Ron Elving

All Trump has to do is let John Kelly take over, end the White House wars, focus on a unified agenda, repair relations with Congress and send a global signal to friends and adversaries alike.

Senator John McCain this week called for a return to "regular order." The last time that worked in a big way was when the Senate overhauled the federal tax code.

White House chief of staff Reince Priebus is out, and President Trump named Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to replace him.

Even as the GOP's assault on Obamacare lurched and stumbled to a stop, America's attention was divided by other stories — some important, some of lesser consequence and some of greater shock value.

Republicans continue debating health care plans while President Trump tweeted about transgender people in the military. Tony Romm of Recode discusses electronics-maker Foxconn's U.S. factory plans.

Regular order is not only a process but also a state of mind. It implies not only procedures but also a presumption of at least some degree of bipartisanship.

Thursday marks six months since President Trump took office. NPR looks back at the key moments, how they've shaped his presidency so far and what's left to come.

Trump seems to have wanted to show up for the trophy ceremony, not for the game. But even if Trump had plunged into the trenches, his presence there might not have made the difference.

"It's time for this again?" you ask. Yes. Yes it is. Now you can be prepared for the upcoming battle.

Whatever actual impact previous foreign entanglements may have had, the stories persist — if only because they feed such powerful thoughts of "what might have been."

The debate over government's role in health care has been all-consuming recently. But it's not for the first time. Democrats and Republicans have been at odds on this issue for decades.

For Teddy Roosevelt, it was a way of saying the presidency was a matchless opportunity to raise consciousness, to lecture if you will — relying on independent media to convey the president's ideas.

Congress has generally followed a pattern of deferring to the executive on foreign policy. For decades Congress has usually let the president take the lead — and take the heat when things go wrong.

This past week has seen no shortage of news in politics from Capitol Hill and the White House. And next week will see its fair share as decisions on health care and Supreme Court cases are expected.

There has been a rising storm of high dudgeon among the national media in recent days because the daily briefings have been closed to cameras — when the briefings happened at all.

The Trump White House has upended yet another tradition — the on-camera press briefing. NPR's Audie Cornish talks with NPR Senior Editor and Correspondent Ron Elving about changes in press briefings.

Will they get their to-do list done? Capitol Hill's calendar is filled with recesses and holidays — and September is devoted to spending bills that keep the government up and running.

Nearly 20 million people tuned in to watch former FBI Director James Comey testify before the Senate earlier this month. But other episodes in history have been just as dramatic.

James Comey's testimony and reactions to it dominated the week in politics.

In the hubris of the moment, having vanquished the world of electoral politics, a new or re-elected administration is fully confident of its mandate, and equally full of itself.