Back to the Real Salt Lake Newsfeed

Alexandra Petri: It was the cheese that let John Kelly down

Why did White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly shift and grimace in discomfort when President Trump spoke about Germany being "totally controlled" by Russia?

"[Kelly] was displeased because he was expecting a full breakfast and there were only pastries and cheese," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told The Washington Post.

Kelly no longer hears anything the president says. Trump's words are a kind of soothing low dog-whistle that plays in the background at all times, a sort of mosquito hum that he checks only periodically to make certain it is still complaining that anyone not from Norway would have the temerity to come to America seeking a better life, and then goes back to ignoring.