the stupid is way over the top here.
So Meadows tells someone on the staff something. Now, that staff is doubtless going to give a heads up to other staffers who need to know about it in order to do their jobs properly. This is especially true since Trump is so erratic. In a normal administration, you might get a heads up before the information is disseminated through the normal bureaucratic channels – there is no need to “gossip” because everyone who needs the info will get the info before they need it.
So Meadows tells Staffer X that Trump is pissed off at John Cornyn for some reason. That Staffer is going to tell all his peers (at least the ones s/he likes) not to mention Cornyn today, and absolutely don’t say anything nice about Cornyn, because Trump has a bug up his ass today. And all those people pass the info along to their friends.
And eventually, it gets to Maggie Haberman. But not because Staffer X leaked to her. And if Meadows disciplines Staffer X, much this gossip that enables the white house to barely function as it is will stop — and things will get even more chaotic.