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Flashback: Scaramucci Once Called The Trump Campaign A ‘Spectacle’

Anthony Scaramucci is seen speaking with members of the press in the lobby of Trump Tower Donald Trump transition meetings, New York, USA - 13 Jan 2017 (Rex Features via AP Images)
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July 21, 2017 2:03 p.m.
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Anthony Scaramucci has been a supporter of President Donald Trump since at least the spring of 2016, based on his Twitter timeline.

But the New York financier, who has been tapped to be the new White House director of communications, wasn’t always a supporter of the President.

In a since-deleted tweet, caught by Independent Journal Review reporter Josh Billinson, Scaramucci called the Trump campaign a “spectacle.”

The newest member of the Trump administration, who previously served as a campaign fundraiser for the President, showed early signs of support for Trump’s Democratic opponent during the 2016 election, tweeting in April 2012 “I hope she runs, she is incredibly competent.

He also tweeted his support of then-presidential candidate Jeb Bush in October 2015, saying he would make a “great president.”

Despite tweeting recently that he supported Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord, Scaramucci is apparently not a climate change denier. In March 2016, he said it was “disheartening” that many people still think climate change is a “hoax.” In December, however, he was more skeptical of the issue.

He also appeared to show some support for former Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate Mitt Romney, calling him a “true statesman” in 2013 and asking whether anyone questioned that Russia was a “legitimate threat” to U.S. interests.

Scaramucci has publicly acknowledged that he’s donated to Republican and Democratic campaigns, confirming on Twitter that he had donated to the Trump campaign as well as to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), former President Barack Obama and former presidential candidate and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

In 2012, the new communications director tweeted his support of gun control legislation saying the U.S. has “5% of the world’s population, but 50% of the world’s guns. Enough is enough.”

Scaramucci was thrust into the spotlight recently when CNN retracted a story it had published claiming Scaramucci was under investigation as part of the probe into whether Russia interfered in the 2016 election. As soon as the story broke, Scaramucci denied the claims and later tweeted that he accepted the network’s apology.

Falling in line with the President and his allies, Scaramucci often attacks the media on Twitter, and recently promoted the Conservative News Report as a “less biased media.”

He often appears on Fox News as a political analyst and is close friends with the President’s son, Donald Trump Jr., who is at the center of the Russia investigation after publishing emails that indicate he took a meeting with a Russian lawyer on the premise of getting harmful information on Hillary Clinton.

He also stopped by the White House at the end of June, for a “great meeting” with the President.

But he may not be the biggest fan of the President’s policies, though. In December 2015 he tweeted “Walls don’t work” alongside a photo of the Berlin Wall, referencing Trump’s campaign promise to build a wall along the border of the U.S. and Mexico to address illegal immigration issues.

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Nicole Lafond (@Nicole_Lafond)  is TPM’s deputy editor, based in New York. She has also worked as the special projects editor and as a senior newswriter for TPM. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University and previously covered education in central Illinois.
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