Doubts about the early performance of Reince Priebus, President Trump’s chief of staff, reached new levels of intensity last week within the populist right, which was always wary of putting Trump’s agenda in the hands of an establishment figure, and prompted a robust response from a White House working to project a united front.

The news on Friday that Mike Dubke, a close ally of Trump critic and former Bush strategist Karl Rove, is likely to become the next White House communications director only deepened that rift.