During the presidential campaign, Anthony Scaramucci, the smooth-talking New York financier known by friends as “the Mooch”, convinced reluctant Republican donors to open their wallets for Donald Trump. But as White House communications director, Scaramucci will have to convince the American public that Trump, who is at record low approval ratings, is fulfilling his promises.
Scaramucci accepted the job on Friday, months after the departure of Michael Dubke, who had struggled to craft a coherent communications strategy as the administration spun from one controversy to the next.
A Long Island native with an affinity for pinstriped suits and the spotlight, Scaramucci has often drawn comparisons to his new boss. Both men have deep ties to New York, and Trump is said to admire Scaramucci’s unflinching loyalty and his cool TV presence during testy interviews with reporters, an advantage for a president whose day is guided by cable news.
In June, Scaramucci started as senior vice-president and chief strategy officer at the US Export-Import Bank, but will begin transitioning to his role as communications director in the coming weeks. Sean Spicer, who resigned as White House press secretary on Friday, reportedly opposed the hiring of Scaramucci.
Though Scaramucci became a critical fundraiser for the Trump campaign, it was not his first choice. Before the presidential campaign of 2012, Scaramucci expressed early support for Hillary Clinton. “I hope she runs [in 2016], she is incredibly competent,” he apparently wrote in a deleted tweet from April 2012, according to screenshots published by the Daily Beast. He also called her “the real deal.”
But when the campaign actually arrived, he first donated to Wisconsin governor Scott Walker’s campaign until it collapsed, and then he joined Jeb Bush.
Before he joined the Trump campaign, Scaramucci called Trump “anti-American” and “another hack politician”.
“I’ll tell you who he’s gonna be president of, you can tell Donald I said this: the Queens County Bullies Association,” Scaramucci said during a segment on Fox Business in August 2015.
“You are an inherited-money dude from Queens County. Bring it.”
On Friday, during his first appearance behind the lectern in the James S Brady press briefing room, Scaramucci said he was an “unexperienced person in the world of politics” when he made those remarks and offered an apology for the comments, for what he said was the 50th time.
“That was three minutes of my life,” he said, but added that the president has never forgotten it.
A graduate of Harvard Law School and an alum of Goldman Sachs, Scaramucci founded the global hedge fund SkyBridge Capital in 2005, but sold it in 2017 in preparation for a role in the Trump administration. He founded the SALT conference, named after his company, which attracts big name speakers from Washington, Hollywood and Wall Street.
Scaramucci, a registered Republican, supported Barack Obama in 2008. But he made headlines in 2010 when he confronted the president during a televised town hall.
“When are we going to stop whacking at the Wall Street piñata?” Scaramucci asked Obama. The hedge fund manager backed Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee, in 2012.
“He seemed like he was going to be a transformative candidate,” Scaramucci said of Obama in a 2011 interview in the New York Times, discussing his change of heart. “I’m really not an ideological guy, and I think the country right now needs more practical, less partisan people.”
Last month, CNN published a story alleging that the Senate intelligence committee was investigating links between Scaramucci and a Russian bank. Scaramucci denied the report. The story was later retracted and three high-ranking journalists at the network resigned. Scaramucci accepted the apology.
Allies of the president seized on the error as validation of their chief complaint that the press has been unfair to the president and Trump used the episode to rally support from his base.
Despite his frequent appearances on cable news and his easy rapport with reporters, Scaramucci remains an unusual choice for the role as he has no formal background crafting a communications strategy. On Friday, he indicated that the narrative from the White House would continue to be driven by Trump.
“I think it’s super important for us to let him express his personality,” Scaramucci told reporters on Friday.
“It has been a very successful life experience for president Trump to be president Trump so let’s let him do that. Let’s see where the chips fall.”
After he finished taking questions, Scaramucci raised his hand to his lips, air-kissed the press corps and left the podium.
(TheGuardian US)
