New White House Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly is bringing sweeping changes to the chaotic West Wing, after six months of chaos and ball fondling at the hands of former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, the WSJ reports.
The retired 4-star Marine General is instituting strict new rules – affecting everything from focus in meetings, to loitering outside the Oval Office, to the chain of command and who gets to speak with whom.
In sharp contrast to Reince Priebus’ 8:45 AM open-door senior staff meetings with a TV on in the background – often veering off track, Kelly has instituted a sharp 8AM start time with no distractions.
Per the WSJ:
“a small group of senior officials talked with President Donald Trump about plans to take on Beijing over intellectual-property theft. When a side debate broke out between two top aides, the new White House chief of staff ordered the pair out of the room.Return, John Kelly told them, once your differences are resolved, according to a person familiar with the exchange.”
Another marked difference will deal with who gets to meet with the President and when – putting the kebash on West Wing staff loitering outside the Oval Office, hoping to catch the President’s eye to be invited in for a conversation.
“Aides can’t linger outside the chief of staff’s office, either. White House staff waiting to see Mr. Kelly—or other senior advisers in nearby suites—are asked to remain in the lobby, where White House visitors sit on couches and can read a selection of daily newspapers.”
Another huge change concerns the amount of paperwork Trump has to deal with, as well as limiting who gets face time with the President:
“other signs of Mr. Kelly’s taking the reins include the end of the unchecked flow of paperwork that crosses the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, and a new, more formal process for meeting with the president, according to interviews with more than two dozen White House officials, the president’s informal advisers, associates of Mr. Kelly, members of Congress and Capitol Hill aides.
The new rules extend to Mr. Trump’s family. Son-in-law Jared Kushner and daughter Ivanka Trump, who serve as official advisers in the White House and have their own staffs, now report to Mr. Kelly instead of directly to the president, as does chief strategist Steve Bannon.”
Mr. Kelly’s new process has slowed the president’s use of Twitter .The chief of staff has reassured Attorney General Jeff Sessions he isn’t on the verge of being fired, after sustained public criticism by the president, and he has instructed the often-feuding factions in the White House to “get their act together” before bringing an issue before the commander-in-chief.
“Everyone in the White House likes referring to him as ‘General,’” said former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich of the 67-year-old chief of staff, describing a “sense of relief” in the West Wing this week.”
How to wrangle Trump though?
“The question now is whether or for how long the new discipline can last. The president is described by friends and critics alike as reveling in chaos and enjoying public competition among his top advisers. Reince Priebus, Mr. Kelly’s predecessor, and White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer lasted six months. Shortly after being sworn in on Monday, Mr. Kelly asked for the resignation of then-Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci. Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign had three different leadership teams.
“The problem here is that he won’t have anyone to talk to, and he’ll get frustrated,” said one person who regularly speaks with Mr. Trump. “I give General Kelly four months.”
In other words, Kelly is now the gatekeeper of information to totally isolated Trump. Not good.
Yeah, another “General” who just sacked the one guy who came in and did the quick and dirty work to get rid of peeps that should have never been there to begin with.
Wait, so wsj is getting leaks? From who now?
I have mixed concerns about Kelly but I’m reserving judgement.
The difficulty is that one executive can only effectively work with 5 or 6 people – so someone must do some screening. From what I understand, Kelly has put Jared and Ivanka on the same access basis as McMaster, Bannon and the other White House Officials – ie no special access – this is a good thing.
To achieve his agenda, Trump must keep focused, and Kelly can filter the noise. An added benefit is that Kelly out-ranks McMaster, 4 stars to 3. Hopefully this can bring McMaster under better control. We shall see.
But in any case I expect that Trump will replace McMaster in another few months – give him another star and send him back to the Pentagon and bring in someone better.
Big positive, Preibus and Spicer are gone. Get rid of all the RINOs and the Obama spies.
Mooch is on the sidelines but he will be back – but in an indirect way – something like Roger Stone’s activities
This is great news for our country and President Pence.