While an unending stream of reports have hinted at more significant staff turnover for the past few weeks, President Trump’s decision to fire State Secretary Rex Tillerson on Tuesday wasn’t all that surprising. The former ExxonMobil CEO’s potential ousting from the White House has been a topic of discussion for months, so when the presidential ax was finally swung on Twitter (of course), most in the media simply went about their business. According to The Daily Beast, however, a comment from Chief of Staff John Kelly suggests that the context in which Tillerson found out about his firing was far from normal.
According to three sources with knowledge of an off-the-record meeting that The Daily Beast was not invited (and therefore not beholden) to, Tillerson was on the toilet when Trump’s second chief of staff informed him of his future:
Tillerson, Kelly told the room, was suffering from a stomach bug during a diplomatic swing through Africa, and was using a toilet when Kelly broke the news to him.
Sources were stunned that, even in an off-record setting, Kelly would say this—to a room filled with White House officials and political reporters—about Tillerson, who does not officially leave the State Department until the end of the month.
A spokesperson for the state department claimed to have no knowledge of the conversation between Kelly and Tillerson. The White House, meanwhile, declined to comment at all when The Daily Beast reached out. Not that any of this matters, of course, for Twitter’s many journalists, pundits, and comedians couldn’t resist the bait.
You had a good go at it..thanks for your input pic.twitter.com/RS7dHAVeNl
— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) March 16, 2018
When Bannon was told he’d be fired, he was drinking from the toilet https://t.co/4GnkKZu6CS
— Jess Dweck (@TheDweck) March 16, 2018
Come work at the White House! You could be publicly undercut for months by the president! And be toyed with about when you'll be fired! And then fired by tweet! And then have the chief of staff mock you after you're gone for being on the toilet ! https://t.co/2CQ0bDiDFT
— Edward-Isaac Dovere (@IsaacDovere) March 16, 2018
https://twitter.com/SonnyBunch/status/974791201181392902
https://twitter.com/marrowing/status/974793668564475906
I’m sorry, but I do not accept phone calls when I am on the toilet.
— Bradley P. Moss (@BradMossEsq) March 16, 2018
I dunno, maybe whatever secure phones they use don’t have a mute button.
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) March 16, 2018
https://twitter.com/TVietor08/status/974794951732084737
well if the Daily Beast has this exclusively who's gonna be the No. 2 to report it https://t.co/WHfUuFayqb
— “Mark Berman” (@markberman) March 16, 2018
You might say Tillerson was…
(•_•) / ( •_•)>⌐■-■ / (⌐■_■)
…relieved of doody.https://t.co/Ozjwa6wVHc— Jeffrey Young @jeffreyyoung.bsky.social (@JeffYoung) March 16, 2018
https://twitter.com/nickwiger/status/974783919223586816
https://twitter.com/EoinHiggins_/status/974783446370390021
Of all the puns and similarly annoying word jokes capable of being told about Tillerson’s supposedly being on the toilet, the fact that the story broke late Friday inevitably meant that the number of “Friday news dump” quips was going to be too high.
https://twitter.com/justinjm1/status/974778048762564608
Friday news dump https://t.co/rlAcSD9KOP
— Steven Lemongello (@SteveLemongello) March 16, 2018
https://twitter.com/molly_knight/status/974793215223017472
That’s what they call a Friday news dump. https://t.co/HuBFnele8w
— Annie Karni (@anniekarni) March 16, 2018
Window closing on the “Friday news dump” jokes, people. Get ‘em in fast!
— Greg Krieg (@GregJKrieg) March 16, 2018
(Via The Daily Beast)