![Outside the Oval Office at the White House. / [Image by The White House via Flickr, Public Domain]](https://staticr1.blastingcdn.com/media/photogallery/2017/8/27/660x290/b_502x220x82/outside-the-oval-office-at-the-white-house-image-by-the-white-house-via-flickr-public-domain_1535623.jpg "Outside the Oval Office at the White House. / [Image by The White House via Flickr, Public Domain]")
The new policy-making system that White House Chief Of Staff, Gen. John Kelly implemented last month is said to be what President Trump needs in order to stay focused on making the right decisions. After months of willful chaos, Kelly came in to "right the ship" and was able to get everyone in lockstep with his more organized structure.
Getting the President to read
It was reported last month that Kelly sent out memos to White House staff and cabinet staff, informing them of the new system where internal/external policy memos and documents, even news stories, would now be going directly to Kelly for vetting before the President receives them.
Along with getting rid of some of the worst and most unqualified people in the history of the West Wing, Kelly has essentially sent a message to potential warring factions that they do not have a place in the White House. And while this attempts to show that Kelly might very well have the ability to turn things around, the policy process would likely clash with the President because it forces him to do something he has refused to do so far — read.
Trump's commitment to reading memos
This is based off of an account months ago by one source in the White House who claimed that the President liked one-page memos with graphs, charts and images because he doesn't like reading more than one page. According to a report by Reuters titled, "Embroiled in controversies, Trump seeks boost on foreign trip", national security advisers had to put Donald Trump's name in the memos in order to keep him interested.
This was reported in May, long before Gen. Kelly entered.
It's unknown if this is still the case or if it wasn't just information that was provided by a Trump rival or if the President might now make a supernatural effort to accept "harder to read" memos.
A report by Politico titled, "Kelly moves to control the information Trump sees" described the new process as being required to filtering out policy decisions which will be accompanied by a "deciding memo".
That deciding memo will combine various vetted policy options. But the article referred to when the former Obama administration used the policy-making system, where his staff secretary prepared briefing books which President Obama took home every evening to read.
Former staff secretary Doug Kramer said they worked hard to make sure they limited the President's views only to vetted policies. This is a responsibility that now falls on Rob Porter, a highly regarded Rhodes scholar.
