The White House that John Kelly had taken over remained far from a tightly disciplined Marine unit. Chaos was still the order of the day, encouraged by a commander in chief who liked to stir the pot while pitting members of his own team against each other. It was a place with a “Hunger Games vibe,” in the words of Stephanie Grisham, then communications director for the first lady.[1] Cliff Sims, a media aide, thought it was more like “Game of Thrones, but with the characters from Veep,” as he put it in a later book aptly named Team of Vipers.[2]
