Trump 'jokes' about firing John Bolton after just one week on the job

At an event called the “Tax Cuts for Florida Small Businesses Roundtable” in Hialeah, Florida, Trump name-checked his newly appointed national security adviser, John Bolton — and quickly regretted it.

“By the way, John Bolton is here,” Trump said, “and we just had a big, successful hit. John?”

When Trump tried to continue, he was interrupted by applause that culminated in several attendees standing.

“I’m a little jealous,” Trump said. “Are you giving him all the credit? You know that means the end of his job.”

Trump has made a habit of threatening to fire high-ranking officials in the guise of humor, but has also made good on a number of those “joking” threats. Trump joked about firing then-Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, who was later ousted under a cloud of scandal.

Trump also threatened to fire then-chief of staff Reince Priebus, as well as then-senior strategist Steve Bannon, all of whom were later fired. And Trump openly threatened to fire then-FBI Director James Comey weeks before he actually carried out the threat.

In fact, Trump has established a record-setting pace of White House turnover, so there’s no reason any Trump official should treat even a “joking” threat lightly. And Trump is infamous for his thin skin.

Bolton’s upstaging of Trump may have seemed like a joking matter in the moment, but it doesn’t seem to take much to get fired in this administration.