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White House chief of staff John Kelly.
- White House chief of staff John Kelly appears to have stopped trying to be the buffer between President Donald Trump and the commander in chief's worst impulses, according to a source familiar with Kelly's thinking who was interviewed by Politico.
- Soures within the White House have said for months now that Kelly and Trump are barely tolerating each other. The two men have denied this.
Kelly has told at least one confidante that there was no point in trying to reason with Trump and that he should just let Trump be himself, even at the risk of being impeached, Politico's source said.
White House chief of staff John Kelly appears to have stopped trying to be the buffer between President Donald Trump and the commander in chief's worst impulses, according to a source familiar with Kelly's thinking who was interviewed by Politico.
Sources within the White House have said for months that the working relationship between Trump and Kelly has soured to the point that the two men can barely tolerate each other. They both have denied this, but according to Politico's report published on Monday, Kelly has confessed to at least one confidante that he may as well let Trump be himself, even if it means he gets impeached.
Trump has reportedly fumed at Kelly in the past, in what was seen by some administration insiders as a personal rebellion against the order Kelly sought to instill in the West Wing.
"I've got another nut job here who thinks he's running things," Trump said to a friend, according to a Republican source cited by Vanity Fair in January.
After one incident in which Trump lashed out at Kelly in 2017, Kelly told White House staff that he had never been spoken to in that way during his 35 years of military service, three sources familiar with the interaction told The New York Times. The Times' sources also noted that Kelly said he would not tolerate the same treatment again.