During an interview with White House chief of staff John Kelly on Fox News, he was asked if he's ever spoken to the president about his Twitter habits possibly getting in the way of his messaging.
Chief of Staff Kelly responds to @TexasEyelidDoc's tweet-- watch below #SpecialReport pic.twitter.com/r5qe0gTL68
— Bret Baier (@BretBaier) January 17, 2018
Fox News anchor Bret Baier asked him to respond to a question culled from social media. "I would ask him if he ever discusses with the President [sic] how his random unfiltered tweets step on his message, or has he given up?" the question ran.
"As I've said many times," Kelly responded, "I was not put in this job to change the way that the president does business, I was put in this job to make sure the staff process better informs him on a range of issues."
"He oftentimes asks me, 'Hey I'm thinking of reinforcing whatever the message is on that give period of time, with a tweet, what do you think?' and [I say] 'absolutely,'" he explained. "Sometimes he doesn't ask me that. He does't have to ask me that."
"He is his own man in this regard," Kelly concluded, "and he feels very strongly that he's able to reach the American people out in Peoria and Montana and in central Wyoming through his tweets because he doesn't feel as though he gets a completely fair shake from the media."
Many critics of the president have said that his social media account causes a lot of turmoil, both for Trump and for the country, and even some of his supporters have said that it would be better if he tweeted less.
Kelly's answer seems to presage little change in the president's future tweeting habits.
In November, Kelly said he and his staff do not follow, do not read, and do not react to the president's tweeting. “Believe it or not, I do not follow the tweets,” he said.
