Yahoo Finance Trump could face Republican primary opponent, says Anthony Scaramucci
Anthony Scaramucci, the founder of hedge fund Skybridge Capital who spent 11 days in 2017 as White House communications director, is turning on Trump.
Even after Scaramucci ended his White House tenure in embarrassment, he staunchly stood by his former boss and published a book called “Trump: The Blue-Collar President.” He would frequently appear on television to defend Trump’s policies.
That was until Trump’s racist tweets last month telling four female Congresswomen to “go back” to where they came from, and his trips this month to El Paso and Dayton, Ohio, to visit the families of shooting victims.
Now Scaramucci says Trump is “crazy” and “hasn’t grown into the presidency.”
And while Scaramucci says no prominent Republicans have been willing to publicly criticize Trump with any real seriousness, he does think someone who “can beat him” will challenge Trump in the 2020 primary.
“There are some former Republicans who have left the party, but I’m a registered Republican, I’m not leaving the party,” Scaramucci says. “I do think that he needs to be challenged... I think he's going to get primaried. I think there’s a very good likelihood that he gets primaried by a person that can beat him... and if that happens, I’ll probably go for that person. There’s a lot of people that could beat him. I don't want to mention any names right now, because I don’t think those people want to come out right now. But I can tell you there's a lot of people looking at what they would need to do.”
Bill Weld, the Republican and former governor of Massachusetts, is already mounting a campaign against Trump’s reelection, but Weld has not yet appeared to gain much momentum. Scaramucci appears to be hinting there are other Republicans (perhaps with more political weight) considering the same.
Of course, Scaramucci loves media attention, and his credibility took a major hit from his brief White House stint, and critics argue that his public turn against Trump is just another self-promotional stunt designed to get him on the airwaves.
Nonetheless, Scaramucci is well connected in finance and among Republican donors. He knows a lot of people, which makes it hard to dismiss outright his claim that multiple Republicans are considering running against the current Republican president’s reelection.
—
Daniel Roberts is a senior writer and show host at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter at @readDanwrite.
Read more:
Trump: ‘I am not a fan of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies’
Libra backlash in Washington: What the ‘founding members’ besides Facebook say
Miami Dolphins owner’s Trump ties land Equinox and SoulCycle in political hot water
Wayfair is the latest example of brands getting burnt by politics
Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance
Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, LinkedIn, YouTube, and reddit.
