Ex-Trump official Anthony Scaramucci speaks at an event. Image via Wikimedia Commons.
Anthony Scaramucci rarely has nice things to say about his former boss, but in a new interview with The i Paper, he revealed one world leader he considers "dumber" than his former boss, President Donald Trump.
Scaramucci previously served as White House communications director during Trump's first term, and was infamously fire just 10 days into the job. He has since emerged as a vocal critic of the president and his political movement, frequently attacking him in the media and endorsing his opponents.
On Wednesday, The i Paper published a new interview with Scaramucci where, among other things, he touched on the United Kingdom's own far-right political movement, led by Nigel Farage and the Reform Party, which has been gaining momentum in recent electoral cycles. Scaramucci said that he recognized a lot of "Trumpian" elements in Farage and his supporters, but also called him a "dumber version of Trump," explaining that he lacks some of the essential tools and traits that helped his former boss ascend to power twice.
“He has Trump’s guile and shamelessness, and he’s got Trump’s corruptibility," Scaramucci told the outlet. "But Trump is smart. He got to the American presidency twice. Farage doesn’t have the political instincts Trump has, he doesn’t have the bombast and the flair. In 2016, Trump had almost 100 per cent name recognition. Farage doesn’t have that.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Scaramucci was pressed about Trump's evident mental decline, having once observed that the president appears to be "losing it, mentally." The ex-official said that, in his estimation, the common theory about dementia is "B.S.," and suggested that the power afforded to him by the presidency has done more to corrupt his mind.
“Has he declined? We’re all declining,” he explained. “There’s also the imperial nature of the presidency; the majesty, the power, the pomp, which has also changed him. Obama said it better than me: The presidency, if you’re a good guy coming into the presidency, you can magnify your good guyness. If you’re a bad guy coming into the presidency, guess what? It’s going to magnify your bad guyness.”
Scaramucci also supported the idea that the presidency was a lifelong goal for Trump, and dismissed the idea some have put forward that he was spurred into politics after he was publicly ridiculed by Barack Obama in 2011. He added that Trump's relentless drive to force himself on the world is the result of a "massive chip on his shoulder."
“I’m not a psychotherapist, but it’s very important for him to force himself into the world, right? He’s got to have his name plastered on every building. He’s got to have different brands associated with his name,” he said.
