Former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci says the Trump administration is “blowing the lead” it built up over its first two years in office with the ongoing stalemate in the record-long government shutdown, which he says will do long-term damage to the economy.
Scaramucci, a hedge fund manager and political consultant who spent just 10 days as Trump’s communications director, said he would tell Trump’s staff to “knock it off.” Scaramucci says the administration is massively under-staffed and that Trump is surrounded by “disloyal” people who are only making matters worse for the president.
Per Bloomberg:
“You’ve got to cut a deal because what you’re doing is you’re disrupting the U.S. economy and you’re disrupting the global economy due to your egos,” Scaramucci said in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Tom Keene and Francine Lacqua from Davos. “I think it’s very, very stupid.”
The economy is going to slow down, said the founder of investment firm SkyBridge Capital. The record-long partial government shutdown has entered into its second month as Trump continues to demand $5.7 billion in funding for a border wall, which is opposed by Democrats led by Nancy Pelosi.
People are “going to start doing what the president does not want them to do, they’re going to start conserving capital, slowing down their investments into capital infrastructure for their companies etc, and hoarding cash again,” Scaramucci said.
The problem is that both the White House and the Democrats “can’t save face” anymore, Scaramucci said. “They’re both sitting there and they can’t come up with a strategy where one blinks. They can’t do that because that hurts their fundraising, that hurts their base.”
Scaramucci worked for Goldman Sachs’ investment banking, equities and private wealth management divisions from 1989 to 1996 before founding Oscar Capital Management, and later SkyBridge Capital. Scaramucci was fired after the appointment of then-Chief of Staff John Kelly.