President Donald Trump’s former communications director has a news flash for the Republican’s supporters — none of the people who work for him actually like the man.
“Getting fired after 11 days was brutal, but there was also a genuine sense of relief,” Anthony Scaramucci posted on X on Monday. “Yes I had a shortcoming. I failed at the job. There was humiliation in it, but there was also relief.”
He continued, “Here's what I've observed about everyone around Trump. Nobody likes him. I don't think his family members like him. I don't think his cabinet members really like him. They kiss his a—— because he's powerful.”
Scaramucci concluded, “The people who genuinely like him are one or two electron orbits away, close enough to feel the warmth, far enough to avoid the heat. I don't know a single person in his inner circle who came out unscathed.”
Scaramucci has been an outspoken critic of Trump in recent years. Indeed, in July alone, he issued a warning to Trump’s staffers in which he argued on X that “there’s one thing every rising star in Trump’s orbit eventually learns the hard way. He eats his young. And if you don’t believe me, ask Pence, ask Pompeo, ask Nikki Haley.”
Also in July, he blasted the Trump administration for engaging in insider trading.
“Answer these questions: Are you allowed to insider trade in Congress?” Scaramucci posted on X. “Can the president do his so-called businessman’s deals? Is any of this actually legal?”
He continued, “My opinion is: It smells terrible and it should be stopped. But we’ve lost our sense of shame. Trump said 2 things: 1. It’s peanuts and not that much money. 2. Nobody cares. That second one is the one that should keep you up at night.”
Scaramucci finished by writing, “Hopefully people actually do care. Hopefully they show up in November and send these guys a message.”
Similarly in July, Scaramucci opined that Trump may be compromised by his Russian counterpart, President Vladimir Putin.
“If Trump is disavowing NATO and breaking an 80 year tradition — something’s wrong,” Scaramucci speculated on X. “If Trump is praising Vladimir Putin, whose entire economy is slightly smaller than the state of Texas — something’s wrong. If Trump is disavowing the 1994 defense agreement where we told Ukraine to give up their nuclear weapons and we’d protect them — the agreement that got him impeached in his first term — something is wrong.”
He observed that while Trump frequently criticizes other world leaders, he keeps a wide berth from Putin.
“It’s hard to watch as an American but it’s obvious,” Scaramucci said. “Why does he own him? That’ll probably come out someday.”
In response to the AlterNet piece on Trump and Russia, White House spokesman Davis Ingle replied, “Anthony Scaramucci lasted 11 short days in the White House. He makes lightweights look credible.”
Speaking with this journalist for Salon in 2018, Scaramucci argued that Trump was elected in 2016 because of Americans’ concerns with the cost of living.
“What I saw was in a generation we went from aspirational working class families, like the one I grew up in, to [desperate] working class families,” Scaramucci said. “What I saw is a decline in wages causing some level of economic asphyxiation for a very large group of people. And so Trump being out there, going into those areas, explaining the policies that he’s going to put in place, and then executing on some of those policies. I mean it’s not me saying, it’s just go look at ‘The Wall Street Journal.’”
