Watch CBS News

Scaramucci Fields Questions From Worlds Affairs Council Of Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Former White House communications director and senior adviser Anthony Scaramucci fielded questions from the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia on Thursday.

In a wide-ranging question-and-answer session with council members, Scaramucci batted away suggestions that Donald Trump may be a one-term president.

"If you tell me that we're going into the 2020 election and we're in a steep recession, the stock market is crashing, then I'll say to you he's got a chance of getting dislodged. But without that, my guess is that people will vote for him," he said.

Scaramucci also took partial responsibility for the infamous recorded phone call with a reporter that got him fired over the summer. A profanity-laced tirade against White House leakers and Chief of Staff Reince Preibus.

At the same time, Scaramucci said he sees himself as a victim of what he calls "Scandals Incorporated."

"And it doesn't matter which side has power, we're gonna scandalize these people. The second thing we're gonna do is the politics of personality destruction. We have to find out something about these people so that we can destroy them in an ad hominem way so that once we've disfigured them to the American people, their voices no longer matter," said Scaramucci.

The Wall Street financier described himself as a moderate, socially inclusive, and fiscally responsible, who missed what he calls America's transition from the aspirational working class family to the desperational working class family.

Scaramucci also has doubts that Congress will pass true tax reform because it is simply "too hard a slog." He predicts tax cuts will be the more likely outcome.

He said he believes the political system has failed the American people.

"We've racked up $20 trillion of debt. We're prosecuting wars that we're not winning, lots of lives and treasure have been spoiled on those battlefronts that could've been deployed in schools or infrastructure," he said.

 

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.