The Media Love Affair With Trump’s New Chief of Staff Has Begun

The Media hated Reince Priebus and on Friday they got their scalp.

Now, as Howard Kurtz points out at Fox News, their love affair with his replacement has officially begun:

We’re seeing a very different attitude toward John Kelly, the retired general and Homeland Security chief tapped by the president to replace Priebus. Kelly has a well-earned reputation as a tough leader and a straight shooter, so the stories are being framed around the notion that he could bring military precision to the West Wing.

“New Chief of Staff Seen As a Beacon of Discipline,” says the New York Times.

“John Kelly Will Bring Plain-Spoken Discipline To an Often Chaotic West Wing,” says the Washington Post.

He is absolutely right,  The New York Times fell all over themselves with their “reporting” on the new man in charge of West Wing operations:

The square-jawed Mr. Kelly, the first general to hold the chief of staff position since Alexander M. Haig during the Nixon administration, will be an imposing and strait-laced figure in a West Wing filled with constantly warring aides and advisers, most of whom came to Washington with virtually no experience in federal government before Mr. Trump’s victory last year.

The Washington Post praised Kelly for his work for Trump’s predecessor and even seems to have scored their favorite kind of asset connected to a Washington insider… an anonymous source:

But the most relevant experience he will bring to the chief of staff job is a tour as senior military adviser to Defense Secretaries Robert M. Gates and Leon E. Panetta in the Pentagon. The job demanded Kelly act as a disciplinarian, pressing to make sure the military service chiefs and the sprawling Pentagon bureaucracy were executing the defense secretary’s agenda.

He also acted as a gatekeeper, deciding which of the military service’s top brass would get time with the defense secretary each day.

The president “clearly needed some adults in the room,” said Kelly’s longtime friend, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to offer frank opinions. “It’s the end of the chaos. Not with John Kelly around.”

Where was the glowing praise for Priebus when he took up the job as Trump’s Chief of Staff at the beginning of the administration?  The best the Washington Post could muster at the time of Priebus’ appointment was to call him an “insider” and that he was “acceptable” to establishment Republicans. They also chose to focus on the differences Priebus had had with Trump over the course of the campaign.

Priebus was still seen at the end of the 2016 election as a villainous figure because, in the Left’s view, he participated in the racist, xenophobic hijacking of Hillary Clinton’s rightful ascension to the Oval Office. He was also seen as an opportunistic hypocrite because he was never seen as a “Trump Guy” and didn’t take up the only noble role a Washington D.C. Republican was allowed to take in 2016: A Never Trump opponent of the incoming, illegitimate administration.

It could very well be that Priebus deserved to be replaced. I believe his ouster had less to do with the headline-grabbing antics of Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci and more to do with the practical truth that Priebus’ advice to Trump was to prioritize a strategy for replacing Obamacare over more popular (or achievable) legislative tasks like tax cuts or border enforcement. It’s no secret that Priebus convinced Trump to put health care reform front and center and to entrust House Speaker Paul Ryan (Priebus’ friend and fellow Wisconsinite) to shepherd the complicated bill through Congress.

Last week’s failure in the Senate was much more damaging to the Trump presidency than Mooch doing his one-man performance art monologue to Ryan Lizza, and because of that, it was time for Priebus to exit.

If Kelly re-directs the president’s domestic agenda to some of the items he was working on as Homeland Security Secretary (immigration enforcement, border security, etc.) expect him to have a very short honeymoon. Despite the warm reviews for Kelly (mostly inspired by the emotional story of the loss of his son in the Afghan War and his cordial press relations under President Obama) as soon as he actually begins to help Trump win a few political battles in D.C. he’s sure to be painted as a villain (if not a Putin puppet.)

After all, there’s an election to win in 2020.

[image via screengrab]

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.