The sudden departure of Anthony Scaramucci from the White House staff threw America for a loop — perhaps no one more so than conservative commentary site The Federalist, which just published an opinion piece by senior contributor David Marcus titled, “Why Anthony Scaramucci Is The Man Trump And America Need.” The post went up roughly six hours before the White House communications director was fired after holding the position for only ten days, following Sean Spicer’s exit.
In the article, Marcus argued that Scaramucci’s hire was a crushing blow against establishment Republicans, like Newt Gingrich and recently-ousted WH Chief of Staff Reince Priebus — who insisted that Donald Trump could be controlled. He also argued that it would be better for the public if Trump’s communications team didn’t try to mitigate the president’s most outlandish claims and just presents Trump’s views with little to no filter.
“Throughout the campaign and even after it, we had GOP officials predicting that Trump could be guided, molded into a responsible Republican president. It has never been true, and we are all better off for finally realizing it,” Marcus writes.
“Why would we want levelheaded professionals pretending he isn’t saying what he says? Who does that serve?”
The explanation given for Scaramucci’s removal was that it would allow new WH Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly to have a clean slate with his White House team, though Marcus’ column unwittingly discussed a problem that Kelly might have if he is looking for someone with a different demeanor and approach to the job than Scaramucci: Many GOP veterans don’t want the job of dealing with Trump’s message.
“If the principal won’t stay on message, nothing works,” former Mitt Romney spokesman Ryan Williams told Marcus. ” [Trump] has shown no indication he’s willing to listen, he steps all over message weeks, and he treats his staff like garbage.”
After news broke of Scaramucci’s removal, Marcus quipped on Twitter that he filed his article “just in the nick of time” and that he believes the core message of his piece still stands: No professional public relations expert will want to work for the president of the United States.
Guess I filed that piece just in the nick of time…
— David Marcus (@BlueBoxDave) July 31, 2017
In regard to the cavalcade of tweets regarding my Mooch story. I stand by what I wrote. No real comms person can competently work for DJT.
— David Marcus (@BlueBoxDave) July 31, 2017