A lot of people are upset about President Trump’s new White House communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, because he’s not competent (etc, insert usual fact-based issues with Trump picks), but it looks like this is the first time Donald Trump really hit his own sweet spot, aside from the hiring of Breitbart’s Head of Hate, Steve Bannon.
Trump’s new communication director has admitted in an interview that Trump lies. He lies to sound good, Scaramucci said.
Insert Republican values shrug here.
Here’s an excerpt from a October, 2015 Gawker interview, which caught my attention due to a tweet by Joe Schwartz:
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
Gawker: So when Donald Trump says that all the other candidates are owned by hedge fund managers…
Scaramucci: It’s just factually inaccurate. And he knows it’s factually inaccurate, but what Donald Trump is doing is a classic political thing. He’s identified two or three things that sound good. My cousin Sandra was calling my mom and said “I’m just so happy that Donald Trump is giving it to the hedge fund managers!†And then my mom said, “Wait a minute, my son Anthony’s in the hedge fund business!†And she said “Oh, I didn’t know that.†And P.S., she doesn’t even know what a hedge fund manager is.
And I love my cousin Sandra. I’m making the point that Donald Trump is scoring political points.
Donald Trump punched his buddies, the hedge fund managers, and the people who don’t even know what a hedge fund manager is luuuurved it so much. They love Strong Man hitting a pretend target. Much strength.
The hedge fund manager knew Trump was lying.
Now Trump has put the founder of SkyBridge Capital, which specializes in funds of hedge funds products, in charge of communications for his White House; a man who does not care when the President is lying, if things “sound good.”
I give you the perfect hire for a President who lies 4.6 times a day: Fox News Business pundit, hedge fund owner, lie-as-long-as-it-sounds-good-and-allows-the-big-boys-to-keep-making-money-off-of-the-Trump-rubes: Anthony Scaramucci.
It is a mistake for Trump to think that a better liar, a less careful person, is the help he needs for a clean slate. There is not a lie big enough that can erase Donald Trump’s attack on democracy and the rule of law. Sean Spicer might not have been great at his job, but it was an impossible job, because there is no actual defense for much of what Trump does and says.
Listen to Sarah on the PoliticusUSA Pod on The Daily newsletter podcast here.
Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Connect with Sarah on Post, Mastodon @PoliticusSarah@Journa.Host, & Twitter.
