--- title: Why John Kelly is President Trump's Last Hope description: John Kelly, the White House Chief of Staff, turned down the post until the Secretary of State and others persuaded him that he was needed. canonical: https://time.com/4895137/why-john-kelly-is-president-trumps-last-hope/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-10T19:09:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T16:56:25.303Z article:section: Politics og:title: Why John Kelly is President Trump's Last Hope og:description: John Kelly, the White House Chief of Staff, turned down the post until the Secretary of State and others persuaded him that he was needed. og:url: https://time.com/4895137/why-john-kelly-is-president-trumps-last-hope/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Morning Must Reads og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why John Kelly is President Trump's Last Hope twitter:description: John Kelly, the White House Chief of Staff, turned down the post until the Secretary of State and others persuaded him that he was needed. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why John Kelly is President Trump's Last Hope > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Aug 10, 2017 7:09 PM UTC  The early morning sun rises behind the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC. The early morning sun rises behind the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC. Mark Wilson—Getty Images by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Aug 10, 2017 7:09 PM UTC (Ret.) Gen. John Kelly, the White House Chief of Staff, wasn’t inclined to take the post when President Trump first came calling. But a concerted effort by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Joseph Dunford and others convinced Kelly that his service was needed at the White House. Now Kelly represents Trump’s best—and perhaps last—hope at bringing the chaos that has defined his administration under control. The story behind Kelly’s decision to take the job—and how he’s already making an impact—features on this week’s cover of TIME in a story written by Michael Duffy. Kelly’s “Country, President, Self,” rallying cry already has made an impact on morale in the White House, but aides are unsure how long it will last. Ultimately, the answer to that question will be determined by Trump himself, who may have chafed at structure in the past, but is giving Kelly the room to impose order. Trump’s North Korea threats. The President goes after a key ally. And Trump’s legal team is no match for Mueller’s. _Here are your must reads:_ **Must Reads** [Why General John Kelly Is Trump’s Last Hope ](http://time.com/4894987/why-general-john-kelly-trump-last-hope/)TIME’s Michael Duffy on the new Chief of Staff’s call to duty [Trump’s Legal Team Is No Match for Mueller’s ](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-10/trump-s-legal-team-is-no-match-for-mueller-s)The president could learn from Bill and Hillary Clinton’s years of litigation. \[Bloomberg\] [Deep Divisions Emerge in Trump Administration as North Korea Threatens War ](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/09/us/politics/north-korea-nuclear-threat-rex-tillerson.html?emc=edit%5Fth%5F20170810&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=55003713&%5Fr=0)Improvised threat catches aides by surprise \[New York Times\] [Trump Criticizes McConnell for Failure to Advance Health-Law Reform ](https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-criticizes-mcconnell-for-failure-to-advance-health-law-reform-1502310301)Remarks were after the Senate leader critiqued the ‘artificial deadlines’ set by the president \[Wall Street Journal\] [Centrist Democrats Begin Pushing Back Against Bernie Sanders, Liberal Wing ](https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/centrist-democrats-begin-pushing-back-against-bernie-sanders-liberal-wing/2017/08/10/6e1ea684-7d19-11e7-83c7-5bd5460f0d7e%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.1eb27ef9f4f1)Alarmed by party’s leftward shift \[Washington Post\] **Sound Off** “Can you believe that Mitch McConnell, who has screamed Repeal & Replace for 7 years, couldn’t get it done. Must Repeal & Replace ObamaCare!” — President Trump in a tweet Thursday “You can see the president’s tweets. Obviously there’s some frustration. I don’t have anything more to add.” — White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders on Trump’s tweets about McConnell **Bits and Bites** [Sebastian Gorka, the West Wing’s Phony Foreign-Policy Guru](http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/sebastian-gorka-the-west-wings-phony-foreign-policy-guru-w496912) \[Rolling Stone\] [More drama in Trumpland: Gorka publicly shuns Tillerson’s effort to scale back North Korea red line](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/08/10/more-drama-in-trumpland-gorka-publicly-shuns-tillersons-effort-to-scale-back-north-korea-red-line/?utm%5Fterm=.a51d79864779) \[Washington Post\] [Inflatable Trump chicken takes roost outside White House](https://apnews.com/e10cf49b56904fc4bdfbf50277b4c689/Inflatable-Trump-chicken-takes-roost-outside-White-House?utm%5Fsource=newsletter&utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fcampaign=newsletter%5Faxiosam&stream=top-stories) \[Associated Press\] [Unarmed Russian Air Force jet overflies the Pentagon, Capitol, CIA](http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/09/us/russian-air-force-tu154-overflight-dc/index.html) \[CNN\] [U.S. Ambassador Haley Loses Two Key Aides at United Nations](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-10/u-s-ambassador-haley-looses-two-key-aides-at-united-nations) \[Bloomberg\] [Hearing loss of US diplomats in Cuba blamed on covert device](https://apnews.com/87ec2dbe76e74f5d98731ea0bdaf0343) \[Associated Press\] [Even on Break, a Congress Weary of Trump Gets No Respite From Him](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/09/us/politics/congress-recess-washington-trump.html) \[New York Times\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4895137/why-john-kelly-is-president-trumps-last-hope/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4895137/why-john-kelly-is-president-trumps-last-hope/"},"headline":"Why John Kelly is President Trump's Last Hope","datePublished":"2017-08-10T19:09:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T16:56:25.303Z","description":"Morning Must Reads: August 10","url":"https://time.com/4895137/why-john-kelly-is-president-trumps-last-hope/","keywords":["Morning Must Reads"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Morning Must Reads","caption":"Capitol","creditText":"Mark Wilson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4895137/why-john-kelly-is-president-trumps-last-hope/","name":"Why John Kelly is President Trump's Last Hope"}}]}] ```