Former Trump aide Anthony Scaramucci says people around Trump do not like him
Key Takeaways
- •Anthony Scaramucci said on X that Trump is not genuinely liked by people in his family or cabinet, according to his view of Trump’s inner circle.
- •Scaramucci said his brief White House experience brought both humiliation and relief after he was fired after 11 days.
- •He renewed criticism of Trump’s orbit in July, warning staffers that Trump eventually turns on rising political figures.
- •Scaramucci also questioned Trump-related insider trading and suggested Trump may be compromised by Vladimir Putin.
- •White House spokesman Davis Ingle responded by dismissing Scaramucci as a short-lived former White House staffer.

President Donald Trump’s former communications director has a message for the Republican’s supporters: none of the people who work for him actually like him.
“Getting fired after 11 days was brutal, but there was also a genuine sense of relief,” Anthony Scaramucci posted on X on Monday. “Yes I had a shortcoming. I failed at the job. There was humiliation in it, but there was also relief.”
He added, “Here's what I've observed about everyone around Trump. Nobody likes him. I don't think his family members like him. I don't think his cabinet members really like him. They kiss his a—— because he's powerful.”
Scaramucci concluded, “The people who genuinely like him are one or two electron orbits away, close enough to feel the warmth, far enough to avoid the heat. I don't know a single person in his inner circle who came out unscathed.”
Scaramucci has been an outspoken critic of Trump in recent years, often using X to revisit his brief White House tenure and to argue that people in Trump’s orbit eventually face blowback. In July, he warned Trump staffers on X that “there’s one thing every rising star in Trump’s orbit eventually learns the hard way. He eats his young. And if you don’t believe me, ask Pence, ask Pompeo, ask Nikki Haley.”
Also in July, he criticized the Trump administration over insider trading.
“Answer these questions: Are you allowed to insider trade in Congress?” Scaramucci posted on X. “Can the president do his so-called businessman’s deals? Is any of this actually legal?”
He continued, “My opinion is: It smells terrible and it should be stopped. But we’ve lost our sense of shame. Trump said 2 things: 1. It’s peanuts and not that much money. 2. Nobody cares. That second one is the one that should keep you up at night.”
Scaramucci finished by writing, “Hopefully people actually do care. Hopefully they show up in November and send these guys a message.”
Later in July, Scaramucci suggested that Trump may be compromised by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“If Trump is disavowing NATO and breaking an 80 year tradition — something’s wrong,” Scaramucci speculated on X. “If Trump is praising Vladimir Putin, whose entire economy is slightly smaller than the state of Texas — something’s wrong. If Trump is disavowing the 1994 defense agreement where we told Ukraine to give up their nuclear weapons and we’d protect them — the agreement that got him impeached in his first term — something is wrong.”
He noted that Trump often criticizes other world leaders but avoids direct attacks on Putin.
“It’s hard to watch as an American but it’s obvious,” Scaramucci said. “Why does he own him? That’ll probably come out someday.”
In response to the AlterNet piece on Trump and Russia, White House spokesman Davis Ingle said, “Anthony Scaramucci lasted 11 short days in the White House. He makes lightweights look credible.”
Speaking with this journalist for Salon in 2018, Scaramucci said Trump was elected in 2016 because Americans were struggling with the cost of living.
“What I saw was in a generation we went from aspirational working class families, like the one I grew up in, to [desperate] working class families,” Scaramucci said. “What I saw is a decline in wages causing some level of economic asphyxiation for a very large group of people. And so Trump being out there, going into those areas, explaining the policies that he’s going to put in place, and then executing on some of those policies. I mean it’s not me saying, it’s just go look at ‘The Wall Street Journal.’”