In more evidence that Donald Trump’s White House is among the worst places in America to work, former chief of John Kelly reportedly said serving this president is a job he was happy to lose.
According to The Washington Post, which obtained an advance copy of the tell-all book “Team of Vipers” by Cliff Sims, Kelly once said being Trump’s chief of staff was the “worst” job he ever had and that if he was fired, it would be the “best day” he’s had since walking into the White House.
More from the eye-opening report:
White House chief of staff John F. Kelly told the staff that he viewed his job as serving the “country first, POTUS second,†which Sims interpreted as potentially hostile to Trump’s agenda.
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Sims recounts that Kelly once confided to him in a moment of exasperation: “This is the worst [expletive] job I’ve ever had. 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.â€
Trump frequently storms around the White House throwing tantrums
Not only do the people working around Trump seem unhappy, but the president himself reportedly spends much of his time meandering around the White House throwing tantrums after he sees something he doesn’t like on cable news.
The Sims book laid out one such time when the president threw a fit when then-House Speaker Paul Ryan expressed disappointment in Trump’s response to the racist rally in Charlottesville.
According to The Washington Post, Trump gripped his TV remote “like a pistol” and ordered one of his aides to get Ryan on the phone.
More from The Post:
“Paul, do you know why Democrats have been kicking your a– for decades? Because they know a little word called ‘loyalty,’†Trump told Ryan, then a Wisconsin congressman. “Why do you think Nancy [Pelosi] has held on this long? Have you seen her? She’s a disaster. Every time she opens her mouth another Republican gets elected. But they stick with her . . . Why can’t you be loyal to your president, Paul?â€
The tormenting continued. Trump recalled Ryan distancing himself from Trump in October 2016 in the days after the “Access Hollywood†video in which he bragged of fondling women first surfaced in The Washington Post.
“I remember being in Wisconsin and your own people were booing you,†Trump told him, according to former West Wing communications aide Cliff Sims. “You were out there dying like a dog, Paul. Like a dog! And what’d I do? I saved your a–.â€
The Trump White House makes everyone miserable
To paraphrase GOP strategist Rick Wilson, a frequent critic of Donald Trump, everything this administration touches seems to die. It’s simply a toxic environment.
Those who choose to work there are miserable during their tenure and almost always express relief when they get out. It’s hard to find someone who doesn’t regret their decision to hitch their wagon to the Trump dumpster fire.
The man in charge, Donald Trump, also appears to be constantly miserable and angry, often spending much of his day scanning cable news, hate tweeting and throwing tantrums.
And the misery from inside the halls of the White House stretches far beyond 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
The American people have had to endure two years of a president dismantling the values that have always made the United States the beacon of the world, and they too appear to have had enough.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
