The Scaramucci Post stepped in it.
The new pet project from Anthony Scaramucci, who served a mere 10 days as White House communications director, has been tackling a random assortment of topics through Twitter polls and retweets since the media account launched in August.
On Tuesday, the Scaramucci Post apparently attempted to take on Holocaust deniers.
After retweeting posts about an Anne Frank Halloween costume asking for readers “thoughts?” on the topic, the Scaramucci Post launched a new poll, asking for feedback on “how many Jews were killed in the Holocaust?”
The tweet was apparently posted by Lance Laifer, whose Twitter profile says he runs a program called Hedge Funds vs. Malaria and Pneumonia, and who is responsible for posting Scaramucci Post’s tweets.
The poll was deleted after being live for about an hour and was apparently posted “without consulting @Scaramucci who is traveling in London.”
This poll was put up by @lancelaifer without consulting @Scaramucci who is traveling in London.
The poll has been taken down. pic.twitter.com/SKaaPZAPow— ScaramucciPost (@ScaramucciPost) October 17, 2017
Laifer apologized from the Scaramucci account, saying the poll was supposed to “highlight ignorance of the basic facts of the Holocaust.”
The intent of the poll was to highlight ignorance of the basic facts of the Holocaust. I take full responsibility for it.
— ScaramucciPost (@ScaramucciPost) October 17, 2017
This is @lancelaifer and I apologize if anyone was offended by the Holocaust poll.
— ScaramucciPost (@ScaramucciPost) October 17, 2017
The post caught the attention of the Anti-Defamation League, which retweeted the poll and said “this question is beyond resolved” and told Scaramucci to “take it down.” ADL head Jonathan Greenblatt spoke out from his personal account, saying the poll was “offensive” and “should not have been posted in the first place.”
This Twitter poll on the Holocaust was beyond offensive. Good to see it taken down. Should not have been posted in the first place. pic.twitter.com/JbPwU3wS8w
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) October 17, 2017
It’s widely known that 6 million Jewish people were killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust. An estimated 11 million people total were murdered during the genocide in Europe in the 1940s, including Jews, as well as several other groups like gay people, gypsies, the physically or mentally disabled and Slavic people.
The purpose of The Scaramucci Post is vague, as Scarmucci has claimed it will discuss “what’s going on in society and how we can make this society better.”
Now a word from @Scaramucci about the @ScaramucciPost pic.twitter.com/lH0oMQYx6z
— ScaramucciPost (@ScaramucciPost) September 27, 2017
Despite these lofty goals, the account’s feed mostly consists of emojis, Twitter surveys — asking followers about everything from “How are you?” to whether the U.S. should instigate a nuclear war — and retweets of other outlet’s stories asking followers for “thoughts?” on articles.
