There is no chief of staff who is going to convince Trump to stop tweeting. There is no chief of staff capable of making him care about tiny details or convincing him that building some kind of working relationship with Democratic leadership in the House requires more than making vague noise about “bipartisanship.” This man is 72 years old. He is who he is.

The days when Trump could expect some gray-haired captain of industry like Rex Tillerson or a respected military man like H.R. McMaster or, uhh, John Kelly to answer the call out of an abstract sense of duty are over. Now he has to rely upon his friends to fill positions. Some have suggested that Randy Levine, the president of the New York Yankees, is the next man line. Is Bob Knight busy? What about Mike Leach?

The Trump administration, like the Trump Organization, is essentially a family business. Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump are by all accounts the only people who have special unfiltered access to the presidential brain. They can shore up the reputation of a newcomer to the White House staff or destroy it. They can allow the president to appear in a last-minute special Fox News interview or tell him to stay home.