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President Trump said his new chief of staff John Kelly will do a "tremendous job," after his swearing-in on July 31. "We have a tremendous group of support, the country is optimistic and I think the general will just add to it," Trump said. (The Washington Post)

Readers of Spoiler Alerts might be aware that, on the side, I have been curating a Twitter thread about the myriad ways that President Trumps own staff appears to treat him or talk about him like a toddler. It starts here:

Somecommentators have pushed back on the toddler analogy. In2015, however,Trump himself told a biographer that he feels that his emotional temperament has been unchanged since he was 6years old. Ive found enough examples of Trumps toddler-like behavior inthe thread for FiveThirtyEight to do a big data analysis of it if it chooses to do so.So maybe the toddler analogy has some analytic bite.

One of the more recent additions to my thread came from this intriguing detail in an Associated Press report about new White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly:

[Secretary of Defense James] Mattis and Kelly also agreed in the earliest weeks of Trumps presidency that one of them should remain in the United States at all times to keep tabs on the orders rapidly emerging from the White House, according to a person familiar with the discussions. The official insisted on anonymity in order to discuss the administrations internal dynamics.

Clearly Kelly and Mattis seem to feel that the president of the United States needs adult supervision. This raises an interesting question: Can Kelly structure the White House to make Donald Trump grow up a little bit? In the words of Bull Durham, can Kelly mature the kid?

The initial reports have been encouraging. Consider this from Axioss Mike Allen and Jonathan Swan:

Gen. John Kelly, the new White House chief of staff, has taken control in dramatic fashion, and is already imposing unmistakable signs of order after just a few days on the job.

Even POTUS appears to be tryingto impress his four-star handler, picking up his game by acting sharper in meetings and even rattling off stats.

The most consequential workplace in America has been one of the most dysfunctional. General Kelly took an instantly assertive tack, and some of the overt shenanigans stopped overnight.

Kelly has also made sure that people who bring out the worst in Trump have exited the building. To use the language of child care, Kelly got rid of some bullies. He fired Trump mini-me Anthony Scaramucci on his first day. National security adviser H.R. McMaster has taken advantage of Kellys appointment to finally clean house within the NSC staff.

Kelly has also helped ensure that Trump is not exposed to scary ghost stories, as Politicos Josh Dawsey reports:

Since starting this week, Kelly has told aides that anyone briefing the president needs to show him the information first. The Trump West Wing tradition of aides dropping off articles on the presidents desk then waiting for him to react, with a screaming phone call or a hastily scheduled staff meeting, must stop. He will not accept aides walking into the Oval Office and telling the president information without permission or without the information being vetted.

He basically said, The president has to get good briefings, he has to get good intelligence, one senior White House official said. We have to be putting him in a position to make good decisions.

In the West Wing, many of the presidents most controversial decisions have been attributed to bad information, partially because the president is easily swayed by the last person he has talked to or the last thing he has read.

These are all good steps!! Having a new daddy authority figure like Kelly emerge might make Trump more disciplined and more eager to act like a big boy. Kelly has already managed to eliminate some bad seeds and bad information helping to make Trump act worse than he otherwise would.

So, is this the beginning of a new, more disciplined Trump?Nah, not likely.

First, even as all these positive stories emerged about Kellys influence today, consider Trumps statement as he signed a Russia sanctions bill he did not want to sign but had no choice due to its overwhelming popularity in Congress. Here are the super-petulant parts:

The bill remains seriously flawed particularly because it encroaches on the executive branchs authority to negotiate. Congress could not even negotiate a health-care bill after seven years of talking. By limiting the Executives flexibility, this bill makes it harder for the United States to strike good deals for the American people, and will drive China, Russia, and North Korea much closer together. The Framers of our Constitution put foreign affairs in the hands of the President. This bill will prove the wisdom of that choice

I built a truly great company worth many billions of dollars. That is a big part of the reason I was elected. As President, I can make far better deals with foreign countries than Congress.

This is the Toddler Trump that I have come to expect! Its also unfortunatelyconsistent with how he has behaved in other venues that require grown-up behavior, like speeches in front of Boy Scouts or national security meetings.

Even Kelly knows that there are limits to his ability to force Trump to grow up. According to Dawsey:

Kelly and senior West Wing officials dont believe Trump will fully change. He is not going to stop tweeting, for example, and they expect him to keep dialing old friends in New York after hours and that he will likely huddle with aides when Kelly is not around. Senior officials are likely to still give him articles to read without Kelly knowing. Hes not under the impression he can tell Donald Trump, Oh, youre going to do it my way, one Kelly associate said. Hes not delusional about it.

As I noted a few months ago, Trump is a mercurial guy.His desire to impress Kelly is likely to fade. This will be particularly true the first time something bad happens and Trump blames Kelly for it.

One thing that could work to Kellys advantage, paradoxically, is how poorly Trump is polling right now. Hes polling really badly, according to Gallup, RealClearPoliticsand FiveThirtyEight. This will not put him into a good mood, but if this is a local nadir and he experiences a dead cat bounce, Kelly will be the beneficiary. Kelly might be able to advise Trump on how to think strategically and how to exercise power more effectively. That aint beanbag.

Still, toddlers are gonna toddler. Trumps attempt to impress Kelly and behave like a big boy will fade after the first Twitter tantrum. It is just a question of when.

Read the original here:
Can Donald Trump grow up in office? - Washington Post

By Joe Raedle/Getty Images.

Everybody needs vacations. Its so very American to run ourselves ragged; were a vacation-poor country. But now running yourself ragged is out, and self-care is in. Meditation apps not only exist, theyre more popular than ever. Gwyneth Paltrow is making good money off the recommendation to earth, which, when used as a verb, means to walk without shoes on. The phrase self-care exists. President Trump, too, could probably use a vacation. In a little over six months of leadership, hes signed some partially unconstitutional executive orders and rolled back environmental policy reform; hes given an emotional speech to a gathering of young boys, and made some phone calls to our allies; hes hired and fired staffers. Its safe to say hes stressed out.

Its just that hes a vocal opponent of vacations. He hates em. Cant stand em. Cant stand people who take em, historically. In 2004, he advised those reading Trump: Think Like a Billionaire, Dont take vacations. Whats the point? If youre not enjoying your work, youre in the wrong job. Well over a decade ago, he told Larry King on his show that most of the people I know that are successful really dont take vacations. Their business is their vacation. I rarely leave. You know that. You and I are friends. How often do you see me going away?

And he doesnt just use himself as an example. He uses other peoples vacation habits to illustrate his point. Look:

How could one convince this guy to put his feet up for once? How are we going to get him to ignore his natural setting of work, work, work, go, go, go, and make him see reason? That it can only help to take a little time for himself?

Someone, it seems, has figured that out, as the Associated Press announced on Thursday that the president is taking 17 days off in August, which hell spend in Bedminster, New Jersey, a golf club that he owns. The break starts Friday, as in tomorrow (White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders has neither confirmed nor denied the exact departure date or length of time hell be gone). There must be exceptions to his maxim, "If youre not enjoying your work, youre in the wrong job." There must be.

More:
Donald Trump, Who Is Historically Anti-Vacation, Is Finally Taking One - Vanity Fair

MSNBC

Donald Trump's support plummets to historic new depths MSNBC Eric Trump, who's ostensibly steering clear of politics and helping run his father's business, appeared on Fox News this week and boasted about Donald Trump's broad popularity. My father has the voice of this country, he said. The people of this ... Quinnipiac poll: President Trump's job approval sinks to 33%USA TODAY Donald Trump's Approval Rating Just Hit a New LowTIME Donald Trump's approval rating plunges to new lowTelegraph.co.uk The Independent -CNBC all 168 news articles »

Read the rest here:
Donald Trump's support plummets to historic new depths - MSNBC

Last year, Dave Chappelle vowed to give then-President Elect Donald Trump a chance. But how does he feel about the embattled politician seven months into the presidency?

Its not like I wanted to give him a chance that night, Chappelle told The Late Show host Stephen Colbert his November appearance on Saturday Night Live. Well work it out. Hes a polarizing dude. Hes like a bad DJ at a good party.

During his famous post-Election-Day monologue on the sketch comedy show, the 43-year-old comedian poked fun at the controversial president before declaring: Im going to give [Trump] a chance and we, the historically disenfranchised, demand that he gives us one too.

Now, after months into Trumps presidency, marred by scandal, firings and low approval ratings, Chappelle said the experience has birthed a more informed and better voter.

In the last six months, I think were all getting education about the presidency. I dont know that Ive ever heard, in just popular discourse, people discussing ethics this much, he said.

I didnt even realize how ethics was necessarily supposed to work at that level of government, and hes putting all this stuff on the forefront.

Colbert chimed in: Well, nobody really talks about oxygen until someones got their hands around your throat.

Watch: Natasha Stoynoff Breaks Silence, Accuses Donald Trump of Sexual Assault

The comments come as Trump finds himself at the center of yet another media storm, this time for reportedly calling the White House a dump.

He reportedly told a group of members at aNew Jersey golf club that the reason he visited there so often was because that White House is a real dump, according toGolf.com.

However, he slammed the report in a tweet on Wednesday, writing, I love the White House, one of the most beautiful buildings (homes) I have ever seen. But Fake News said I called it a dump TOTALLY UNTRUE.

See the article here:
Dave Chappelle Is Done Giving Donald Trump a Chance: 'He's Like a Bad DJ at a Really Good Party' - PEOPLE.com

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump signed a bill on Wednesday imposing new sanctions on Russia, putting to rest questions about whether he would support the legislation passed overwhelmingly by Congress last week while he still excoriated the measure as "significantly flawed."

The bill sanctions Russia citing its cyberhacking as well as aggression in Ukraine and Syria while also slapping new sanctions on North Korea and Iran.

The legislation limits the ability of the president to lift the sanctions unilaterally, something lawmakers had insisted on.

Trump signed the bill behind closed doors, with no press coverage. In one White House statement released after the signing, referred to as the "official signing statement," the president called some of the provisions "clearly unconstitutional."

In a second statement, Trump lamented that the bill "encroaches on the executive branch's authority to negotiate."

"The Framers of our Constitution put foreign affairs in the hands of the President. This bill will prove the wisdom of that choice," Trump said, adding that he signed legislation "for the sake of national unity."

That statement goes on to chastise Congress for an entirely different issue its inability to "negotiate a healthcare bill after seven years of talking" and finishes with a personal note: "I built a truly great company worth many billions of dollars. That is a big part of the reason I was elected. As President, I can make far better deals with foreign countries than Congress."

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters Tuesday that neither he nor President Trump, "were very happy" about the way Congress put these new sanctions in place, but he anticipated the bill would be signed anyway.

"We were clear that we didn't think it was going to be helpful to our efforts, but that's the decision they made, they made it in a very overwhelming way. I think the president accepts that," he said.

The sanctions bill was passed in both chambers of Congress with strong bipartisan support and by veto-proof margins. It passed in the Senate on Thursday with a 98-2 vote and in the House last Tuesday, 419-3.

Lawmakers pushed the sanctions, particularly those against Russia, in spite of the president's conciliatory tone toward the country whose government U.S. intelligence agencies concluded meddled in the 2016 presidential election. Russian government officials, including President Vladimir Putin, have denied the allegations, both in the press and to Trump directly.

Trump has hedged repeatedly on the question of Russian responsibility for election meddling last year, saying it is possible Russia was involved but other countries could have had a role.

Putin voiced his objection to the proposed sanctions last week, accusing the U.S. of attempting to use "geopolitical advantages in competition to pursue economic interests at the expense of [U.S.] allies."

View post:
Donald Trump Signs Russia Sanctions Bill for 'Sake of National Unity' - NBCNews.com