A smooth running White House

The president on Sunday disputed news reports that he had settled on [Mike Pence's Chief, Nick] Ayers as his pick [to replace John Kelly]. “I am in the process of interviewing some really great people for the position of White House Chief of Staff,” he said on Twitter. “Fake News has been saying with certainty it was Nick Ayers, a spectacular person who will always be with our #MAGA agenda. I will be making a decision soon!”

But two people close to Mr. Trump said that a news release announcing Mr. Ayers’s appointment had been drafted, and that the president had wanted to announce it as soon as possible.

[...]

One former senior administration official called it a humiliation for Mr. Trump and his adult children, an emotion that the president tries to avoid at all costs.

For more than six months, Mr. Ayers had been viewed as the favored candidate of the president’s daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, who have been seen as maneuvering for greater control and influence around the president. They had clashed repeatedly with Mr. Kelly as he tried to establish more regulated channels to the president. Matt Drudge, an ally of Mr. Kushner, weeks ago posted a photo of Mr. Ayers on The Drudge Report as the next chief of staff.

[...]

Before turning down the job, Mr. Ayers told the president that he would be willing to do it only on an interim basis, through the spring.

Mr. Trump wants a long-term chief of staff, given the difficult period approaching, and he and Mr. Ayers were unable to agree on certain other terms, including whom he could dispose of from the current staff, three people familiar with the events said.

Other factors may also have weighed on Mr. Ayers. His ascension to the top West Wing job would have meant newfound scrutiny of his personal finances — last year he reported a net worth of $12.2 million to $54.8 million, a sizable sum for a political operative in his 30s who has amassed his own fortune. He accumulated his wealth partly through a web of political and consulting companies in which he has held ownership stakes.

And Mr. Ayers, who has been seen as a potential candidate for statewide office in Georgia, could have potentially faced a fate shared by many who have left the administration: a diminished public standing after an ugly parting with a mercurial president who often insults his former aides on Twitter.

[...]

Several potential outcomes of the battles Mr. Trump confronts — on impeachment, in the special counsel inquiry and over allegations that he directed illegal hush payments in 2016 — may not have been advantageous for Mr. Ayers if he makes a run for office.

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Historically, [Trump] has signaled to competing prospects that each one is his choice, and then picks one even as he tells both that they are still in the running.

But this time, Mr. Ayers was the only person Mr. Trump had focused on since he made up his mind to part ways with Mr. Kelly.

[...]

Mr. Kelly is expected to stay on only another three weeks, at least one of which the president is scheduled to spend at his private club in Florida. Hiring to fill several open jobs in the West Wing has been on hold for weeks, as people waited to see whether Mr. Kelly would depart and Mr. Ayers would replace him and bring in his own team.

  NYT

Trump and Kelly had discussed the chief of staff's departure over the last 24 hours, a source familiar with the matter told CNN. Although it was not the plan to announce the move on the South Lawn, Kelly, knowing Trump, realized it could come at any moment, whether by tweet or abrupt announcement, the source said.

Kelly was expected to announce at the senior staff meeting Monday his plans to leave his position later in the month, a source familiar with the situation said.

  ABC

And true to type, Trump had to beat him to it.

What a dick.  Kelly's a dick himself, but nobody's a dick like Trump is.

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