It all comes full circle, as Trump reportedly vents to Reince Priebus about John Kelly

(Image credit: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)

last updated 9 February 2018

Isn't this kind of like calling your ex to complain about the new girlfriend you dumped her for?

President Trump is reportedly so annoyed by White House Chief of Staff John Kelly that he's been in touch with the only other person who could understand: Reince Priebus, his former chief of staff, who also annoyed him. Priebus was pushed out to make room for Kelly, the retired four-star Marine general who was touted as bringing calm to a chaotic White House. But it turns out, The New York Times reports, Trump doesn't like it when his aides are in the news for the wrong reasons, and Kelly made negative headlines this week for forcefully defending former White House staff secretary Rob Porter after he was accused of domestic violence, and suggesting that some undocumented immigrants are "too lazy to get off their asses" to apply for legal status.

Two people briefed on the subject told the Times that Trump has been asking his advisers what they think about Mick Mulvaney — director of the White House budget office and interim director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — as a potential replacement for Kelly. Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who was chief of staff to former President Bill Clinton, told the Times he's worried about Kelly. "Even he has admitted it's probably the toughest job he's ever had," he said. "And I really do think sometimes, particularly with this president, you're fighting on so many fronts it's tough not to have that job wear on you." Read more about Kelly's precarious situation, and the memo he sent out to White House staffers regarding domestic violence, at The New York Times.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.