--- title: Can the New White House Chief of Staff Save the White House? description: General Kelly has taken steps to control the flow of information in the White House, but hasn't been able to limit President Trump's tweets. canonical: https://time.com/4889472/can-the-new-white-house-chief-of-staff-save-the-white-house/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-07T16:13:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T16:53:09.308Z article:section: Politics og:title: Can the New White House Chief of Staff Save the White House? og:description: General Kelly has taken steps to control the flow of information in the White House, but hasn't been able to limit President Trump's tweets. og:url: https://time.com/4889472/can-the-new-white-house-chief-of-staff-save-the-white-house/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7fa59aa57eec67ca/6988d8b5bc6cfc0ef43e28da/john-kelly.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Can the New White House Chief of Staff Save the White House? twitter:description: General Kelly has taken steps to control the flow of information in the White House, but hasn't been able to limit President Trump's tweets. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7fa59aa57eec67ca/6988d8b5bc6cfc0ef43e28da/john-kelly.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Can the New White House Chief of Staff Save the White House? by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Aug 7, 2017 4:13 PM UTC  Then Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly prepares to testify during the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on "Improving Border Security and Public Safety" on April 5, 2017. Then Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly prepares to testify during the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on "Improving Border Security and Public Safety" on April 5, 2017.Bill Clark—AP by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Aug 7, 2017 4:13 PM UTC New White House Chief of Staff John Kelly’s efforts to impose order on the West Wing may be meeting its match in the President of the United States. While Kelly has already taken significant steps to control the flow of information and policy options to the president, Donald Trump is still tweeting away as though nothing has changed. Like his predecessor, Kelly can hardly be happy with Trump’s tirades against the press or opposition lawmakers, but it may be beyond his control to bring the Tweeter in Chief in line with the new structures. But Kelly’s presence can certainly be seen in the West Wing meetings and staff gatherings, as he has moved to normalize what had been a dysfunctional White House. Bickering aides are told to resolve their differences before going to the president, policy briefings are expected to remain on topic, and Kelly will not be tolerate other aides’ freelancing. Trump has thus far encouraged the changes, entrusting the former Marine general with authorities he wouldn’t give to Reince Priebus. But the million-dollar question among White House staff is for how long will it be until Trump chafes at the effort to impose order. Trump’s evangelical backers try to ease the Vatican’s concerns. The Department of Justice promises a leak crackdown. And find out whether you might qualify for a green card under Trump’s new plan. _Here are your must reads:_ **Must Reads** [President Trump’s Evangelical Advisers Seek to Tamp Down Vatican Criticism ](http://time.com/4889155/donald-trump-pope-francis-evangelicals-meeting/)They’ve requested a meeting with the Pope, TIME’s Elizabeth Dias reports [New Chief of Staff Kelly Moves Quickly to Tame Trump’s Tweets ](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-06/new-chief-of-staff-reins-in-white-house-aides-and-trump-s-tweets)But he’s had mixed success \[Bloomberg\] [Under Trump, Coal Mining Gets New Life on U.S. Lands ](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/06/us/politics/under-trump-coal-mining-gets-new-life-on-us-lands.html?emc=edit%5Fth%5F20170807&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=55003713&%5Fr=0)A business-friendly secretary of the interior has moved to invigorate a struggling industry \[New York Times\] [North Korea Can Show It’s Ready for Negotiations by Stopping Missile Launches, Tillerson Says ](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/china-urges-north-korea-to-be-smart-and-drop-its-missile-tests/2017/08/06/fa2e9bc4-3bff-4877-a190-6acaa2acd179%5Fstory.html?hpid=hp%5Fhp-more-top-stories%5Fasean-1039am:homepage/story&utm%5Fterm=.416d7bff7eae)Regime rejects terms \[Washington Post\] [Trump’s Unprecedented Hands-On Messaging Carries Risks ](https://apnews.com/231fdb0c5ebc438785c1b30f8bfef034?utm%5Fcampaign=SocialFlow&utm%5Fsource=Twitter&utm%5Fmedium=AP)He’s his own communications director \[Washington Post\] **Sound Off** “We talked about it in the discussion we had with Minister Lavrov yesterday — and trying to help them understand just how serious this incident had been and how seriously it had damaged the relationship between the US and the American people and the Russian people.” — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on raising the issue of Russian election meddling with his counterpart “Hard to believe that with 24/7 #Fake News on CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, NYTIMES & WAPO, the Trump base is getting stronger!” — Trump on Twitter Monday morning **Bits and Bites** [The Trump Administration Pledges to Crack Down on Leaks](http://time.com/4887864/trump-leaks-crackdown/) \[TIME\] [Many Politicians Lie. But Trump Has Elevated the Art of Fabrication](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/07/us/politics/lies-trump-obama-mislead.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news) \[New York Times\] [Find Out If President Trump Would Let You Immigrate to America](http://time.com/4887574/trump-raise-act-immigration/) \[TIME\] [‘Laughable and Absurd.’ Vice President Mike Pence Denies That He’s Mulling a 2020 Presidential Run](http://time.com/4889069/vice-president-mike-pence-2020-run-denial/) \[TIME\] [Chicago Is Suing the Trump Administration Over Threats to Withhold Sanctuary City Funding](http://time.com/4889385/chicago-sues-trump-santuary-cities/) \[TIME\] [Rex Tillerson Says the U.S. Will Soon Respond to Russia’s Ouster of Diplomats](http://time.com/4889340/rex-tillerson-russia-diplomats/) \[Associated Press\] [Rosenstein: Special counsel Mueller can investigate any crimes he uncovers in Russia probe](https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/rosenstein-special-counsel-mueller-can-investigate-any-crimes-he-uncovers-in-russia-probe/2017/08/06/2209365a-7aae-11e7-83c7-5bd5460f0d7e%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.8ec2be3ac9c7) \[Washington Post\] [Trump’s “dangerously low” support among his base](https://www.axios.com/trump-slams-democratic-senator-who-criticized-him-on-cnn-2470149126.html) \[Axios\] Can the New White House Chief of Staff Save the White House? ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4889472/can-the-new-white-house-chief-of-staff-save-the-white-house/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4889472/can-the-new-white-house-chief-of-staff-save-the-white-house/"},"headline":"Can the New White House Chief of Staff Save the White House?","datePublished":"2017-08-07T16:13:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T16:53:09.308Z","description":"Morning Must Reads: August 7","url":"https://time.com/4889472/can-the-new-white-house-chief-of-staff-save-the-white-house/","keywords":["Morning Must Reads"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7fa59aa57eec67ca/6988d8b5bc6cfc0ef43e28da/john-kelly.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/blt7fa59aa57eec67ca/6988d8b5bc6cfc0ef43e28da/john-kelly.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly","caption":"Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly","creditText":"Bill Clark—AP","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/4889472/can-the-new-white-house-chief-of-staff-save-the-white-house/","name":"Can the New White House Chief of Staff Save the White House?"}}]}] ```