“I’m out there trying to educate as many people as possible at the systemic danger that Mr. Trump represents to our democracy.” Those were part of the opening words of my conversation earlier this week with former Trump White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci on “Salon Talks.” And it went downhill from there for Trump.
I can’t recall another presidential election where as many former officials from a White House administration and members of the president’s own political party came out so vocally to defeat that very president. But then again, nothing has been normal in the time of Trump.
In our conversation, Scaramucci, a successful Wall Street investor, shared why he turned on Trump, citing events such as Trump’s family separation policy and, finally, when Trump led the “Send her back” bigoted smear of the four Democratic female members of Congress known as “The Squad,” saying they should go back to their own countries. As Scaramucci noted, this vile line of attack by Trump was personal for him; his own Italian grandparents heard the same hateful nativist comments when they first came to America. Continue reading.