After being unceremoniously fired 10 days into his job as White House communications director, Anthony Scaramucci doesn’t appear to harbor any negative feelings toward the US president.
In fact, if his Aug. 14 appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is any indication, he’s still very much in Donald Trump’s corner, coming up with plenty of excuses to justify his behavior.
Colbert spent much of his interview grilling “the Mooch” on Trump’s initial response to the white supremacists, whose rallies in Charlottesville, Virginia, turned violent on Aug. 12, killing a female counter-protestor and injuring about 35 people.
Going off script from his prepared remarks over the weekend, the president had blamed the violence on “many sides.” Two days later, under pressure from lawmakers and others, he publicly condemned white supremacist groups, including the KKK and neo-Nazis.
“I said no gotcha questions. I promised you no gotcha questions, but I’m going to lead with one. Nazis, good or bad?” Colbert asked to start his interview.
“Super bad,” Scaramucci responded.
Colbert then asked why the president of the United States couldn’t come out and say the same thing on Saturday.
Scaramucci never had a direct answer, but he did offer the following:
“Listen, it was late. I’m not going to say it wasn’t. He did go to the White House today, and he did make a statement, which you just said was very declarative against it.”
“There’s a [inaudible] counterintuitive thing as it relates to the media. The media expects him to do something, he sometimes does the exact opposite.”
“You guys have been super rough on me and super rough on him, but he is a compassionate person. I know him as a compassionate person.”
“It’s a super tough job. He made a step to give up what was a luxurious lifestyle. … Stephen, it’s a huge sacrifice to do this stuff.”
(On Trump complaining about doing the job:) “That’s him wearing his heart on his sleeve. That’s him expressing himself.”
“Let’s be fair to him today. He did condemn the Nazis today.”