The Mannequin has taken on a more central role as political adviser to the president

[dalton99a]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-finds-loopholes-in-chief-of-staffs-new-regime-1512302400
Trump Finds Loopholes in Chief of Staff’s New Regime
Kelly establishes control, but the president’s ‘workarounds’ show its limits
By Michael C. Bender
Dec. 3, 2017 7:00 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON—Chief of Staff John Kelly over the past five months has imposed discipline and rigorous protocols on a freewheeling White House. But President Donald Trump has found the loopholes.

The president on occasion has called White House aides to the private residence in the evening, where he makes assignments and asks them not tell Mr. Kelly about the plans, according to several people familiar with the matter. At least once, aides have declined to carry out the requested task so as not to run afoul of Mr. Kelly, one of these people said.

The president, who values counsel from an informal group of confidants outside the White House, also sometimes bypasses the normal scheduling for phone calls that give other White House staff, including Mr. Kelly, some control and influence over who the president talks to and when.

Instead, some of his friends have taken to calling Melania Trump and asking her to pass messages to her husband, according to two people familiar with the matter. They say that since she arrived in the White House from New York in the summer, the first lady has taken on a more central role as a political adviser to the president.

[Irish_Dem]

1. Melania as senior political advisor, what could go wrong. nt

[KY_EnviroGuy]

3. The whole country will look like that Christmas hallway she decorated.

Barren, cold and dead, after our glorious tax reform.

[Irish_Dem]

7. Yes she looks quite depressed and sees little hope. nt

[Iliyah]

2. OMG

[grantcart]

4. I wonder when Kelly gets his sit down with Muller?

And he decides that the liability is just not worth it.

[janx]

5. Your use of the word mannequin piqued my interest in this thread.

I had to click on it to find out who the mannequin is. (Should have known.)

[Liberal Jesus Freak]

6. Right?!?!

Never in my lifetime has there been an administration so rife with "mannequins"

[Vinca]

8. Now that's frightening.