re: NBC: Kelly thinks he's saving U.S. from disaster, calls Trump 'idiot,

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Kelly, once empowered to bring order to a turbulent West Wing, has receded from view, his clout diminished, his word less trusted by staff and his guidance less tolerated by an increasingly go-it-alone president. Emboldened in his job, Mr. Trump has rebelled against Kelly's restrictions and mused about doing away with the chief of staff post entirely. It's all leading White House staffers and Trump allies to believe that Kelly is working on borrowed time.

In recent weeks, Mr. Trump has governed at breakneck pace, ousting aides and issuing surprise policy announcements on Twitter, recreating the helter-skelter feel of his first months in office. Kelly's allies maintain that his retreat is strategic. They suggest that the belief that Kelly was Mr. Trump's savior was an overstated idea all along and that the chief of staff is now content to loosen the reins and allow an increasingly comfortable president to govern from his gut.

But those close to the president say that Mr. Trump has increasingly expressed fatigue at Kelly's attempts to shackle him and that while Mr. Trump is not ready to fire Kelly, he has begun gradually freezing out his top aide.

Mr. Trump recently told one confidant that he was "tired of being told no" by Kelly and has instead chosen to simply not tell Kelly things at all, according to a person who was not authorized to publicly discuss private conversations and spoke on condition of anonymity.

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