Donald Trump Racism Criticism Gets ‘The Mooch’ Booted From GOP Fundraiser
President Donald Trump sent a series of tweets last weekend in which he called for four Democratic women in Congress — Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan — to leave the country.
The tweets were roundly denounced as racist, mostly by Democrats, but also by a handful of elected Republicans, including Rep. Will Hurd of Texas. Among those who were critical of the president over the tweets was the man who was Trump’s White House communications director for 10 days in the summer of 2017, Anthony “The Mooch” Scaramucci.
Per Politico, Scaramucci criticized the president for the tweets, stating that, while he doesn’t believe his former boss to be racist, he sees President Trump trending that way.
“I don’t think the president is a racist,” Scaramucci said in an interview. “But here’s the thing, if you continue to say and act in that manner, then we all have to look at him and say, OK, well, maybe you weren’t a racist, but now you’re turning into one.”
Scaramucci made similar comments both on social media and in a series of TV interviews.
For those comments, “The Mooch” has paid a price: He’s been disinvited from a planned appearance with a Republican group in Florida.
Per a Politico story Thursday, the former White House aide was dropped from an August fundraiser event with the Palm Beach County GOP in Florida as a result of his comments.
.@MarcACaputo reports that @Scaramucci has been disinvited from a Florida GOP fundraiser for criticizing President Trump's racist tweets https://t.co/SlkHqkmdfh
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) July 18, 2019
“He suggested the president’s comments were racist and that he was becoming a racist. Our board was infuriated,” Michael A. Barnett, the Republican Party chairman in Palm Beach County, told the outlet. Palm Beach County is the home of President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
The fundraiser, known as Lobsterfest, is described on its website as the “Best Summer Event of the Year.” The site still lists Scaramucci as a speaker at the Boca Raton event on August 15, alongside Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida and former Trump associate Roger Stone, who is currently under federal indictment. A judge this week expanded the gag order that’s been placed on Stone, per CNN, although it’s unclear if that will affect his planned appearance at the GOP event.
Scaramucci, whose background is in the New York financial world, entered the Trump orbit during the 2016 election, and he was named communications director after a White House shakeup in July of 2017. Following a profanity-laced interview with a reporter who he had neglected to place off the record, Scaramucci departed his position before the month was out.
