John Kelly makes bizarre move as Donald Trump meets with his replacement

| 1:11 pm EDT March 19, 2018
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Donald Trump has been considering replacing his White House Chief of Staff John Kelly for months, according to insider reports published by various major news outlets. Just as that buzz heats up again, and Trump is reportedly meeting with a potential replacement, Kelly has made a bizarre move of his own – apparently aimed at trying to keep his job – which may need some explaining.

John Kelly famously revoked the provisional top secret security clearance of Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner three weeks ago, after Kushner failed to qualify for permanent security clearance due to his status as a target in the Trump-Russia investigation. Now Kelly is hiring Chris Liddell as his new Deputy, who just happens to be a close ally of Kushner, according to Politico (link). It’s not clear why Kelly thinks that aligning himself with Kushner, who has also long been reportedly out of favor with Trump, is supposed to keep Trump from firing him. It gets stranger.

Trump is meeting with his former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski to discuss hiring him as John Kelly’s replacement, according to Republican political operative Cheri Jacobus (link). Trump fired Lewandowski from the campaign in the summer of 2016 after Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner forced the move, according to Vanity Fair (link). So now, even as Trump is looking to bring in Lewandowski, who’s on the outs with Kushner, Kelly is trying to align himself with Kushner.

The best interpretation we can come up with is that, as Donald Trump’s latest moves suggest he’s increasingly eager to replace his entire White House inner circle, John Kelly is trying to realign himself with Jared Kushner in the hope their alliance might make them collectively too strong for Trump to fire either one of them. Meanwhile, Trump keeps focusing on these kinds of Game of Thrones style moves, even as the investigations into his criminal scandals continue to chip away at his presidency.