The chief: Insider Ron Klain is back atop Biden World

John T. Bennett hears a former White House official hail Klain’s ‘businesslike temperament, which helps him say ‘no’ when necessary – a huge part of every chief of staff’s job’

Joe Biden chose Ron Klain, an insider’s insider, as White House chief of staff (Getty)

Ron Klain, the longtime aide President-elect Joe Biden picked as his White House chief of staff, knows that “cocaine monkeys” unlock tax cuts.

That’s just old-fashioned Washington horse-trading, a reflection of the dealmaking he helped foster during the Barack Obama era and just what he and his new boss hope to do with congressional Republicans during the post-Donald Trump era.

Mr Klain is known as a problem-solving realist in a party increasingly pushed to the left by hard-charging progressives. His ties to the party’s progressive wing do not appear that strong, meaning he will have to extend olive branches to liberal Democratic lawmakers who on Thursday demanded “payback” from the incoming administration for helping get Mr Biden elected.