In an interview with Yahoo News published on Friday, former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci defended President Donald Trump against accusations of racism.
Scaramucci, who left his post after only 11 days following an interview in which he criticized other members of the administration, claims to maintain correspondence with many of his former colleagues. According to him, the real reason Trump keeps attacking congresspeople of color via Twitter is the fact that his aides are not willing to tell him the truth.
“If the president is now surrounded by people that are not going to tell him the truth, and they’re gonna confirm his biases, which may not be correct, that’s a recipe for disaster,” he said, describing Republicans refusing to speak out against the president’s tweets as “fraidy cats.”
“They know that it’s not the right thing,” he said.
According to Scaramucci, Trump is “really not a racist,” but he has a hard time owning up to his mistakes and apologizing.
“The president likes to double down on stuff and he never likes to apologize, but down deep, he’s got to know too because he’s really not a racist.”
The former White House official suggested that the president should pick his words more carefully in the future, but agreed with Trump’s criticism of Baltimore.
Echoing Trump, Scaramucci said that “rat infestation” is “prevalent” in some of the inner cities, blaming “the left” for the issues cities such as Baltimore have been facing over the years.
“It’s not racist to say that objectively and look at it for what it is,” he said.
As Yahoo News notes, Trump has been relentlessly attacking Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings — an African-American who represents a majority-black district in Baltimore — for days, most recently joking about a break-in at the congressman’s home.
JUST IN: Trump responds to reports of Cummings’ Baltimore home being robbed: “Too bad!” https://t.co/DcQIDac5DG pic.twitter.com/HqpLYtpP5m
— The Hill (@thehill) August 2, 2019
Trump first attacked Cummings on Saturday, claiming that conditions at the lawmaker’s district are “far worse” than conditions at the U.S.-Mexico border. Cummings had previously criticized the detention centers on the southern border.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr , Trump’s attacks on Cummings came weeks after his attack on four congresswomen of color: Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts.
Trump’s attacks on the progressive quartet also led to accusations of racism, prompting the House of Representative to pass a resolution officially denouncing the president’s remarks.
Trump’s tweet storms appear to have united House Democrats after weeks of infighting, as all of them have come out in support of their colleagues publicly condemning the president’s comments.