TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Even in the moment when his favored advisers announce that they’re leaving him, President Donald Trump is often already discussing how and when he can get them back. When his former top economic adviser Gary Cohn told him he was leaving last March, after losing a long-running battle on tariffs, the blow of another big departure was eased by the prospect of a roaring return…But his former deputy national security adviser Dina Powell may be the first senior former administration official who could actually follow that playbook — showing that the fast-moving revolving door of the Trump administration doesn’t work in just one direction. Powell has emerged as the lead contender to replace Haley, according to three current and former White House officials familiar with the process. Trump said he is considering four other unnamed candidates, and it’s far from a done deal that Powell would return to the West Wing. But Powell, who the president once considered as a potential chief of staff to replace Reince Priebus, comes with a good rapport with the president and buy-in from some of the top officials in the administration, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.”
–Annie Karni, “Trump eager to woo back advisers who have moved on,” Politico, October 10, 2018 1:54 pm