson may have been unduly influenced by the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) which has been dominated through much of the 21st century by powerful interests that are often anti-Trump (see above). That said, Dr. Carson did many things well and said many things well.
11) Facts matter. Evidence matters. Problems can’t be solved without clarity on what has and is occurring.
12) Furthermore, Cavco Industries (CVCO), a prominent MHI member whose CEO is currently the chairman of the board of the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) issued the following as part of an investor relations (IR) presentation uploaded to MHProNews in November 2022. While we are a critic of certain Cavco behaviors, in fairness, they quite correctly said in the screen capture below that the affordable housing crisis must have manufactured housing because conventional builders simply can’t supply the need at the price points required to be affordable for first-time home buyers. The lack of affordable housing is costing the U.S. economy some $2 trillion per year, a figure that even Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (RI-D) and others have cited. Programming notice: a special report on the following is planned for this upcoming week on MHProNews. Stay tuned. As in some of the other illustration, the image below can in several browsers/devices can be increased to see it in a larger size or click here and click that image in a new window to reveal a larger size.
13) That scoundrel Joe Biden (D) has played an arguably duplicitous and corrupt game with the American people for decades. What he did, for example, to then Supreme Court nominee Clarance Thomas was indicative of the kind of deceptive and corrupt behavior that marked his bigoted career.
15) It has been our informed view that the federal government in the U.S. has long gone awry. That’s not to condemn all federal employees, or all in Congress, etc. Each must stand or fall on the merits of their own individual behaviors. That said, when a federal law, be it immigration laws, antitrust laws, or laws that impact the manufactured housing industry are improperly enforced or even twisted in ways that were never intended by Congress, that has to be consistently exposed. Once is typically not enough, because misinformation is ongoing. So, just as Trump in his stump speeches often hit some similar themes while weaving in new content and then current events, MHProNews has similarly illustrated on an ongoing basis how, for example, the Biden-Harris era HUD has been twisted in ways that turned Congressional intent on its head. The Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) may have postured similar statements to those of MHARR, but upon closer examination, MHI appears to have been colluding with the Biden-Harris agenda in ways that undermined manufactured housing instead of helping it. Why would they do so? In order to foster industry consolidation which routinely benefited their dominating members.
16) So, the above should be a useful tee up to our industry colleagues at MHARR. As a stating-the-obvious disclosure, because their ads are visible, MHARR is a sponsor of this site, but we have long held similar views on a range of issues that pre-date their sponsorship. Furthermore, our critiques of MHI and several of their dominating corporate members. demonstrably began while MHI and several of their member firms were sponsors of MHProNews. MHProNews was a member of MHI for about 7 years and apparently MHI got tired of our published critiques and eventually moved to sever our membership for an entirely bogus reason (namely, that we were news and they claimed in an unsigned letter that they had no such category for membership, even though we our parent company does other things like consulting, and others in MHI also do trade publishing and yet they were kept as members, apparently because they didn’t critique or didn’t harm MHI with their occasional, posturing, lame critiques that were balanced by obvious support or praise of MHI).
17) MHProNews pointed out arguably and demonstrably deceptive emails to MHI’s own members. MHI made statements to their members that in numerous instances were not posted on their own website. Meaning, there has been a clear disconnect between MHI claims and behavior. Apparently, in order to try to keep their narrative from being challenged at their own meetings or other industry events where MHI was in attendance, MHI and their backers wanted to marginalize and if possible eliminate this pro-industry, pro-growth, and pro-free enterprise and Constitutional Republic platform.
18) MHProNews has demonstrably been anti-monopolist behavior and encouraged Trump 1.0 when it launched antitrust efforts against Google.
19) Then and more recently, this featured writer for MHProNews, MHLivingNews and a contributor for the Patch who has been featured and prompted by the Patch in more than one Patch market, has made the case for Trump in the president’s first term, during his arguably illegal ouster, and supporting him on our platforms and others for years via op-eds.
20) One of several pro-Trump op-eds over the years, in the instance below, published by pro-Trump WND.
21) Trump has experienced the pain of treachery from within. So, there is not much need to do more than mention that just as there were Quislings and Benedict Arnold’s in Trump 1.0, there are those in MHVille who have attempted to undermine the good work of MHARR and that of this trade media.
22) So, while MHARR, and this writer’s publications are independent of each other, we see much alike. That said, our perspectives are our own and theirs represent their views. It is important to underscore that long before MHARR became a sponsor that we publicly supported several points raised by MHARR, even while we were an MHI member and had MHI-linked sponsors. Meaning, we are consistent. Like any business, we are in it to make money, but we have demonstrably not sold out our beliefs for the sake of mere money.
That said, here is the latest MHARR Issues and Perspective (IP) from their President and CEO Mark Weiss, J.D.
Part II
“TRUMP 2.0 – THE INDUSTRY’S SECOND CHANCE”
MHARR – ISSUES and PERSPECTIVES
By Mark Weiss | JANUARY 2025
Life does not always offer second chances. When it does, those fortunate enough to have that opportunity had better make the best of it. Failure, as the saying goes, is not an option.
Such is the case for the manufactured housing industry and its position in Washington, D.C., particularly with respect to federal regulation, the availability of affordable, mainstream manufactured housing for all Americans including, most importantly, reasonable state and local zoning laws, as well as federal consumer financing support for all qualified manufactured homebuyers.
When Donald Trump was elected President in 2016, the industry – then suffering from years of lagging production and looming draconian “energy” standards – was presented with an unparalleled opportunity. While unexpected by the pollsters and the usual suspects in the corporate media, that electoral victory brought into office an administration that was fundamentally premised on reducing regulatory burdens and costs, and empowering American industry to produce and compete at unprecedented levels.
In short order thereafter, the Trump Administration, fulfilling an early request by MHARR, withdrew the then-pending U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) proposed manufactured housing “energy” standards rule. It also took strong action on MHARR’s initiative to reform the leadership of the federal manufactured housing program, leading to a new program administrator. After those key actions, it then solicited broader comments at both DOE and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to identify other regulations that could/should be withdrawn or terminated.
In each instance, MHARR submitted extensive comments, seeking the complete withdrawal, not only of the DOE energy rulemaking, but also elements of the HUD manufactured housing regulations that were either outdated or needlessly punitive. Simultaneously, MHARR held extensive meetings with Administration officials to press for the federal preemption of exclusionary zoning edicts that bar manufactured homes from too many areas of the country, and to promote and advance federal support for manufactured home consumer lending via the “Duty to Serve Underserved Markets” (DTS) mandate. Put simply, MHARR dedicated all four years of the first Trump Administration to exerting “maximum pressure” for reasonable federal regulation of the industry as well as more robust federal action to support the availability and utilization of inherently affordable HUD Code homes as prescribed by federal law, and eliminate the principal bottlenecks to such greater availability and utilization.
Thus, in accordance with its role as the industry’s regulatory “watchdog” organization in the nation’s capital — rather than a run-of-the-mill “trade association” — MHARR was at that time (and as it always has been) laser-focused on:
(1) regulatory burdens and related costs, and alleviating those burdens to the maximum extent possible, consistent with both existing law and proper consumer protection and safety; and
(2) providing opportunities for homeownership by promoting the greater availability of affordable, mainstream manufactured housing through elimination of the principal bottlenecks and barriers to full market participation, consistent, again, with existing law.
And again, the first Trump Administration offered a prime opportunity to achieve those crucial goals and once again expand industry production into hundreds-of-thousands of homes each year – where they rightly should be at a time when the affordable housing supply is (and has been) millions of units below existing demand.
Unfortunately, though, the broader industry did not share this intense and aggressive regulatory and opportunity-oriented focus (and still does not). To be sure, the broader industry and its representation in Washington, D.C., the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI), went through all the motions – submitting comments and testimony and the like – but when it came to exerting the influence of the industry’s largest corporate conglomerates and the millions in dues raked-in from others along for the ride, the results produced were more a matter of “show” than actual substance. Thus, when it could have counted the most, the broader industry was (and still is) largely missing in action (i.e., not utilizing all means available as the organization collecting the largest representation dues from the industry’s post-production sector).
For example, there were manufactured homes (from the largest manufacturers, naturally) featured at the HUD “Innovative Housing Showcase” pioneered by Trump Administration HUD Secretary Ben Carson. And Mr. Carson even addressed MHI’s “Congress and Expo.” But to what end? There were glowing words and praise. But, without sufficient pressure from the entire industry, including MHI, for genuine reform (i.e., using all available means to compel HUD to fully and properly implement the enhanced federal preemption of the 2000 Reform Law, 42 U.S.C. 5403(d)) , it became a matter of promises made, but not kept. In the end, notwithstanding the talk and the promises, the only regulatory changes – if they could even be called that – were the withdrawal of unofficial regulatory commentaries offered by a former HUD program administrator in a series of newsletters.
Thus, at the conclusion of Trump 1.0, the industry remained in the crosshairs of a still- dangerous DOE energy standards directive, nothing of substance regarding the HUD program and its preemptive regulatory authority had changed, localities were still targeting manufactured homes and manufactured homeowners with discriminatory and exclusionary zoning, and DTS remained an unfulfilled promise with absolutely no support forthcoming for the vast bulk of the manufactured housing consumer financing market represented by personal property (chattel) loans. As a result, the industry – and production levels of manufactured homes – remained mired within the diminished range that has now characterized nearly two decades.
The reality then, is that the broader industry, through MHI (and unlike MHARR), wasted the four years of the first Trump Administration with endless posturing and virtually nothing in the way of concrete, on the ground results to significantly grow and expand the industry and its place in the housing market (i.e., resolution of the discriminatory and exclusionary zoning suppressing the industry and consumers and the expanded availability of federal support for manufactured home consumer financing under DTS).
While that, in itself, is – and should be – unpardonable, the paramount lesson coming out of those four years for the industry, is that with a second Trump presidential term about to begin, and with a renewed and even more vigorous emphasis on regulatory reform and the availability of affordable housing being two of the central features of that impending administration, the industry cannot and must not fail yet again to achieve fundamentaland long-overdue reform. Instead, the entire industry should be focused on tackling, addressing and, most importantly, resolving and remedying, once and for all, the three principal bottlenecks (previously addressed and analyzed by MHARR in a May 2, 2024 News Release entitled, “Bottlenecks Suppressing [the] Manufactured Housing Industry Continue Unabated”) that have stunted the growth and expansion of the HUD Code industry, i.e.:
(a) destructive and discriminatory DOE energy regulation;
(b) discriminatory and exclusionary state and local zoning laws; and
(c) non-implementation of the DTS mandate with respect to manufactured housing personal property consumer loans.
MHARR, in the wake of the November 5, 2024 election, has already reached out to President Trump and his Transition Team with respect to these central issues (with particular emphasis on the looming DOE standards) and has already received an acknowledgement from the Office of the President-Elect. After the inauguration on January 20, 2025, MHARR will aggressively follow-up with the President and his appointees with respect to all of these issues. But as history shows, MHARR cannot, should not, and must not be alone in these fights (particularly when these fights are industry fights, and the bulk of industry representation dues go to others). Rather, it is up to the entire industry and all of its representatives to seek, demand and achieve the reforms that are clearly needed to unleash the industry’s full potential and cement its place as the nation’s premier source of affordable, non-subsidized homeownership.
In short, the start of a second Trump presidential term provides the industry with a remarkable second chance. A second chance to clear away unnecessary and debilitating regulation. A second chance to eliminate (or significantly reduce) the discriminatory and exclusionary zoning edicts that have wrongly restricted its availability, and a second chance to demand – and push through to fruition – much needed federal secondary market and securitization support for the vast bulk of manufactured home consumer chattel loans in accordance with DTS.
Second chances are rare. And failure is not an option. Nor will there be any excuses now for further failure.
Mark Weiss
MHARR is a Washington, D.C.-based national trade association representing the views and interests of independent producers of federally-regulated manufactured housing.
“MHARR-Issues and Perspectives” is available for re-publication in full (i.e., without alteration or substantive modification) without further permission and with proper attribution and this link back to this article on MHARR.
Part III
Don’t miss today’s postscript for more on sabotage and saboteurs, plus a look ahead.
With no further adieu, here are the headlines for the MHVille week in review from 1.5 to 1.12.2025.
What’s New and Recent on MHLivingNews
MHProNews Note: MHLivingNews and/or MHProNews both highlighted misleading claims by some in mainstream media that could have been used to ‘suppress’ or discourage pro-Trump on undecided voters. Facts and evidence matter to thinking people.
What’s New or Select from Washington, D.C. from MHARR
What’s New this Week on our ongoing Eclectic series of topics on the mainstream Patch
What’s New on the Daily Business News on MHProNews
Saturday 1.11.2025
Friday 1.10.2025
Thursday 1.9.2025
Wednesday 1.8.2025
Tuesday 1.7.2025
Monday 1.6.2026
Sunday 1.5.2025
Postscript
Trump 1.0 was riddled with acts of sabotage by saboteurs. Yet, despite those acts of sabotage, there was a largely successful presidency on multiple levels. In fairness to Trump 1.0, the man has said himself he didn’t know Washington, D.C. the first time around. This time, it is different. He knows how the games are played.
MHProNews spotlighted the importance of solving the affordable housing crisis because it is costing our economy some $2 trillion dollars annually.
But even before Senator Whitehouse made that statement about a year ago, MHProNews has spotlighted the research of others that pointed to the same issue. The two economists linked below came to similar conclusion, that the lack of affordable housing near where it is needed is costing our economy about $2 trillion dollars annually.
Per polling, Trump won in 2024 part because millions of voters wanted more affordable housing.
MHProNews, and this writer for MHProNews, MHLivingNews, and our ongoing and eclectic series of topics on the Patch, demonstrably understands manufactured housing from a pragmatic, as well as intellectual, and journalistic perspectives. We aim to inform our readers on whatever issue we tackle, rather than manipulate them in favor of some agenda-driven group’s self-serving narrative.
MHProNews has systematically unraveled complex issues for our readers and visitors. We have done so with one eye on the experience of history and another on the experience in manufactured housing and as a lifelong adult student of history.
Most of the LinkedIn endorsements or praise of this writer that follow were unrequested. Note that MHProNews worked with only a limited number of select firms in marketing, training, etc. Those unsolicited endorsements were at times bolstered by letters or videos of praise.
Trump’s running mate and soon to be Vice President J.D. Vance (prior Senator from OH-R) was correct in saying that securing the border and deporting illegals will make a positive difference for the affordable housing crisis. MHProNews has so reported for years.
MHProNews reminder. Business owners and managers, if you haven’t already done so, be prepared for what Trump Transition appointee for border/immigration enforcement, Tom Homan has said. Workplace raids are coming.
JUST IN: Border Czar Homan Unveils Plans for Mass Deportations, Including Workplace Raids
Incoming Border Czar Tom Homan announced a significant shift in immigration enforcement, with plans to include mass deportations through targeted workplace raids.
Tony earned a journalism scholarship and earned numerous awards in history and in manufactured housing.
For example, he earned the prestigious Lottinville Award in history from the University of Oklahoma, where he studied history and business management. He’s a managing member and co-founder of LifeStyle Factory Homes, LLC, the parent company to MHProNews, and MHLivingNews.com.
This article reflects the LLC’s and/or the writer’s position and may or may not reflect the views of sponsors or supporters.