With Clowns To The Left, And Jokers On The Right, Trump Turns To Scaramucci
What is up today, you ask?
Well, not much…..oh, holy shit!
On Wednesday night, I received a phone call from Anthony Scaramucci, the new White House communications director. He wasn’t happy. Earlier in the night, I’d tweeted, citing a “senior White House official,” that Scaramucci was having dinner at the White House with President Trump, the First Lady, Sean Hannity, and the former Fox News executive Bill Shine. It was an interesting group, and raised some questions. Was Trump getting strategic advice from Hannity? Was he considering hiring Shine? But Scaramucci had his own question—for me.
“Who leaked that to you?” he asked. I said I couldn’t give him that information. He responded by threatening to fire the entire White House communications staff. “What I’m going to do is, I will eliminate everyone in the comms team and we’ll start over,” he said. I laughed, not sure if he really believed that such a threat would convince a journalist to reveal a source. He continued to press me and complain about the staff he’s inherited in his new job. “I ask these guys not to leak anything and they can’t help themselves,” he said. “You’re an American citizen, this is a major catastrophe for the American country. So I’m asking you as an American patriot to give me a sense of who leaked it.”
Ooof. That is pretty psychotic on the part of Scaramouche, glad he didn’t go too batshit…. Yikes, nevermind:
“Reince is a fucking paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac,” Scaramucci said. He channelled Priebus as he spoke: “ ‘Oh, Bill Shine is coming in. Let me leak the fucking thing and see if I can cock-block these people the way I cock-blocked Scaramucci for six months.’ ” (Priebus did not respond to a request for comment.)
Scaramucci was particularly incensed by a Politico report about his financial-disclosure form, which he viewed as an illegal act of retaliation by Priebus. The reporter said Thursday morning that the document was publicly available and she had obtained it from the Export-Import Bank. Scaramucci didn’t know this at the time, and he insisted to me that Priebus had leaked the document, and that the act was “a felony.”“I’ve called the F.B.I. and the Department of Justice,” he told me.
“Are you serious?” I asked.“The swamp will not defeat him,” he said, breaking into the third person. “They’re trying to resist me, but it’s not going to work. I’ve done nothing wrong on my financial disclosures, so they’re going to have to go fuck themselves.”
Just to be clear, this is the rootin tootin slick dick Harvard Law financial genius that Trump brought in to clean up his Presidency’s previous failures, and bring order and success to the West Wing.
A fine tuned machine!
Jeez, figured Trump had to be frantic about half a year of leaks and no plugs. Guess we now know exactly how frantic.
Scaramouche indeed. Will Priebus’s Harlequin beat him?
Nope.
The Mooch eloquently stated, “I’m not Steve Bannon, I’m not trying to suck my own cock.” Well good luck to him in the attempt. But the statement really excapsulates not only the level of discource and cooperation inside the Beltway, but also the entire USofA. We are well and truly fucked by Cealis popping GOP and the flacid Dem’s and the butt hurt supporters of Trumpville.
I sure don’t expect any sea change in our continuing disipation. Glad I’m on the slippery slope to the great beyond, or whatever.
Trump has finally put a Face to The Establishment. He’s removed The Mask that was Decorum. We now see IT for what IT really is — Pure Maniacal Evil. What was formerly Opaque is now as Clear as a Sunny Day prior to Industrialization.
In this sense, we should be grateful to The Donald, although he certainly didn’t, or doesn’t, intend it. Like The Accidental Tourist, The Donald is The Serendipitous Satirist.
Evidently, part of Moochie’s conversation with Lizza was off-record:
Shawn DonnanVerified account@sdonnan
If true that Priebus tried to “cock block” Mooch, looks like a smart move on the former’s part. Then again, such a claim makes it look like a lie.
Anyway. My intuition is that much as the Mooch is Donald’s long-sought Mini-Me, I give him only a couple of weeks or few months till he bails. I know nothing; this is just intuition.
Spicer hung in there months longer than I expected, so you never know. But, yes, he will not last.
At some point, no one will want the job.
I know it’s way too late for civility, but in my classes the rule is “no profanity unless you’re a shellback”.
Nonetheless, Mooch is definitely diverting attention away from the Russia investigation and the committee appearance by the various (alleged) colluders. I’ll agree with M’s timeline for how long he lasts, if for no other reason than I cannot see Mooch not trying to throw Trump’s kids under the bus (he’ll have to really soon, he’s out of other suspects), and I cannot see Ivanka allowing her hubby to get mowed down.
Moochie the hundred million dollar victim. Pooh, pooh. Slick hair can’t hide the coarseness and narcissism underneath. Trump picked him because he’s enthralled by appearance – money, HLS, real hair and all that – and because Moochie is just like him, including his ability to imitate water and take the form of whatever vessel he’s in.
TPM has this article worth reading on Mooch, but a particular nugget jumped out in the middle:
“Further complicating the contacts Scaramucci said he had with DOJ is that it appears he’s not even a formal member of the Trump White House yet. When he came onboard last week, he announced he would not formally assume his post until Aug. 15, pending the approval of the sale of his investment firm, SkyBridge Capital (Huckabee Sanders said Thursday she doesn’t believe he’s yet taken an oath of office). The Justice Department has a seat on the committee responsible for approving that deal, the Treasury Department-led Committee on Foreign Investments in the U.S.”
So, WTH? How is this guy allowed to do anything at all apparently on taxpayer dimes as a FOT, much less hold press briefings in Napoleorange’s name? I had not heard a thing about the gap confirmed by SHS yesterday anywhere else. So, exactly how does he have authority to do anything? If I were in Spicey’s shoes, I would have locked the little snot out until he took the oath of office.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/trump-scaramucci-treat-justice-department-like-personal-enforcement-arm
Does seem to be a slight problem that Mooch must hope he can pixie dust away. If he’s doing the job, he’s an employee. He should be deemed to have taken the oath, but he should also take it. If he’s doing the job, he needs to be paid. Or he should stop doing it. Now.
Simply avoiding it in the normal Trumpian way is not sufficient. If Mooch’s continued ownership of his business is a problem, he needs a waiver.
Moochie seems to be as bad at process as his boss. He and his president should be called on it.
So, if he is not official yet, how can he officially fire any of the staff?
This is seriously screwed up.
One more note:
Breitbart (which means Bannon of course) hates Mooch, so I suspect the time is more like weeks instead of months:
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/07/move-over-trump-youre-yesterdays-news-breitbart-goes-to-war-against-the-scaramucci-show/
Seriously, for being a fringe outlet Breitbart has a large, vocal and unhinged enough following that Mooch will have a hard time when he’s getting flak from all sides. He may not even make it to 8/15. Jared is family, Mooch is not and that is why Bannon will be rid of this guy as soon as possible. The question is what will make things quiet enough to no longer need the distractions from the lectern? I do not see any resolution to the Russian investigation any time soon.
Neither does Russia. So tit-for-tat.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/28/world/europe/us-russia-sanctions.html
Mooch is getting divorced.
So is Priebus.
richard wolffe is my gavorite guardian columnist, by far.
here is his view of that contemptible sychophant, ‘big tony’ scaramucci:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/27/anthony-scaramucci-donald-trump
“petty, vindictive, and unprincipled, perfect for trump.” indeed!
this article strikes me as an excellent roadmap for the trip we’re about to take with grump’s new mafioso:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/scaramucci-learned-his-press-tactics-from-wall-street-theyll-only-get-uglier/2017/07/28/aa085a3a-72e4-11e7-8f39-eeb7d3a2d304_story.html
July 31, 2017:
Apparently Scaramucci couldn’t do the fandango…
[So, now, having done a short comment… Is there anywhere to go from here?… To a press secretary position, maybe?…]
The Mooch is out, and Arpaio is guilty of criminal contempt. Not bad for a Monday, not bad at all : )