Scaramucci: Trump's 'gone off the rails'

Former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci on Monday accused President Donald Trump of having “gone off the rails,” comparing him to a “demagogue,” and insisting the administration’s conservative policy agenda is not worth the damage Trump has inflicted upon America’s democratic institutions.

“I'm a loyal Republican, and I've tried to be loyal to him. But let's face it, I mean, he's gone off the rails, and so we just have to call it for what it is,” Scaramucci told CNN, revealing that he no longer supports Trump’s 2020 re-election bid and is “now neutral on the president.”

“I think that's pretty obvious from over the weekend,” Scaramucci said. “I mean, the guy's actually dissembling a little bit, and he’s sounding more and more nonsensical. And, you know, we're sort of anesthetized to it.”

Trump targeted Scaramucci in a series of tweets on Saturday,

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that his former aide was “totally incapable of handling” the role of White House communications chief — a position from which he was fired within 11 days. Scaramucci's brief White House tenure was marked most notably by an expletive-laden interview with The New Yorker in which he insulted multiple top administration officials.

“Anthony, who would do anything to come back in, should remember the only reason he is on TV, and it’s not for being the Mooch!

” Trump

Twitter

.

Scaramucci had previously served as a reliable defender of the administration during frequent cable television appearances, but criticized Trump last month for his attacks on four progressive congresswomen of color and asserted the president could be "turning into" a racist.

“He's out there doing things, and you're trying to give him advice, but he can't listen to anybody,” Scaramucci said Monday. “And if you say something that's one or two sentences off the mark of his support — and I would tell his loyalists, loyalty is not blind obedience unless you're supporting a demagogue, OK?”

Scaramucci also claimed Trump “is giving people a license to hate, to provide a source of anger, to go after each other,” and assessed the president’s accomplishments in office do not justify the toll of his incendiary rhetoric.

“You're fracturing the institutions and all of the things that the country stands for, so that's not worth the economic policies,” Scaramucci said.

Scaramucci on Sunday predicted the GOP may need to select a candidate other than Trump as its 2020 presidential nominee, telling Axios: "A couple more weeks like this and 'country over party' is going to require the Republicans to replace the top of the ticket in 2020."

Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine