New White House chief of staff John Kelly got his days of glowing coverage about how, as a former general, he could be the big daddy Donald Trump needed to right the troubled ship of the White House and keep Trump himself under control. He got the Time magazine cover. And now he’s got to deal with what happens when you make Trump behave himself for a few days.
There’s the loose cannon impromptu media availability … make that availabilities, about which the Washington Post’s Philip Rucker wrote:
But two things Kelly apparently could not control on Thursday: What Trump would say next or how long he would keep talking.
“This is what General Kelly will learn very quickly, which is when you put this guy in a cage and think you’re controlling him, things like this happen,” said one Trump confidant, who requested anonymity to speak candidly.
There are the dangerous tweets:
There’s the ongoing feud with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, renewed in yet another tweet Friday morning.
Yup, that Gen. Kelly sure has whipped Trump right into shape. Don’t you wonder if he’d rather be back at Homeland Security deporting people, as he was doing so enthusiastically just a few weeks ago?