As the bloodletting at the White House continues, a brief moment of mercy: President Donald Trump and his chief of staff, John Kelly, have agreed to a “truce,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Rumors abounded that Kelly would be swept up in the mass purge of the already hobbled Trump administration—just this week saw Secretary of State Rex Tillerson being felled by tweet, with word that National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster is not long for the White House either.
And reports have been swirling that more members of Trump’s Cabinet—including VA Secretary David Shulkin, HUD Secretary Ben Carson, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions—should not get too comfortable in the jobs they are terrible at doing.
But it would appear Kelly has managed to secure an extended stay at chez Trump. From the Journal:
But on Thursday, Messrs. Trump and Kelly had a productive meeting that left both men reassured. Mr. Trump told advisers afterward that Mr. Kelly was “100% safe.” Mr. Kelly told his associates that, at least for the moment, he and the president had patched things up. “I’m in,” Mr. Kelly told staff.
He’s in! Or, he’s in? Because the sources who blabbed to the Journal also made sure to appropriately hedge their bets:
The back-and-forth between Mr. Trump and the chief of staff suggested that the easing of tensions may be more of a temporary detente than a ironclad peace agreement. The president and Mr. Kelly are well known around the White House for engaging in tense arguments, and Mr. Trump has made repeated public comments that manage to both underscore his satisfaction with Mr. Kelly, while also raising doubts about how long the two will continue to work together.
Sources close to the president told the Associated Press this week that as Trump enjoyed his daily ritual of watching cable new, feeding on the chaos he’s created, he laughed and said: “Who’s next?”