Anthony Scaramucci is back.
After his brief stint in the White House, the former communications director, affectionately dubbed “the Mooch” and largely remembered for the profanity-laced chaos he induced, did what all the best ousted administration officials do: He made the rounds on cable television. Reminiscing about what it was like to “serve his country,” Scaramucci pitiably attempted to regain his former relevance. And he’s not the only one.
See, for example, former press secretary Sean Spicer, who recently announced he’ll be on the upcoming season of Dancing with the Stars. Alas, the things we do for notoriety.
The Mooch, however, isn’t quite ready to give up political stardom for the appeal of pop culture. He’s leaving his dancing shoes at home and instead grabbing a pitchfork. That’s right. Anthony Scaramucci, welcome to the resistance.
Scaramucci broke with President Trump last week, declaring him “unstable” and unfit for office — just two weeks after meeting with Donald Trump Jr. But Scaramucci’s sudden change of heart is as unsurprising as it is unconvincing. Hating Trump is convenient, especially when you’re a high-profile, controversial renegade. The media, all too keen to expose Trump as the demagogue they know he is, gladly turned its attention to Scaramucci’s revelation, and voilá, the result is a symbiotic relationship that puts even Mother Nature to shame.
Perhaps the most interesting part of Scaramucci’s conversion is the Resistance’s reaction to it. Instead of shunning him as the deeply unserious person he is, Trump’s opposition, specifically the Never Trumpers, have welcomed him with open arms without pausing to consider the damage his character and intentions could do to their own efforts.
Trump has the White House communications staff using Trump-compliant media organs to go after Scaramucci. Trump senses that a high-profile defector who’s willing to say he was wrong and who can fight back when attacked is particularly dangerous. https://t.co/xQzosMxiqr
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) August 20, 2019
Bill Kristol has also thrown his support behind Joe Walsh, a former GOP representative with his own nearly Trump-like history of troubling comments, simply because he’s considering running against Trump in the primary. He’s also endorsed Mark Sanford, the former governor of South Carolina whose fall from grace came after he snuck out of the U.S. to commit adultery and was slapped with 37 ethics charges.
All three of these actors — Scaramucci, Walsh, and Sanford — represent the very things the Never Trump movement claims to oppose: infidelity, wildly inappropriate and erratic behavior, profanity, etc.
Now, I understand that Bill Kristol doesn’t represent all Never Trumpers. There are many who do have the moral consistency to oppose Trump’s transgressions. But the movement as a whole is guilty of the very same type of blind loyalty that consumes MAGA. Just as many of Trump’s sycophants excuse his worst tendencies out of a twisted sense of tribalist duty, so, too, does the Never Trump movement accept any person, motivation, or action as long as it meets the anti-Trump criteria.
And Scaramucci, of all people. It’s difficult to justify the argument that Trump’s foolishness disqualifies him from the presidency when it’s coming from a man whose foolishness got him kicked out of the White House in the space of a few hours. Scaramucci is not a hero. He has not undergone some kind of brave conversion. The only light he’s seen is the glare of the cameras.
Scaramucci should serve as a warning and a reminder that despite the ideological differences between MAGA and Never Trump, their reasoning is quite similar. That’s because Trump has already made up their minds for them.
