John Kelly said getting fired ‘would be the best day I’ve had’: report

Former White House chief of staff John Kelly reportedly once said that getting fired would be the “best day I’ve had since I walked into this place.”

“This is the worst [expletive] job I’ve ever had,” Kelly said to former West Wing communications aide Cliff Sims, as reported by The Washington Post. “People apparently think that I care when they write that I might be fired. If that ever happened, it would be the best day I’ve had since I walked into this place.”

{mosads}The reported comment appears in a new book, “Team of Vipers,” from Sims that dives into his time working in the Trump administration. The Post received an advance copy of the text and notes that the memoir is distinct from other popular books about the Trump White House in that it comes from a figure who supports Trump’s agenda but also takes issue with things such as his morality. 

Among other things, Sims writes in the book that Trump was suspicious of the aides working for him. That allegedly prompted him to compose a list on White House stationery with the help of Keith Schiller, the president’s longtime bodyguard and confidant, of enemies within the administration.

“We’re going to get rid of all the snakes, even the bottom-feeders,” Trump said, according to Sims. 

Kelly reportedly also told the White House staff that he viewed his position as one that served the “country first, POTUS second.” The Post notes that Sims interpreted this refrain as possibly hostile to Trump. 

Kelly departed his role as chief of staff at the beginning of the year after serving in the position for about 17 months. The New York Times reported in December, citing unnamed former officials, that Kelly repeatedly told aides that Trump was not up for the task of being president.