Per Jonathan Swan, some White House aides teared up as Kelly described, during a rare appearance in the White House briefing room, what it was like for a fallen soldier to return home. Other aides stood watching him on TV, in stunned silence.

“Kelly has managed to make himself the moral core of the Trump administration,” a top White House official told us. “He just has so much credibility right now … And he’s in the best possible position, because he doesn’t have to go out there and face the press every day. If he picks his spots he is now an extraordinarily credible and effective spokesperson on issues that need some moral clarity to them.”