Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang were guests on the Fortune Future of Finance conference on Thursday. The topic of the 2024 elections also got here up. Asked what effect former President Donald Trump’s return would have on the business landscape if he were re-elected, Scaramucci replied bluntly: “terrible.”
“It would be terrible for the economy and terrible for business,” said the founder and managing partner of SkyBridge Capital. The economy was predictable and favorable for business due to the constitutional separation of powers, Scaramucci explained. Trump desires to eliminate these divisions and assume people and roles that will give him total control. The so-called “unitary executive power” would give the president totalitarian power over the manager branch of presidency with exclusive rights to make and implement laws. It would make Trump “extremely powerful,” Scaramucci said, and throughout history, wherever it has happened, it has been disastrous for the economy.
“It’s a disaster for the economy, a disaster for the world and a disaster for your business,” he said, adding that Trump could be “an orange wrecking ball for this society.”
Similarly, former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang said Trump could be “a disaster” for businesses if he were elected president a second time.
“He learned from his mistakes last time, namely hiring responsible adults” who would have suppressed Trump’s political instincts, said Yang, co-chair of the Forward Party, a centrist political party he founded in 2021. Trump would surely win. The only query on his mind is whether or not anything will change in the subsequent six months within the swing states, where Biden is performing worse in comparison with Trump, in response to Yang, despite spending Biden’s sizable war chest.
Scaramucci noted that there are currently 40 Republicans who’re publicly opposing Trump’s re-election bid, including former Vice President Mike Pence. If dozens of people that worked at an organization got together and said a product or company was terrible and will kill you, he said, people would listen. But on this case, it is a mystery that Trump has received such unwavering support, he said.
Scaramucci only worked on the White House for 11 days, from July 21 to 31, 2017, but told a story about his time within the Oval Office. Former U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan and Trump argued and Trump pointed the finger at Ryan and said, ‘You work for me.’ You work for me,” Scaramucci recalled. Ryan told Trump, “I don’t work for you.” Then Trump looked affirmatively at Scaramucci, as if asking, “Is that right?” “He doesn’t work for me?” Scaramucci recalled. “And Trump doesn’t like that,” Scaramucci added, referring to Trump’s interest in autocratic control.
Scaramucci joked about how his short tenure within the White House has change into its own indicator of time. For example, Liz Truss, the shortest-serving Prime Minister in British history, held office for 45 days from September 6, 2022 to October 20, 2022. Or she held the equivalent of “4.1 Skirmishes“,” he said. “People are very sensitive,” Scaramucci said; Truss “was very upset.”
All joking aside, Scaramucci warned that there could be two movies playing at your local theater on Election Day. These movies are: Weekend at Bernie’s or One flew over the cuckoo’s nesthe said.
“You can either have an elderly man who is a bit forgetful or a lunatic who needs a lobotomy.”
