Manhasset resident and former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci has publicly dropped his endorsement of President Donald Trump’s re-election bid after a Twitter feud that raged last weekend.
Scaramucci, who was fired 11 days into his White House job in 2017, has both spoken against and for Trump’s subsequent policies since his own time in the administration ended after he made foul remarks about his co-workers to a reporter for The New Yorker.
The feud erupted after Scaramucci’s appearance last Friday on the HBO panel discussion show “Real Time with Bill Maher,” one in a line of television programs he has been a guest on since his August 2017 dismissal.
Presented as the author of the 2018 book, “Trump: The Blue Collar President,” Scaramucci deflected charges that the president was racist from Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell, but did criticize Trump’s response to the mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Toledo, Ohio, on Aug. 3 and Aug. 4.
On Saturday, the president tweeted in the afternoon: “Got to see, by accident, wacko comedian Bill Maher’s show – So many lies…” Later that day, he tweeted again, this time addressing Scaramucci directly.
“Anthony Scaramucci, who was quickly terminated (11 days) from a position that he was totally incapable of handling, now seems to do nothing but television as the all-time expert on ‘President Trump.’” the president tweeted. “Like many other so-called television experts, he knows very little about me…..”
In a subsequent tweet, Trump commented that Scaramucci, “who would do anything to come back in,” should “remember the only reason he is on TV, and it’s not for being the Mooch!”
Scaramucci responded to the second of the three tweets early in the morning Sunday.
“For the last 3 years I have fully supported this president,” Scaramucci tweeted. “Recently he has said things that divide the country in a way that is unacceptable. So I didn’t pass the 100 percent litmus test. Eventually he turns on everyone and soon it will be you and then the entire country.”
Later on Sunday, the business news website Axios posted an exclusive interview with Scaramucci in which he compared Trump to the nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl and suggested that Republicans might consider finding another 2020 candidate if the president “doesn’t reform his behavior.”
“A couple more weeks like this and ‘country over party’ is going to require the Republicans to replace the top of the ticket in 2020,” Scaramucci told reporter Jonathan Swan.
Scaramucci later confirmed his comments in a CNN appearance Monday. Asked by reporter John Berman if he was calling for another candidate to head the Republican ticket, Scaramucci said he thought it should be weighed.
“I think you have to consider a change in the top of the ticket when someone is acting like this,” Scaramucci said.
He also said the president’s comments on Twitter were a “turning point” for him.
“I have been super loyal to this guy, super loyal to the president’s agenda, but there is something wrong with him as a leader if he can’t take constructive criticism or advice from people who have been super loyal to him,” Scaramucci said.
He further said that he had received an “overwhelming flood of texts, phone conversations and support last night from people that are actually inside the White House, up on Capitol Hill, former elected officials, current people in places of power, [and] current elected officials” the night he responded to Trump.
In addition to being a Manhasset resident, Scaramucci grew up in Port Washington, and was known for founding the New York City-based investment firm SkyBridge Capital prior to his work in politics.
