by Adedotun Michael

White House Chief of Staff, John Kelly has resolved to adopt a system used by previous administrations to limit internal competition in variance to the current free-for-all policymaking it peddles in a bid to recuse himself from the centre figure of every material passing through the oval office, Politico reports.

The essence of the new policy

The move is a laudable effort that seeks to make President Trump conform with White House decision-making norms which he had flouted since assumption of office.

Kelly, in a conference call last week initiated a new policymaking process in which only he and White House staff secretary Rob Porter, a highly regarded Rhodes Scholar will review all documents that cross Trump’s Desk.

The new policy which was co-authored by Kelly and Porter and outlined into two memos and distributed to cabinet members and White House staffers in recent days is designed to ensure that the president won’t see any external policy documents, internal policy memos, agency reports, and even news articles that haven’t been vetted.

The core essence of the new system is a “decision memo” that will for each Trump policy structure the input of cabinet agencies and policy councils and present the president with many options, as well as with the pros and cons of each one, coupled with ensuring competing views are straightforwardly presented to the President.

According to Tevi Troy, former deputy assistant to the president for domestic policy under George W. Bush, “There is a White House policy process, tried and true, that is not endemic to Republicans or Democrats, and it includes having the various policy councils bringing in the information and perspectives from agencies and elsewhere and then having the staff secretary’s office share the policy council’s memo around the office to get it vetted”.

The obvious impact

White House aides despite noting that the new system is likely to slow the policymaking process, yet, they marvel at the fact that, executive orders, dashed out in a matter of days at the outset of the administration, are now likely to go through weeks of review as they are circulated to policy advisers, lawyers, and the president’s legislative affairs team.

The Bannon factor

Other aides opined that the new policymaking process will deliver legislative victories that have so far eluded the White House especially at a time when former senior strategist Steve Bannon whom an official called “disruptive force”, known for skipping formal meetings to take his proposals directly to Trump, is out of the White House.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, “General Kelly is instilling processes to ensure that the President has the information and analysis he needs to make decisions”.

“The White House staff will continue to support the President by ensuring that the policy options presented to him reflect all relevant viewpoints, including any dissenting views,” she added.