Interviews with 23 senior White House officials and outside advisers depict a West Wing where President Trump — without aides to reel him in — is "calling his own shots," report the Washington Post's Phil Rucker and Robert Costa.
The big picture: This past week, as Trump went about his days, "nowhere to be seen was John Kelly, the beleaguered White House chief of staff and overall disciplinarian — nor were the handful of advisers regarded as moderating forces eager to restrain the president from acting impulsively, who have resigned or been fired."
More from the Post:
- "The president is replacing aides who have tended toward caution and consensus with figures far more likely to encourage his more rash instincts and execute upon them, and he is frequently soliciting advice from loyalists outside the government."
- "As he shakes up his administration, Trump is prioritizing personal chemistry above all else, as evidenced by his controversial selection of Ronny Jackson, the White House physician, to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs."
- Economic adviser Larry Kudlow told the Post: “I don’t see anything under siege; I see it as the ‘Big Red Machine' [referring to the 1970s champion Cincinnati Reds] ... The only people under siege are reporters who don’t like President Trump — and those guys need some significant therapy. I could recommend some awful good people in New York.”
- Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said: “The president is in an action mood and doesn’t want to slow-roll things, from trade to the border to staffing changes. He wants to make things that he’s been discussing for a while happen. He’s tired of the wait game.”
Go deeper: The full Trump, unconstrained