The first two weeks of the new White House under Trump have been chaotic. At least for the nation and those affected by executive orders, worldwide. Asking the administration to answer for reports that they are at each other's throats results in nothing but denial that anything is wrong. Initially, White House chaos was considered a result of incompetence that only had Trump and his staff to blame. However, Steve Bannon's involvement showed that there was perhaps a method behind the menace as "The Daily Beast" initially reported that Steve Bannon has considered himself a “Leninist” and wants to “destroy” the state.
Reince Priebus takes control
Steve Bannon who is the White House Chief Strategist denies that he's considered himself a Leninist or remembers talking with the journalist who wrote the article, but in his response also says that he “doesn't do” media. But a “Washington Post” article says that the staff has taken a toll from the chaos and are now looking to organize themselves and do things better. Unfortunately, however, there is no indication that their urgency to organize is driven by the wanting to lessen the chaos for the people they serve.
“We’ll do better”: Trump’s White House tries to gain a sense of order amid missteps https://t.co/qDEFR4gq7T
— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) February 4, 2017
The article says that administration's Chief of Staff Reince Priebus' job is getting easier as he was given the task to reign in staffers, included Bannon, who is said to be the main “manipulator” of policies coming out from the White House.
The article seems to be of the view that Bannon is not resisting to being reigned in, despite the impression he leaves on the public, of being a looming figure over the White House.
Reports of conflict likely untrue
It says that there is a climate of unity in the White House, despite the reports that the East and the West Wing were clashing.
Another article by the Post also attempts to document the events around the Department of Homeland Security issuing waivers to Greencard holders against demands from Bannon and the White House at the end of the administration's first week. The reports that Bannon and Homeland Secretary John Kelly butted heads over the waiver were challenged enough to where the editors of the Post had to add a note, saying that this was disputed and that they should have but didn't ask other sources to confirm the claim.
Without this, there is more reason to think that the heads of Trump's cabinet were attempting to negotiation a system they could work under where they could be on the same page with the White House. In the article, General Flynn wonders why the Trump team would want to overwhelm cabinet officials with the unnecessary exhaustion of answering for their process, especially if they were going to be left out of whatever policies the executive orders were going to try and enforce.
Support from cabinet leadership
At the same time, it also gives the appearance that Secretary of Defense John Kelly is at least on message with the White House, saying that they had intentionally known they should waive the Greencard holders from being restrained by the White House executive orders, despite initial reports that said he had not been notified before.
At the very least, he's staying on message to give the impression of some order in the White House. "The Weekly Standard" has also reported that Reince Priebus is working to improve the executive order process where the drafts are vetted by more in the White House staff, rather than just Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller.
It says that former administrations had a more extensive process and that at the very least, it is that normal process that the White House is resorting to rather than being determined to break the rules. At the very least, it is these norms that are reigning in an unpredictable president. This still doesn't do anything for the equally exhausting reports of President Trump clashing with world leaders, or tweeting statements from the White House that further frustrate the public.
