Clash between Fox’s Hilton, Scaramucci sparks Trump response

Anthony Scaramucci had a heated debate with Fox News host Steve Hilton, with the former White House communications director accusing President Trump of politicizing the coronavirus pandemic while shrinking the Republican Party and generating a response from Trump, who called his former aide a “loser.”

“No. 1, the economy is upside down,” Scaramucci told Hilton on “The Next Revolution” late Sunday. “You had 13 percent unemployment for the African American community.

“No. 2, he’s politicized the science around the pandemic,” Scaramucci continued. “And the last thing [and] the most important thing for me, about the Republican Party … we are shrinking, and so in order to expand the tent, we have to reframe and reengineer the Republican Party.”

Scaramucci recently announced he will support presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in helping to launch The Right Side PAC, a super PAC supported by former George W. Bush and Trump officials.

“Let’s start with regulation, an important issue for every small business out there for jobs and growth. In 2016, Anthony, you said that regulation is crushing growth. Now you want it much higher than it was then,” Hilton noted. “Why?”

“That’s not what I want,” Scaramucci retorted.

“But it is, because you’re backing Joe Biden, who wants that too. You’re backing those policies. If you don’t want it, why are you backing the candidate who supports that?” Hilton pressed.

“He is a divider. He divides people. He incenses people. He is creating hate in our democracy,” Scaramucci said after some cross-talk, before adding that Trump is “blowing a racist dog whistle.”

“You go on about racism [but] you’re now supporting a candidate who keeps saying racist things,” Hilton shot back. “He literally just said the other day he thinks Black people are all the same.”

“You’re right,” Scaramucci sardonically replied. “The president has never made any gaffes, he’s never said anything stupid.”

“You’re all over the place, and you talk about politics because you don’t want to talk about the policy,” Hilton later said.

“What we are doing right now, we’ve destroyed the economy, we are dividing the people, we are racially charging, that’s not going to work,” Scaramucci later argued.

The exchange between Scaramucci, who has become a staunch critic of the president since leaving his position at the White House after 11 days, prompted a response from Trump.

“@Scaramucci who just made a fool of himself as he got taken apart by @SteveHiltonx only lasted 11 days in his favorite of all time Administration, before being fired for, again, making a fool of himself. Anthony is a loser who begged to come back,” Trump wrote to his 85 million followers. “I said ‘No Thanks’.”

.@Scaramucci, who just made a fool of himself as he got taken apart by @SteveHiltonx, only lasted 11 days in his favorite of all time Administration, before being fired for, again, making a fool of himself. Anthony is a loser who begged to come back. I said “No Thanks”.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 10, 2020

Scaramucci served as Trump’s White House communications director from July 21 to July 31, 2017.