“I just hope he enjoys the liberties and the lifestyle that we have fought for," White House chief of staff John Kelly said of the high school teacher. | Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images Kelly: California teacher who ripped military ‘ought to go to hell’

White House chief of staff John Kelly on Wednesday tore into a California high school teacher who derided military officials as “the lowest of our low.”

"I think the guy ought to go to hell,” Kelly said in response to the remarks during an interview on Fox News Radio. “I just hope he enjoys the liberties and the lifestyle that we have fought for."


El Rancho High School teacher Gregory Salcido was reportedly placed on administrative leave after recordings revealed him bashing the military while urging students not to enlist for service.

“Think about the people who you know who are over there. Your freaking stupid Uncle Louie or whatever,” Salcido said. “They’re dumbshits. They’re not like high-level thinkers, they’re not academic people, they’re not intellectual people. They’re the lowest of our low.”

Kelly, a retired Marine Corps general and former secretary of homeland security, took issue with the remarks while speaking to Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade.

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Kelly, who rarely gives public remarks, has spoken out on a small number of occasions since entering the West Wing on military matters.

In October, Kelly forcefully defended a disputed call President Donald Trump made to the widow of a soldier killed in a military ambush in Niger after a Florida congresswoman criticized the president’s response.