Why former White House aide Scaramucci no longer backs Trump

Anthony Scaramucci, a former White House communications director under Donald Trump, has announced that he no longer supports the US president's re-election bid.

Scaramucci, who has frequently defended Trump on television, traded insults with his former boss over the weekend.

Asked by CNN’s John Berman if he was “no longer an active supporter of President Trump and his re-election bid,” Scaramucci replied, “I think that's pretty obvious from over the weekend.”

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

He added: “The guy's actually dissembling a little bit, and he's sounding more and more nonsensical. And, you know, we're sort anaesthetised to it.”

The remarks come following barbed tweets from both men over the weekend. After the former White House communications director described the president's recent visits to the grieving cities of El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, following two mass shootings as a “catastrophe,” Trump hit back.

“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,'” he wrote on Saturday evening.

He added: “Like many other so-called television experts, he knows very little about me. Anthony, 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!”

On Sunday morning, Scaramucci tweeted: “For the last 3 years I have fully supported this president. Recently he has said things that divide the country in a way that is unacceptable. So I didn't pass the 100% litmus test. Eventually he turns on everyone and soon it will be you and then the entire country.”

He told CNN that he's received a wave of support from current Trump allies, lawmakers and White House employees after standing up to the president. Asked what took him so long to part ways with the president's divisive rhetoric, Scaramucci said he had always “tried to see the best” in Trump.

Asked if he was calling for changing the Republican ticket, Scaramucci replied, “Well, I'm calling for it to be considered, yes.” He added: “I think you have to consider a change at the top of the ticket when someone is acting like this. Let's watch how this unfolds.”

Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon and personal attorney Michael Cohen, have also distanced themselves from Trump.

Scaramucci left the White House in August 2017, after attacking several senior White House officials and saying he planned to “fire them all”.