The New York Times is reporting that President Donald Trump has decided to remove Anthony Scaramucci from the post of White House communications director, a post that he held for just 11 days. It is not clear whether he will be transferred to another position or will be out of government service.
What happened with Scaramucci?
Scaramucci, a Wall Street investment banker, had been hired as communications director to replace Sean Spicer, whose relationship with the media had become adversarial, to put the matter mildly.
His first press conference went relatively smoothly. However, Sacamucci subsequently gave an obscenity-laced interview to a national magazine in which he expressed overly frank evaluations of prior White House Chief Of Staff Reince Priebus and chief strategist Steve Bannon. He also boasted of his direct access to the president without having to go through the chief of staff as most White House staffers have to do.
Perhaps not unrelated, Scaramucci’s wife has filed for divorce. She cited her estranged husband’s overriding political ambition as grounds for ending the marriage.
Is John Kelly starting to clean house?
It may be no coincidence that Scaramucci is out just as former Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly has come on board as White House Chief of Staff. Kelly has been brought on to stop the Game of Thrones chaos that seems to have convulsed the Trump White House and to bring to it some order and discipline. These qualities do not appear to describe Scaramucci in his brief stint as communications director, so he is now out.
Can the Trump White House be saved?
Chaos in the West Wing is not unusual during the first few months of an administration. The first two years of the Clinton administration was once described to have the atmosphere of a frat house before Leon Panetta was brought in as chief of staff to provide some adult supervision.
Trump is seeing the need to retool after six months and seems to be acting decisively. Whether he is performing effectively, will be known if and when the White House operation settles down and starts to run smoothly.
What does Scaramucci do now?
As for Scaramucci, provided that he is not offered another government job, the Wall Street financier turned Washington player turned political washout has some deep introspection to undertake. He has been left likely without a job and without a marriage as a result of trying to handle a position that he is clearly ill-equipped to fill. It is a classic case of nemesis following hubris. The difference of the situation from a Greek tragedy is that Scaramucci now has a chance to put his life back together.