The appointment of a general as Chief Of Staff by President Trump is paying off. Discipline has returned to the White House, giving the President enough time to make decisions. The US President is making an effort to move away from the controversies and infighting among his aides. The attempt to repeal and replace ObamaCare has failed, and new sanctions were imposed on Russia.
Kelly returning discipline to the White House
However, John Kelly, who is a retired Marine Corps General, still has many hurdles to overcome. That said, his effort to restore sanity is yielding the desired result, but more still needs to be done to restore confidence in the Trump administration.
Trump's military background and Kelly's disciplinary moves
Trump, who was brought up in a military prep school as a child, is believed to be pleased with the level of accelerated discipline the White House is returning orchestrated by Kelly after he succeeded Reince Priebus, who could not command the respect of other staff despite his effort to maintain order.
Officials hinted that Kelly, who left the Homeland Security Department to take up the job as chief of staff resumed his new position on Monday, was said to be commanding a high-level respect among staff and the West Wing according to the New York Times.
Staff meetings at the White House are now mandatory and no longer optional as in the case when Priebus was in charge.
Anyone who wishes to visit the Oval Office must ensure the chief of staff is aware.
The lingering cases of leaks
For the time being, Kelly is yet to put an end to the lingering cases of leaks to the news media that have angered the President. Last week, Trump bashed his Attorney General Sessions, for being too weak to act on the numerous leak cases.
He has also repeatedly castigated the media on the same issue.
The Washington Post on Thursday, released transcripts of series of calls by Trump with the Australian Prime Minister Turnbull and the Mexican President Nieto.
Administration officials say Trump is still calling people during the evening hours, as he has been during for a long time.
He has not relented in dishing out his bombastic tweets.
On Thursday, the President blamed the Republican dominated Congress, for what he described as weak ties with Russia because of the new tough sanctions overwhelmingly passed by both chambers of Congress which he grudgingly signed on Wednesday. In response to sanctions, Russia retaliated by announcing a reduction in the number of U.S. diplomatic staff in Moscow.
