Good Luck John Kelly, but It Ain't Gonna Work

The new White House Chief of Staff John Kelly is moving to impose complete control over the flow of documents to Trump's desk, Politico reports. A White House source, who is familiar with the process, confirmed the story to Axios.

  Axios

Really? He hasn't been able to stop the leaks yet. That would be easier than putting a muzzle on Trump.

"In a conference call last week, Kelly initiated a new policymaking process in which just he and one other aide — White House staff secretary Rob Porter, a little-known but highly regarded Rhodes Scholar who overlapped with Jared Kushner as an undergraduate at Harvard — will review all documents that cross the Resolute Desk."

"The new system, laid out in two memos co-authored by Kelly and Porter and distributed to Cabinet members and White House staffers in recent days, is designed to ensure that the president won't see any external policy documents, internal policy memos, agency reports, and even news articles that haven't been vetted."

Fine. Are they going to put a filter on his TV? Take away his phone?

Kelly is simply instituting normal White House procedures; but that's a big step from the early freewheeling days of the Trump Administration.

"A news story tucked into Trump's hands at the right moment can torpedo an appointment or redirect the president's entire agenda. Current and former Trump officials say Trump can react volcanically to negative press clips, especially those with damaging leaks, becoming engrossed in finding out where they originated."

It’s a quiet effort to make Trump conform to White House decision-making norms he’s flouted without making him feel shackled or out of the loop.

  Politico

How are they going to keep him from finding out that's what they're doing and throwing a fit?

Since taking over for Priebus last month, Kelly has sought to crack down not just on sneakiness and backbiting but also to impose order more broadly. He has tasked deputy chiefs of staff Rick Dearborn and Joe Hagin with bringing some order to the president’s schedule, pushing them to plan events further in advance and to include one public-facing event each day and one travel event each week, according to a senior White House aide.

He is also reworking what were once free-flowing White House meetings. Each one now includes a list of attendees to prevent aides from inserting themselves gratuitously where Kelly does not want them. Said a top White House aide: “If you’re not on the list, you can’t get into the meeting.”

Unless you're Ivanka?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.