Trump reportedly schedules impromptu White House meetings based on that morning's Fox & Friends

Trump meets with Chief of Staff John Kelly
(Image credit: Tasos Katopodis/AFP/Getty Images)

When retired Gen. John Kelly joined the White House as President Trump's chief of staff a year ago, he tried to impose some order, restricting access to Trump, pruning disruptive aides, and urging the president to place his calls through the White House operator, for example. "A year into the job, Kelly's attempts to implement traditional processes in an untraditional White House have failed, according to a dozen people in and outside the administration," Politico's Eliana Johnson reports, and in fact, "three White House officials said these practices didn't last longer than six weeks."

Kelly has improved Trump's White House, his allies say, but his influence is limited by some pretty fundamental differences in temperament and habit — Trump constantly watches Fox News and tweets while Kelly "rarely watches television and doesn't follow Twitter," Politico says. Trump acts as though he doesn't really want a chief of staff, and Kelly "no longer works to keep his mercurial boss on task or on message." Trump has even started adding last-minute meetings to his schedule in a black appointment book, Politico reports, adding:

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.