JOHN KELLY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “John Kelly is on the cusp of a milestone: surviving one year as chief of staff to President Donald Trump. The job comes with the luxury of the second-best piece of real estate in the West Wing, but the biggest headaches. But as Kelly on Saturday [7-28-18] marks his one-year anniversary, the retired Marine Corps general is now just a shadow of the chief of staff who roamed the West Wing with sweeping authority at the start of his tenure. Many of the protocols and processes he put in place to organize policymaking and rein in freewheeling access to the President have broken down. He no longer commands the same respect he once enjoyed from White House staff or the President. And other aides — notably new communications chief Bill Shine — have assumed new stature as Trump increasingly looks to surround himself with a different set of voices. As his influence and standing with the President have waned, Kelly’s future has been the subject of intense speculation for months, with aides split on whether Kelly will depart before or after the fall elections. In the two weeks leading up to Trump’s disruptive swing through Europe, senior aides predicted that Kelly had days or hours left. Those same aides now think the ensuing chaos may have helped Kelly hang on a little longer.”
–Kevin Liptak, Jeff Zeleny, Kaitlan Collins and Jeremy Diamond, “Shadow of a role: John Kelly’s 1-year mark approaches,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, July 26, 2018 1:43 pm