JOHN KELLY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Under former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, there was no formal policymaking process in the West Wing: no set protocol for meeting with the president, giving him information, or presenting various options with which to make decisions. Sometimes, multiple staffers said, disagreements broke out in the Oval Office in front of the president.
That disorganization ultimately led to a string of policy failures, including the collapse of health care reform, even though Republicans control both the White House and Congress.
Now, as President Donald Trump looks to embark on an ambitious fall policy drive that includes tax reform, an infrastructure package and maybe health care—again—his new chief of staff John Kelly is moving quickly to fix those earlier problems in hopes of preventing repeat defeats, according to interviews with five White House officials…
Since arriving two weeks ago, Kelly has instructed White House aides to stay in their lanes and tackle policies only within their portfolios. He’s insisted that the president hear from all different sides of an issue on everything from trade to taxes instead of allowing the last person who happened to waltz into the Oval Office to have the final word.
And he has made it clear, particularly in a staff-wide meeting in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building last week, that aides’ allegiance must be to the institution and the president, not their own agendas.”
-Nancy Cook, “Kelly revamping Trump’s policy operation after string of failure,” Politico, Aug. 11, 2017 12:28pm