Sarah Sanders' tenure as press secretary ended long before her exit

“You’re fired!”

Donald Trump was joking when he barked these words at his press secretary, Sarah Sanders, during a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, in April – on a night when both were snubbing the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.

Sarah Sanders exits after two fraught years as Trump hails 'a very fine woman'

Sanders had made a short speech as delighted crowd chanted her name. “She’s becoming too popular,” the president quipped. “Sarah, I’m jealous.”

The truth was that Sanders had, in effect, been fired some time ago – long before her departure was announced on Thursday. The position of White House press secretary had all been made redundant. Trump prefers to do the job himself and be his own spokesman.

During Sanders’ tenure, the once daily ritual of the press briefing – must-watch television in the chaotic era of Sean Spicer – was essentially supplanted by the president holding court with reporters in the Oval Office, the cabinet room and, above all, on the White House South Lawn, competing with the roar of his Marine One helicopter.

The more he talked, the more pointless Sanders’ briefings became, since she merely parroted his tweets, evaded serious policy questions and channeled her boss’s anti-media barbs. It was perhaps inevitable that the briefings would get shorter and finally wither away, symbolised by a recent photo that showed dust literally gathering on the lectern.

Trump tweeted in January: “The reason Sarah Sanders does not go to the ‘podium’ much anymore is that the press covers her so rudely & inaccurately, in particular certain members of the press. I told her not to bother, the word gets out anyway!”