Just over a month in his new role as Chief of Staff, retired general John Kelly is fighting a battle to contain Donald Trump…and the President is beginning to chafe at the restrictions.

Among the revelations in lengthy stories in The Washington Post and The New York Times, based on information and leaks — themselves part of the battle — from multiple White House sources:

*Trump loyalists are calling Kelly “The Church Lady” — a reference to a Saturday Night Live character in the late 1980s — seeing him as strict and acting morally superior

*Kelly has not been able to stop Trump from watching Fox News and tweeting his reactions

*But the Chief of Staff has sharply limited the printouts of attack articles from hard-right outlets to Trump, who does not have a web browser on his phone and does not use a laptop, and has blocked visitors such as hard-right activist John Bolton, who complained publicly of his ostracism earlier this week

*Trump is seething at National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn — a target of Steven Bannon, recently dismissed as chief strategist amid Kelly’s tightening of White House discipline, and his outlet Breitbart — because of Cohn’s criticism in an interview of Trump’s responses to the white supremacist violence in Charlottesville

*Trump is increasingly frustrated with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, again raising the prospect that Tillerson may soon be dismissed or may quit

At times, Trump has appeared to accept the new regime instituted by Kelly, who became Chief of Staff in late July after the turmoil that pushed out first his predecessor Reince Priebus and then ended the 10-day chaotic stay of Preibus’s adversary, Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci.

According to a senior aide, Trump has repeatedly said, “I now have to think.”

But other sources say those moments of acceptance are far outweighed by Trump’s worry and resentment. One “friend who spoke with Trump this week” told the Post, “He’s having a very hard time. He doesn’t like the way the media’s handling him. He doesn’t like how Kelly’s handling him. He’s turning on people that are very close to him.”

Trump has used Twitter and public appearances to try and escape his binds. His impromptu press conference three days after the Charlottesville violence — as Kelly stood by, stone-faced and sometimes gazing at the floor — undid the White House effort to portray his concern over racism and white supremacy. His August 22 speech at an Arizona rally was a rambling diatribe against his supposed enemies, feeding the impression of an unstable President. And his initial tweets after Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas ignored victims, as he again put out his futile promise that Mexico will pay for The Wall and bragged about his victory in Missouri in the Presidential election.

Trump’s frustration has spilled out in his criticism of other advisors and of staff. Disappointed in the size of the crowd at the Arizona rally — despite his claims of “15,000”, it was less than 10,000 — he said that long-time aide George Gigicos would never again organize an event.

For now, Kelly appears to be safe. The White House has played down the claims in the articles. Trump name-checked Kelly in a Wednesday speech on tax reform — after scripted remarks tried to correct Trump’s lack of attention to the victims of Hurricane Harvey — praising the general’s work as Director of Homeland Security before becoming Chief of Staff.

And Trump pushed back on Twitter on Friday:

“The President Can Turn on the TV”

But the battle is likely to continue, in part because Bannon — whom Trump is reportedly still calling from his personal phone, when Kelly is absent — is leading Breitbart’s assault on others within the White House, notably Kelly’s fellow retired general, National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster.

Others close to Trump are aiming at Tillerson, saying the President sees him as “totally establishment”. Several said they will be surprised if the former Exxon CEO is still in post in January, with one saying departure may be “imminent”.

Cohn may also be under pressure, even as the Administration enters the critical phase of pursuing its draft budget in Congress, before an October 1 deadline that threatens the shutdown of the Federal Government. He is derided by Breitbart and its allies as a “globalist” — in contrast to Bannon’s advocacy of protectionism — and observers note that he has been left out of public appearances and photos around the tax proposals, even though Cohn is playing a large part in developing them.

While Trump was contained on Twitter for much of this week, he cut loose again yesterday. He attacked James Comey, the FBI Director he fired in May in what may become a finding of obstruction of justice in the Trump-Russia investigation. And, for the second time in days, he misspelled a tweet trying to show his leadership of the recovery effort after Hurricane Harvey: “Texas is heeling [sic] fast thanks to all of the great men & women who have been working so hard. But still so much to do. Will be back tomorrow!”

“A Republican close to the White House” summarized Kelly’s challenge, “The President can turn on the television, the president can call people, and the president can read the newspaper.”