John Kelly Couldn't Fix the Trump Presidency
White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, who served as Donald Trump’s top adviser for more than a year but repeatedly clashed with the president, will leave the administration “toward the end of the year,” Trump said on Saturday at the White House.
Kelly’s departure comes amid reports that the two men were no longer speaking to each other, and that Special Counsel Robert Mueller has interviewed Kelly. Trump called him “a great guy” and said that he’d announce a successor within days. Politico reported Friday that he had already offered the job to Nick Ayers, who fills the same role for Vice President Pence.
Kelly leaves behind a flawed legacy. The good news: Under his guidance, the White House functioned more effectively than it had during the brief, unhappy tenure of his predecessor, Reince Priebus. The bad news: It remained unfathomably chaotic.
