Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci pulled double duty Thursday morning, appearing first on CNN’s “New Day” and then on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” to make the case that President Donald Trump’s recent attacks on four Democratic congresswomen of color are “racist.”
Reacting to supporters chanting “Send her back!” at a rally Wednesday night after Trump mentioned Rep. Ilhan Omar, the Somali-born Minnesota Democrat who is a naturalized U.S. citizen, Scaramucci told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota, “They won last time, so it may be a winning campaign strategy, but it is against the idealistic values of America.”
He went on to call Trump’s recent comments “such a turn-off to a large group of people” who might say, “You know what? I love the policies but I don’t like the ‘send her back’ rhetoric. I don’t like the racist rhetoric of sending people back to the homes that they came from.”
Scaramucci then took his commentary on the road, heading to the Fox News studios in midtown Manhattan to deliver the same message to a very different audience. He explained his own Italian-American grandmother was told she should go back to her country of origin, which is why he’s “not a fan” of the message.
Host Brian Kilmeade responded, “I understand that, but do you see, after watching the rally last night, do you see what he was getting at? Does that make you feel differently?”
“I don’t like the racist tropes,” Scaramucci responded. “I’m just going to be totally honest with that.”
He noted his criticism comes from a place of support for Trump’s policies and is rooted in his belief that the president has “so many great things to run on” besides the attacks on the four congresswomen.
Over the weekend, Trump tweeted that congresswomen Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley should “go back” to their home countries, which kicked off the days-long news cycle that culminated in Wednesday night’s chant. (All but Omar are nonwhite women who were born in the U.S.)