How John Kelly became 'chief in name only'
The retired Marine general was brought in to tame the president, but in the end Trump boxed him in.
By ELIANA JOHNSON 07/29/2018 06:00 PM EDT
John Kelly got the official news of his promotion a year ago the same way a select few in the Trump administration have — by presidential tweet.
Kelly, then the secretary of homeland security, had talked with the president about coming on board as White House chief of staff, but the two had yet to discuss the timing of an announcement or an official rollout when Trump tweeted from aboard Air Force One: “I am pleased to inform you that I have just named General/Secretary John F Kelly as White House Chief of Staff. He is a Great American ….”
The announcement’s unexpected timing and the unorthodox forum may have represented a feature of the Trump presidency that Kelly sought to normalize when he took the job, but those hopes have not materialized. (A White House spokeswoman said that at the time of Trump’s tweet, Kelly had received a formal job offer and “was aware his promotion would be announced in the coming days.”)
A year into the job, Kelly’s attempts to implement traditional processes in an untraditional White House have failed, according to a dozen people in and outside the administration — though virtually all concede the West Wing runs better than it used to.
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https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/29/john-kelly-chief-staff-trump-expectations-747646