Early on in his visit to the Dublin University Philosophical Society (the Phil) Anthony Scaramucci cracked a joke, setting the tone for the rest of the afternoon. As tends to be a habit amongst politically oriented guests coming to Trinity he found a local connection, reminding the crowd that his first wife was Irish and “still likes me, don’t worry!”
His visit could have been an awkward one, considering his close connections to President Donald Trump. But the financier, author and provocateur’s humour and engagement with the crowd diffused tensions. He cracked jokes and insisted on devoting much of the hour to open questions, bringing a familial atmosphere to proceedings that allowed his strong personality to dominate.
According to Scaramucci, now a recipient of the Phil’s Gold Medal of Honorary Patronage, this was “the first medal I’ve ever gotten in my life” and thus he appeared to sincerely appreciate being recognised as an “exceptional individual” by current president of the society, Ryan Grunwell.
Scaramucci gained prominence as White House communications director in the early days of Donald Trump’s presidency – a topic that would dominate proceedings. Trump, who Scaramucci described as “a walking verbal car-crash”, fired “The Mooch” after only 11 days – or 954,000 seconds as he jokingly said he tells his therapist.
But for all of Scaramucci’s humour, he did not avoid robust questioning on his original support for the president. He did, however, appear contrite, accepting that the decision to back Trump for the sake of party politics was wrong.
His remarks depicted a Republican camp that failed to recognise Trump’s commitment to shifting politics towards tribalism. Originally believing that the candidate was socially progressive and committed to American ideals of liberty like himself, Scaramucci said that there was truth in the cliché that “something can happen to people in the pursuit of power”. In a sense he applied that phrase to his own time in the White House.
Describing his background as the arc of the American Dream, he said that he was “intoxicated by the idea of working for the President”. While not defending his service, Scaramucci forced the audience to look inwards and pointed out that much as we may be young and righteous today, it is almost certain that someday “you’ll get into situations where you may not always do the right thing.”
The discussion turned to the 2020 American presidential campaign – especially the Democratic contest. Scaramucci was entirely dismissive of the socialist-leaning challenge of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, describing them as the “Jeremy and Jenny Corbyn of the US”. He argued that a platform of equal opportunity will always win against a platform of equal outcome, turning to his business experience and affirmed that “I don’t treat people equally. I treat them fairly on merit.”
With regards to turning people away from Trump, he was guardedly optimistic and focused on the president’s proven track record of alienating supporters, the underlying premise being that “there needs to be a willingness to allow Trump supporters to admit they made a mistake without ridiculing them.” Furthermore, in considering the future of the Republican party at large, Scaramucci referred to its aging white demographic and said the party needs to diversify and reform ideologically or risk becoming an irrelevance.
Other points of interest hit on during the hour-long talk included the rise of politically manipulated social media and the pressure on the concept of Western democracy as it battles a rising nationalist wave.
But not all of his tales were pessimistic. He wrapped up his visit musing on the exponential growth of technology as a model for future human and societal potential, and promoted the value of fair journalism: “You need a free and fair press in our societies in order to hold people in power in check.” As a former White House Communications Director, Scaramucci is well placed to make such an assertion – even if he was only in the job for 954,000 seconds.
