Entrumpy

Retired Gen. John Kelly, Trump’s current Chief of Staff, may very well be next on the chopping block.

As Kelly’s power wanes, rumors have circulated that Trump may be disinclined to hire a replacement in the event Kelly’s tenure comes to an end.

So why would what matter? What exactly does a White House Chief of Staff do? And with all of the other problems facing the administration, would lacking one player really make that much of a difference?

The White House Chief of Staff is traditionally nicknamed “The Gatekeeper”. This is not a misnomer. The Chief of Staff effectively decides the president’s schedule and who may meet with the president. The highest position in the White House in terms of staffing, the Chief of Staff dictates how the daily operation of the White House works. Without a Chief of Staff there will be no captain of the ship in an administration already rife with chaos.

For a better synopsis, Wikipedia lists the following:

The responsibilities of the chief of staff are both managerial and advisory and can include the following:

• Select key White House staff and supervise them;
• Structure the White House staff system;
• Control the flow of people into the Oval Office;
• Manage the flow of information;
• Protect the interests of the president;
• Negotiate with Congress, other members of the executive branch, and extra-governmental political groups to implement the president’s agenda; and
• Advise the president on various issues, including telling the president what they do not want to hear.

Trump seems to thrive on chaos, interpreting chaos and disorder as a natural order of things. The unpredictability is ‘only great energy’, according to President Trump. This may have served Trump well in the past, but the executive branch is far removed from the private real estate sector. Structure, controlling the flow of information, and providing consistency across a vast bureaucracy are all critical hallmarks of a successful administration.

Without an experienced Chief of Staff there will be no information control, no structure, and no one to help replenish personnel as the Trump White House faces an exodus of staffers. John Kelly may be one man, but his position is critical to the nation.

Hopefully President Trump can appreciate that simple fact.