“Just another disgruntled former employee who got fired for gross incompetence,” Trump tweeted Tuesday morning of his former White House communications director.
That Trump tweet came less than 12 hours after this one, again on the Mooch: “Nobody ever heard of this dope until he met me. He only lasted 11 days!”
And earlier on Monday, Trump sent this tweet: “Anthony Scaramucci is a highly unstable ‘nut job’ who was with other candidates in the primary who got shellacked, & then unfortunately wheedled his way into my campaign. I barely knew him until his 11 days of gross incompetence-made a fool of himself, bad on TV.
Does that seem like someone who is totally unbothered by Scaramucci’s public rejection of him in a variety of interviews and tweets this month?
Remember, always, that Trump’s Twitter feed is a direct line to his mental and emotional state. Trump’s allies — in the White House and outside of it — can say whatever they want, but what really matters is what Trump tweets. If he tweets about it, he cares about it. Bigly.
Which begs the question: Why does Trump care so much about Scaramucci’s rebellion?
The answer is, as always with Trump, tied directly to how he views the world: There are only two kinds of people — the pro-Trump ones and the anti-Trump ones. People who have been pro-Trump for a long time, or at least before he was elected president, he keeps closer and values more. Those are his OG people, the ones who have been with him from the jump.
It’s not a big group — and it’s mostly family. But there are a few non-family members in there — and Scaramucci was one. When those pro-Trumpers turn on him, Trump goes bananas.
We saw just that scenario play out with Michael Cohen, Trump’s longtime attorney and personal fixer. In the immediate aftermath of Cohen’s arrest on charges of tax evasion and other financial crimes, Trump stood up for him. Trump praised Cohen in April 2018 as “a fine person with a wonderful family” and someone who he had “always liked & respected.”
Then, Cohen flipped — entering into a plea agreement to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller and the Southern District of New York on several investigations into Trumpworld. Trump didn’t take that decision well.
“If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!” Trump tweeted in August 2018. Added Trump this past February: “Michael Cohen was one of many lawyers who represented me (unfortunately). He had other clients also. He was just disbarred by the State Supreme Court for lying & fraud. He did bad things unrelated to Trump. He is lying in order to reduce his prison time. Using Crooked’s lawyer!” And this one from March: “Bad lawyer and fraudster Michael Cohen said under sworn testimony that he never asked for a Pardon. His lawyers totally contradicted him. He lied! Additionally, he directly asked me for a pardon. I said NO. He lied again! He also badly wanted to work at the White House. He lied!”
In short: Hell hath no fury like Donald Trump scorned.
Trump feels deeply done wrong by the likes of Scaramucci and Cohen (or even Omarosa Manigault Newman!). In his own mind, he brought them into the trust tree, made them who they are and now they have turned on him. For someone who demands total loyalty forever from the people in his orbit (but who, interestingly, doesn’t feel the need to be loyal back), Trump sees what Scaramucci is doing as the ultimate betrayal. Hence his totally over-the-top reaction.
