Anthony Scaramucci breaks with Trump in days-long Twitter battle

Anthony ‘the Mooch’ Scaramucci has become the latest ally of US President Donald Trump to renounce him publicly. The surprise move from one of his top supporters has predictably thrust him into the media spotlight.

The former White House communications director served in the Trump administration for a mere 11 days, but since his ouster in July 2017 he has become a permanent fixture on cable news, spilling the beans on the inner workings of the White House.

While the ex-adviser was no longer a part of Team Trump, he had not switched sides, defending his former boss in frequent CNN appearances and in his book, ‘The Blue-Collar President’.

However, the romance – as it was with many of Trump’s confidants before Scaramucci, such as disgraced former personal attorney Michael Cohen – eventually soured. It all began on Thursday last week, when ‘the Mooch’ chastised Trump for his behavior during a visit to a hospital in El Paso, Texas, where victims of the Walmart mass shooting were recuperating.

Trump returned fire on Saturday with a series of tweets casting Scaramucci as “totally incapable of handling” his job, and urging him to remember “the only reason he is on TV,” which is apparently his short-lived stint at the White House.

From there, the rift only widened as the two engaged in a running Twitter battle. Scaramucci fired back, tweeting that he had supported Trump for three years, but has had enough. “Recently he has said things that divide the country in a way that is unacceptable. So I didn’t pass the 100% litmus test,” he wrote.

The very public feud has propelled Scaramucci into the mainstream media spotlight. In interviews with Axios and CNN on Sunday, he burned his bridges with Trump, saying he would like to see him replaced with a more suitable Republican candidate in 2020.

After a brief respite, Trump went on the offensive again on Monday, tweeting that Scaramucci “had nothing to do” with his 2016 election victory and “is only upset that I didn’t want him back in the Administration (where he desperately wanted to be).” The taunt prompted a response from Scaramucci, dismissing the claim as “bullying” and calling Trump a “very weak troll.”

Scaramucci’s defection saw him being embraced by some of Trump’s liberal opponents, despite explicitly stating that he will remain a Republican and has no intention of switching sides to the Democrats.

“Better late than never I suppose,” self-described ‘resistance fighter’ and former Star Trek star George Takei tweeted.

Scaramucci’s story has taken up its fair share of CNN airtime, as the network milks it with expert analyses. 

Some found the media’s interest in the story to be blown way out of proportion.