Anthony Scaramucci, who served as communications director in the first Trump administration, has said President Donald Trump will "burn the place down" before allowing one of his own people to become his successor. The former White House staffer, now a prominent critic of the president and the MAGA movement, made the remarks during an interview with Planet PEP while promoting his latest book, All the Wrong Moves.
Scaramucci, who co-hosts the podcast The Rest Is Politics: US alongside British-Swiss journalist Katty Kay, was asked about the fast-approaching midterm elections. Americans head to the polls on 3 November in what is widely viewed as a referendum on Trump's presidency.
Trump's campaign conduct
During the interview, it was put to Scaramucci that the president's conduct on the campaign trail gives the impression he doesn't "care" whether Republicans come out on top. Scaramucci agreed, saying: "He doesn't care. I mean, people that think he cares don't really understand him. He is going through the motions with the campaigns, but he's more or less talking about himself."
He added: "I guess he's talking about the body parts of some of the candidates, and he does some strange things like that while he's on the campaign trail. I think he doesn't care. I think he's a full-on narcissist, and I think the message from the president to his fellow Republicans is, 'Hey, guess what, guys? I don't care. Moreover, I'm gonna say to people, you were nobodies before I got here. And you're going to be nobodies after I leave here'."
A nihilist approach to succession
Scaramucci claimed this tactic makes Trump feel "even more important" and goes against what a "good leader" should do, namely nurturing and elevating a capable successor. He continued: "The president's not that type of person. He's a little bit more of a nihilist, and he'll want to burn the place down before he lets one of his people be his successor."
He added: "So watch for that to happen. And I think that's going to happen over the next two years as well."
The comments follow a lawyer who represented Trump during one of his impeachment trials weighing in on whether the former boss would attempt to serve a third term in office, despite it violating the US Constitution. Trump has long toyed with the notion, saying as recently as this month that he had the "right to run". He told a campaign rally in Iowa: "They cheated us on the second one because we won it three times, so I think I have the right to run again."
Michael T. van der Veen, who represented Trump during his second impeachment trial in 2021, dismissed the idea, saying: "Distraction, I think that's distraction."
