Anthony Scaramucci's 11 days from hell

By Philip Bump

At 11 days Anthony Scaramucci's tenure as White House communications director was the shortest of any in history, about matching a guy who was fired in 1987 after it was discovered that he'd briefly been a member of the Hitler Youth as a child. Scaramucci's tenure ranked by day, from worst to best.

Seventh day at White House

This was the day that led to yesterday's firing. The New Yorker published the most vulgar interview with a White House staffer in modern US politics. Scaramucci called then-White House chief of staff Reince Priebus a "f***ing paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac," referred to presidential adviser Stephen Bannon's self-interestedness as resembling autofellatio and said he was going to fire everyone on the communications staff. Earlier, Scaramucci riffed on his feud with Priebus to CNN - creating a lot of news that one would think a communications director might prefer to avoid. He compared his relationship with Priebus to Cain and Abel. The Weekly Standard dropped a little news: The Mooch wore women's sunglasses.

Eleventh day

Scaramucci is fired by Priebus' replacement, John Kelly. Multiple reports suggest that he was, in essence, escorted off White House grounds. Oh, also, we learned that the Harvard Law alumni directory accidentally listed him as dead.

Sixth day

The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza reported that Scaramucci was dining at the White House with Fox News' Sean Hannity and President Donald Trump. Scaramucci appears to have assumed that Priebus was the leaker, so he called Lizza to find out.

Ninth day

The New York Post reports that Scaramucci's wife of three years, Deidre Scaramucci, had filed for divorce earlier in the month. The Post spoke with unnamed sources close to Deidre who suggested "the only one he's dating right now is the West Wing of the White House".

Fourth day

Deidre Scaramucci gave birth to the couple's son while Scaramucci was in West Virginia with Trump. He reportedly sent his wife a text reading, "Congratulations, I'll pray for our child". Scaramucci's day job took a hit, as Trump gave an unusually political speech to Boy Scouts, for which the Boy Scouts of America later apologised.

Fifth day

Scaramucci tells Politico that he plans to fire Michael Short, a communications staffer. Scaramucci doesn't tell Short this, though, so Short resigns.

Eighth day

Trump's team travels to Long Island for a speech about law enforcement - at which, again, Trump made comments that required the host organisation to offer a clarification. Kelly is announced as Priebus's replacement in a tweet from the President. HuffPost reports Priebus opposed Scaramucci's role in part because he believed that the sale of Scaramucci's business to Chinese investors had been sweetened with an eye toward having a good relationship with the Administration.

Second day

Scaramucci deletes old tweets in which his politics differed from Trump's.

Third day

He pledges to uproot Administration leakers, even if it required firing everyone except himself and the press secretary.

First day

At the briefing, he defends the President, and mimics Trump's mannerisms.

Tenth day

Scaramucci makes no news, at last performing the job to the standard of his predecessors.