Scaramucci: Trump's Playing to His Base With Immigration Rhetoric
*By Carlo Versano*
Anthony Scaramucci, the colorful former adviser to President Trump who was unceremoniously fired after 10 days as White House communications director, said that Trump's latest hard-line immigration rhetoric is a ploy to energize members of his base who otherwise may be complacent and stay home on Election Day.
"This narrow-casting idea may make sense" given that the economy is strong, Scaramucci said Monday in an interview on Cheddar. Trump is hitting the "hot buttons of his base" to get them to vote.
Scaramucci ー who said he's still regularly in touch with the president despite his abrupt departure from a short, but tumultuous tenure in the summer of 2017 ー is promoting a book "Trump, The Blue-Collar President," in which he attempts to explain how, despite the trappings of his public life as a New York billionaire, the president was able to resonate with working-class voters who had strayed from the Democratic party.
"He was born with a golden toilet seat," Scaramucci said. "His apartment looks like Louis XIV decorated it after smoking crystal meth."
And yet, Scaramucci said, his voters don't care.
"It's about him being able to galvanize blue-collar people to his message."
It's a well-worn truism of the last two years that Trump was able to peel off longtime Democratic voters in the Rust Belt who had felt neglected by the party, which had becoming unmoored from its working-class roots. Trump came in ー he "hijacked the Republican party," Scaramucci said ー and built a base that has stuck with him through [thick and thin](http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/08/01/trumps-approval-ratings-so-far-are-unusually-stable-and-deeply-partisan/).
"It's an historic political achievement whether you like the guy or not," Scaramucci said.
His advice to Democrats: "Go back and return to your roots and you'll have a fairer fight with the president in 2020."
But the "Mooch," while generally supportive of Trump, admitted he thought the inflammatory rhetoric and policies around immigration is becoming problematic for the administration's agenda. He blamed a cohort of current and former top White House officials ー Steve Bannon, John Kelly and Kirstjen Nielsen, among them ー that have promulgated the hard-line nationalist strain that Trump has embraced for Election Day.
"I'm not in love with it," said Scaramucci. "A lot of the president's family members are not in love with it."
The book has been [received](https://www.ft.com/content/e1cfca66-de86-11e8-9f04-38d397e6661c) by some as a job re-application for a position in the White House, but Scaramucci said he's not interested in that kind of comeback.
"I'm not a big fan of Washington," he said.
"However bad you think these people are ー trust me ー they're way worse."
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/scaramucci-on-midterms-washington-and-trump).
Activism is growing around the country in response to school boards banning books from shelves that focus on sexuality, gender, identity, or race. Jen Cousins, co-founder of The Florida Freedom to Read Project, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
A recent study has found that young people's mental health worsens as they go through their teenage years, with the wellbeing of adolescent girls the most severely impacted. Simone Alicia, creator of The Self Esteem Doctor Academy, joins Cheddar News to discuss how to raise self esteem among this age group.
Cristyl Kimbrough, real estate attorney and star of 'Ladies Who List: Atlanta,' joins Cheddar News to discuss her new show on OWN and breaking into Atlanta's luxury real estate space.
Carl Tobias, professor of law at the University of Richmond, joins Cheddar News to talk about how Johnson & Johnson funded experiments on mostly Black men comparing the effects of talc and asbestos on their skin.
Amazon unveiled its new mobile app called Amp as a direct competitor to Clubhouse, allowing people to host live radio shows. Although it is still in beta, users can join the waitlist from the iOS store.
The war in Ukraine continues to reveal heartbreaking gut-wrenching stories. The war in itself is not only devastating but also expensive. Experts estimate that Russia is draining nearly $20 million dollars each day to continue occupying and invading Ukraine. All this could force the country to turn to cryptocurrencies. It's a major turn for the country that briefly considered outlined digital assets entirely, but it could also have serious implications for cryptos. Managing Director at Quantum Fintech Group, Harry Yeh, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
As Russia intensifies its war on Ukraine, President Biden announced a ban on oil imported from the aggressor nation. Critics of Russia have said this would be the best way to force Putin to pull back, but curbs on Russian oil exports are expected to send already skyrocketing oil and gas prices even higher, further impacting consumers, businesses, financial markets, and the global economy. Leslie Beyer, CEO of the Energy Workforce and Technology Council, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss. "It's certainly going to increase pricing, but it is the right thing to do," she said. "The industry itself has already pulled out of the significant portion of its operations in Russia."
On International Women's Day, we should not only focus on the women who came before us but but also the women doing the work today for a better tomorrow. Ms. James, also known as @iamthatenglishteacher on TikTok, is an Arkansas teacher who took her talents to the video-sharing app to expand her classroom from four walls to the world! She joins Cheddar News to discuss her love for teaching.
