The Trumpification of John Kelly

What happened to the honorable public servant who was going to clean up the White House? He spent too much time with his boss.

President Donald Trump and Chief of Staff John Kelly.
(Image credit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

It might be hard to remember after a four-week period in which we've had two government shutdowns, a report alleging that the president of the United States, who recently dismissed various entire countries as "shitholes," once paid a pornographic actress six figures to keep quiet about an affair, and the trailer for what will almost certainly be the worst Star Wars film yet — but a little more than six months ago John Kelly was the man who was supposed to bring order to the Trump White House.

This was back in the dog days of last summer, before The Scaramucci Post was one of America's most promising journalistic ventures and the man known as the Mooch was casually ringing up reporters to threaten them with decapitation. Decent family men like Sean Spicer were quitting their executive branch jobs in order to enjoy their remaining years as laid-back Costco dads before we fought a nuclear war with North Korea.

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Matthew Walther

Matthew Walther is a national correspondent at The Week. His work has also appeared in First Things, The Spectator of London, The Catholic Herald, National Review, and other publications. He is currently writing a biography of the Rev. Montague Summers. He is also a Robert Novak Journalism Fellow.