Mark Towhey, Rob Ford’s one-time chief of staff, has advice for Donald Trump’s new minder

The outcome of Rob Ford’s mayoralty isn’t something any politician would want to emulate. Aside from the whole crack thing, there was the little matter of him being utterly sidelined midway through his mandate, first by city council, then by grave illness, and finally by an overweening sibling. But anyway, here, courtesy of Buzzfeed, is Ford’s one-time chief of staff, Mark Towhey, with some advice for Donald Trump’s chief of staff, John Kelly. (Trump’s Ford-like nature has been noted before.)

Towhey, who was famously fired by Ford after less than year in the chief of staff job, and who then wrote a book about his ex-boss titled Uncontrollable, has put his advice for Kelly in the form of an open letter. “Some of the things I learned working for Ford may be useful to you,” he writes. His wisdom for Kelly includes:

• An admonition against trying to change Donald Trump. (“He doesn’t fit the mold and that’s what his supporters love about him.”)

• A plea to protect young staff members from scrutiny and prevent them from doing anything for Trump that would destroy their careers. ("[A] big part of your job will be protecting these young men and women from themselves.”)

• A warning against giving Trump too many policy options to pick from. ("[A] better approach is for staff to consider all the options, then present a unified front to the boss.”)

• A reminder to keep one eye on the exit. (“Decide soon if you’ll be part of the president’s reelection team.”)

• A warning not to do anything regrettable for short-term political gain. (“The only decisions you should never champion are unlawful ones.”)

If Kelly ever reads the piece (which is doubtful, considering that it was published by a news outlet his boss has called “a failing pile of garbage”), he’ll want to bear in mind that it’s coming from a guy whose track record for keeping outsider politicians out of trouble is 0-1.

Read Towhey’s advice for John Kelly on Buzzfeed.