Retired Marine Gen. John Kelly is the new chief of staff for President Trump — taking over for the resigned Reince Priebus.
He’s now assigned to battling fires within the White House.
But he has experience dealing with domestic strife.
As Wikipedia noted: “Completing duty under instruction and selected for lieutenant colonel, [Kelly] was assigned as commanding officer, 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division, Camp Pendleton.
“During his tenure, 1st LAR was called in to provide augmentation support for police in the city of Long Beach … during the Los Angeles riots of 1992.”
Moving from his job as secretary of homeland security, Kelly is gung-ho about a U.S.–Mexico border wall, once saying he wanted it up within two years.
Wikipedia also quotes Kelly as saying of terrorism: “It’s everywhere. It’s constant. It’s nonstop. The good news for us in America is we have amazing people protecting us every day. But it can happen here almost anytime.”
He said the threat from terrorism was so severe that some people would “never leave the house” if they knew the truth.
Trump was convinced Priebus was a “weak” leader, according to a story in the Washington Post. Priebus had been the target of a number of people in the president’s inner circle who tried to convince Trump to dump his first chief of staff.
Priebus had battled the White House’s new communications director, Anthony Scaramucci.
Scaramucci Thursday made disparaging public comments about Priebus, and the Post said that some reports indicated Priebus resigned Thursday, but other reports indicated he was fired Friday.
Priebus had been chair of the Republican National Committee before being tapped for the top presidential staff post. His Washington credentials as a political insider didn’t seem to have much effect, as Trump’s legislative agenda has not been overwhelmingly successful.