Trump is Using the Iran War to Get Richer (ft. Anthony Scaramucci)

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Trump is Using the Iran War to Get Richer"

Podcast: Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
Guest: Anthony Scaramucci (Founder, Skybridge Capital; former White House Communications Director)
Date: March 25, 2026
Duration: Approx. 34 minutes of core content

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Overview

This episode of Raging Moderates centers on the intersection of U.S. involvement in the Iran War, insider dealings, and the personal and political motivations behind Donald Trump’s administration. Hosted by Jessica Tarlov, with recurring guest Anthony Scaramucci, the conversation peels back layers of policy, power, and the growing populist resentment spanning both sides of the aisle. With sharp analysis and candid humor, Scaramucci indicts both parties for corruption but singles out the Trump family’s unprecedented monetization of war and office. The episode also reflects on U.S.-Iran negotiations, the fracturing of the Republican and Democratic parties, and the emotional currents driving American politics.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The State of U.S.-Iran Negotiations

(Starts at 02:45)

• Peace Plans & Military Movements:

  • The U.S. is circulating a 15-point plan for peace, which Iran has rebuffed with a nonviable counter-offer (e.g., full U.S. military withdrawal).
  • Scaramucci predicts escalation, noting troop deployments like the 82nd Airborne Division as signals of intent rather than negotiation tactics.
  • “Trump is like a 12-year-old. He’s not going to not use those things… this is a video game and these are just objects in his field of vision.” (Scaramucci, 03:57)

• Iran’s Stubbornness:

  • Scaramucci explains that Iran will never accept the core U.S. demands (recognizing Israel, giving up nuclear weapons), due to their foundational ideology and regime survival logic.
  • The Iranian “mosaic defense principle” creates resilience via decentralized power — outlasting and destabilizing adversaries is the strategy.

• Wider Consequences:

  • If no durable peace is achieved, oil prices will skyrocket due to instability in the Strait of Hormuz.
  • Gulf states are pressuring the U.S. to “finish the job,” as articulated in Larry Fink’s (BlackRock) annual letter.
  • “I don’t see that this was a quagmire. This is the reason why J.D. Vance didn’t want to do it.” (Scaramucci, 07:17)

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2. Republican Realignment and Iran War Hawks

(Starts at 07:32, resumes at 12:29)

• Internal GOP Divisions:

  • J.D. Vance and Marco Rubio have been sidelined due to their opposition to escalation in Iran, replaced by more compliant supporters.
  • “He’s in the Michael Phelps of ass kissers position in the White House.” (Scaramucci on Scott Bessant, 08:37)

• White House Dynamics:

  • Scaramucci shares insider anecdotes, revealing the Iranians specifically request Vance as a negotiator, seeing him as more reasonable.

• John Bolton’s Critique:

  • Bolton, once the leading regime-change advocate, now criticizes Trump’s lack of real coordination and support for internal Iranian opposition. (12:29)

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3. War Profiteering, Insider Trading, and Corruption

(Starts at 15:01, deep dive at 17:15)

• Trump’s Priorities:

  • “Trump does not care if you lose. Trump does not care if Cornyn loses in Texas. He actually does not care. Trump cares about two things. He cares about money and he cares about attention… Don Jr said that they want to be the richest family in the world before he leaves the presidency.” (Scaramucci, 15:05)
  • Multiple references to active, high-level self-enrichment by Trump and allies — e.g., trading oil futures based on inside knowledge, securing massive foreign deals.

• Bipartisan Corruption:

  • Scaramucci indicts both parties, citing recent reports of a Democratic congresswoman buying war contractor stock after war broke out.
  • “There is massive nonsense going on on both sides. Just the Trump family has taken it exponential.” (17:32)

• Systemic Rot & Populist Backlash:

  • “Now it is so bald for face corrupted that there’s a funnel at the top where the Democrats and the Republicans are ciphering off profits through insider trading. Trump’s gone exponential into the billions.” (20:33)
  • This unrestrained corruption is fueling left and right-wing populist anger, undermining aspirations of working-class youth.

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4. Electoral Realities: Polls, Performance, and Narratives

(Starts at 21:43)

• Democrats’ Dilemma:

  • Despite legislative flips in Florida, overall Democratic performance is hampered by poor polling numbers on the economy, immigration, and foreign policy.
  • Party lacks a cohesive narrative and organization, with Scaramucci comparing the absence of a modern “Democratic Leadership Council” akin to the 1990s strategy.

• Culture Wars Over Economics:

  • “If you don’t think that there’s a culture war going on in this country, then you don’t understand the country… Donald Trump is going to beat you every time in the culture war. He understands it better than you.” (Scaramucci, 24:00)
  • Emotional issues (e.g., identity politics, immigration, policing) trump economic ones for a significant part of the electorate.
  • “This is an emotional thing. This is not an economic thing. This is not a common sense thing.” (Scaramucci retelling a Trump anecdote, 25:30)

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5. Immigration Enforcement and Its Political Fallout

(Starts at 27:27)

• Policy Overreach and Course Correction:

  • Harsh anti-immigration measures (project “2029”) backfired, costing Republicans with key demographics.
  • Trump has a knack for correcting course — replacing hardliners with more moderate faces.

• Impeachment Prospects?

  • If the war escalates, Republicans risk losing the Senate, increasing Trump’s vulnerability to impeachment, but Scaramucci doubts enough GOP senators would break ranks.
  • “Trump’s gonna pardon himself and his family members on the way out because he’s broken every other norm.” (Scaramucci, 29:26)

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6. Psyche & Shame: Trump's Power and Vulnerabilities

(Starts at 29:41, continued at 32:13)

• Trump’s Psychology:

  • “Nobody likes Donald Trump. You are either paid to like him or you’re forced to like him. But there’s nobody, and I repeat, there’s nobody that likes Donald Trump. And guess what? He don’t like anybody.” (Scaramucci, 29:53)
  • Trump draws power from those feeling harmed and left out — voters with deep resentments at elites and the system.

• “Shame Gene” Analogy:

  • “Donald Trump, no shame gene. I looked, I looked under the desk. I didn’t see any.” (Scaramucci, 32:10)

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7. 2028 Contenders: Can Newsom or Anyone Break Through?

(Starts at 32:15)

• Newsom’s Prospects and Narrative War:

  • Gavin Newsom is seen as a formidable debater who understands both Trump and the Fox News ecosystem.
  • California’s narrative is a battleground in itself, attacked for decades as a pre-emptive strike against left-leaning threats.
  • “Newsom’s got an image problem the way Hillary Clinton had an image problem. And the right is very well-organized... Gavin, you gotta beat that back.” (Scaramucci, 34:00)

• Call for Post-MAGA Renewal:

  • To redeem America, Scaramucci emphasizes that the personality-cult politics around Trump must end, requiring new leadership in the GOP beyond MAGA.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Trump’s Use of Power:

  • “Trump is like a 12-year-old. He’s not going to not use those things… this is a video game and these are just objects in his field of vision.” (Scaramucci, 03:57)

• On Culture War Politics:

  • "Donald Trump is going to beat you every time in the culture war. He’s the General Napoleon of the culture war.” (Scaramucci, 24:09)

• On Trump’s Motivation:

  • “Trump cares about two things. He cares about money and he cares about attention…” (Scaramucci, 15:12)

• On the Bipartisan Rot:

  • “This is a bipartisan thing that’s happening. There’s a huge funnel at the top… and they’re ciphering off profits through insider trading.” (Scaramucci, 20:28)

• On Democratic Disunity:

  • "The best thing Donald Trump has going for him are the Democrats… you don’t have a consistent narrative." (Scaramucci, 23:36)

• On Trump’s Shamelessness:

  • “Donald Trump, no shame gene. I looked, I looked under the desk. I didn’t see any.” (Scaramucci, 32:11)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 02:45 – Scaramucci on Iran peace talks, the inevitability of escalation, and limitations of negotiation
• 07:32 – The sidelining of Vance and Rubio inside the GOP
• 12:29 – John Bolton's critique of Trump's Iran war strategy
• 15:01 – NBC report on Trump’s information "diet" and Scaramucci’s refutation
• 17:15 – Insider trading, Martha Stewart analogy, and bipartisan corruption examples
• 20:33 – Economic populism roots and the two-tiered system
• 21:43 – Election analysis: Democratic flips vs. persistent poor polling
• 24:00 – Culture war dominance and emotional politics explained
• 27:27 – Immigration missteps, course corrections, and impeachment scenarios
• 29:41 – Scaramucci on Trump: lack of shame, lack of true supporters
• 32:15 – Gavin Newsom’s narrative challenge and the long shadow of Fox News
• 34:00 – Outlook for a post-MAGA GOP and final thoughts

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Conclusion

The episode delivers a brisk but deep critique of American politics in the 2026 election cycle, especially the normalization and acceleration of corruption — both legal and moral — under Trump’s presidency. Through the lens of the Iran war and its domestic fallout, Scaramucci frames Trump as an outlier in shamelessness and self-enrichment, but also warns that systemic rot is bipartisan. Emotional resonance and culture war supremacy, he argues, still eclipse economic or moral arguments in much of the voter base.

Jessica Tarlov’s probing, moderate perspective, paired with Scaramucci’s insider candor and colorful analogies, provide listeners with both entertainment and insight, bridging the gap between disgusted centrism and honest political analysis.

Transcript

[Anthony Scaramucci]

You can tell a lot about a person by their accent. I really do say I pog my cat and have a yard. Everyone around here says like a coffee and dwog.

[Jessica Tarlov]

We're so attached to the way that we sound because it tells a part of the story of who we are.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Your accent decoded. That's this week on Explain it to Me. Find new episodes Sundays, wherever you get your podcasts.

[Megan Rapinoe]

Megan rapinoe here. This week on a touch more. We've got two insiders to help us unpack. The wnba's new cba three time champion and wnbpa vice president alicia clark, aka a.c. and espn basketball analyst andrea carter. We're also going to take a look at our ncaa brackets and check out what's next in march madness. Check out the latest episode of a touch more wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube.

[Henry Blodgett]

When is the AI bubble going to burst? How do you AI proof your job? How should colleges handle AI and prepare students for a shifting job market? I'm Henry Blodgett and on my show Solutions, I've been exploring all of those questions and more with experts who have actual answers. We hear enough about our problems. Let's solve them. Follow Solutions with Henry Blodgett.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Okay, but Trump doesn't care because Trump's gonna pardon himself and his family members on the way out because he's broken every other norm. Don't, don't think he won't break that norm as well.

[Jessica Tarlov]

You don't think there is ever any shame component?

[Megan Rapinoe]

Shame. That there are.

[Jessica Tarlov]

Yeah, Shame.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Okay, let me look for the shame. Hold on, I'm gonna look on. Hey, are you down there? Come on, Shame.

[Jessica Tarlov]

Welcome to Raging Moderates. I'm Jessica Tarlov and back by Popular Demand, one of mine and Scott's favorites. Though we usually hang separately, we got to do a joint hang. Anthony Scaramucci is here, founder of Skybridge Capital. 10 day White House communications director.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

1111. Jesse. Why, Jimmy? That last day was so important. I got fired on that last day.

[Jessica Tarlov]

It was a big day, though. I was reading about it again, like with the Reince Priebus angles and the Sean Spicer angle. Anyway.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

I mean, those guys, my God. All right, anyway, go ahead. Let's keep going.

[Jessica Tarlov]

That's it. Welcome to the show. Thanks for joining me.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

You know, my nickname for Spicer was Liar Spice. You know, all the Spice Girls have a nickname, but his was Liar Spice. You know, what a guy. All right, go. Keep going. What are we talking about?

[Jessica Tarlov]

Well, let's talk about Iran peace plans are flying back and forth. According to reports, the US sent their 15 point plan to Iran. Iran responded, this is all via Pakistan. Iran responded with a wish list that's obviously never going to happen with the US Closing all their military bases in the Gulf states, lifting all their sanctions. What stage of the conflict do you think that we're in and how much credence do you give to the idea that we're having meaningful negotiations? Iran said this morning that the US Is negotiating with itself.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Well, I mean, Trump and his accolades are trading the market. I mean, it's a broader comment because the Democrats also do the insider trading. It's a bipartisan indictment, but I think he's nowhere on this. And I predict escalation. And so I want to be the contrarian here because the oil markets are saying no, the stock market's saying no, but you're moving Marine Expeditionary Forces into the region. You're moving the 81st or the 82nd Airborne Division.

[Jessica Tarlov]

82nd, yeah.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

So the 82nd Airborne Division of the region. And so Trump is like a 12 year old. He's not going to not use those things. So three, four weeks before the invasion, people said, well, is he just using aircraft movements as a negotiating pressure point? And I said no, that's not his personality. He'll end up using the stuff because he likes it. You know, remember he's full on narcissist like him objectifies people. So this is a video game and these are just objects in his field of vision. So people die. As he's been very callously, you know, saying, nope, people die. That's what happens in a war. He doesn't really care. So I see this escalating because in the 15 points, there's a couple of things they're never going to accept. Number one is they want them to accept the existence of Israel and Israel's right to exist. They're just never going to do that. You have to understand their doctrine over the last 47 years and what's embedded in their radical Islamic constitution. They want the destruction of Israel and they want to export their radicalism into the Gulf states. And they've done a pretty good job of proxy militias, terrorist organizations, state sponsored terrorism, and this is the sentimentary rock Jess of their foundational principles. That's number one. Number two, they are not going to give up their nuclear weapons or the potential pursuit of the nuclear weapons because they studied what happened at Gaddafi and they studied what happened to other people. And they also studied what happened to Kim Il Jung when Clinton had the chance to strike or to do something more aggressive than diplomacy with North Korea. He didn't do that. They've now got the nuke. They've now got ballistic capabilities. And so guess what happens when you have that? You don't lose your power. And so these guys are dug in. And I think, you know, the mosaic defense principle in Iran, which is very well documented. And I think that the. The Israelis, frankly, miss size this because they said, okay, there are 31 decentralized groups. The Iranians basically said, we're not going to lose power the way Gaddafi did. We studied what happened in Iraq. And so we're going to have these 31 decentralized groups. Anybody gets decapitated, no problem. Just go down the line, press the buttons necessary to keep a war going. And remember, they're not stupid. They know they can't beat the Americans or the Israelis, but what they could potentially do is outlast them. And what they could also potentially do is choke the strait. And that's exactly what they're doing. So to me, five, six of those 15 points are not gonna be acceptable to them. Which is why you're hearing reports that the Gulf states are calling the president, saying, lock in, finish the job. Maybe you saw Larry Fink's comment yesterday in his annual letter. If you don't finish the job, oil prices are gonna go between 100 and 150 because it's going to be very hard to insure those tankers. And there's always going to be this uncertainty in the Strait. So unless you're telling me that they're going to accept an international coalition of peacekeepers in the Strait of Hormuz, which is going to then lower the prices and lower the prices of insurance premiums. So, you know, I don't see that this was a quagmire. This is the reason why J.D. vance didn't want to do it. Okay. This is the reason why, Susan.

[Jessica Tarlov]

And he's basically disappeared.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Yeah.

[Jessica Tarlov]

J.D. vance at this point.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Well, yeah, but also, you know, look, it's interesting that your viewers and listeners should know this. They. They reported, and J.D. vance leaked this, by the way, that he's thinking about not running for president in 2028 because he's too tight with Trump. He's got a baby on the way. Rumors are that his wife doesn't like the lack of privacy, and he's looking around saying, okay, it's gonna be very hard for me to run because my whole positions were against this, you know, and they put out a tweet there's a tweet for everything. But they put out a treat, a picture of Trump and J.D. vance, and they're hugging each other and they're saying the peace candidacy, the peace presidency. Is that what happened?

[Jessica Tarlov]

Obviously not. I mean, J.D. vance has had multiple identity crises certainly since 2016. To your point about there being a tweet for everything. But I, what I meant with he's basically disappeared, that they've taken him and to some degree, Marco Rubio off of the front lines of defending this war and picking Scott Bessant, who, you know, the left loves to.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Oh, so he's in the, he's in the poll ass kissing position. So he's now the Michael Phelps of ass kissers in the White House. And so what happened? So just so you people know, because remember, I'm still a Republican, I still talk to all these people. So what happened was there really isn't a big rift between Rubio and Vance, despite the media portraying it that way. Okay? And so they're teamed up. They didn't like the war. Neither one of them liked the war. Neither one of them thought it was a good idea. They wanted a diplomatic solution to the war. Rubio's trying to be a little bit more deferential to Trump, but the two of them teamed up, which is why about eight days ago, Vance had to stand before Trump in the Oval Office behind the Resolute desk to tell everybody how supportive he was of the war. So there was a skirmish inside the White House, and there was an ideological battle going on, and Vance and Rubio were on the same side of it. Okay? And so that's why they've both been relegated. And by the way, you know this, okay? The Iranians are saying if we're gonna talk to anybody, we wanna talk to Vance. If anybody's going to Pakistan, we'd like Vance to go to Pakistan, okay? So they're not gonna back down because they don't have a choice. When you paint somebody into the corner and they have to survive, Jesse, what do you think they're gonna do? They're gonna stay and they're not gonna move. Okay? When Gaddafi gave up the weapons of mass destruction, what happened to Gaddafi?

[Jessica Tarlov]

It did not end well.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

It did not end well. And so let's talk about US regime change. 25 years, okay? So we went from the Taliban to the Taliban in 20 years. That's US regime change in Afghanistan. And so we knocked out Saddam Hussein, who ironically, was a sworn enemy to the Iranians, but we knocked him out. And so we weakened that government. It is a form of a democracy, but it's become a satellite state of Iran. So 20 years in Afghanistan, Taliban to the Taliban, 20 years in Iraq, and we weakened the state of Iraq and we turned it into a satellite state where there's militia proxies for the Iranians in the state. And so. And by the way, when you're on the news with Greg Gugfeld and Jesse and, you know, I like those guys, but they're like, you know, I mean, they're really. I mean, come on, they're like ideological, you know, talking heads. But you should just say, hey, by the way, had they degraded the satellite structure of the terrorist organizations? The answer is no. That's why the Israelis are obliterating Lebanon and they're killing people indiscriminately in Lebanon because these satellite structures are still very active and they're still very dangerous. So, you know, you tell me, you've got 27 days into the war. You tell me, how's it going? Okay. The President has said seven times, he's beat him this way, he's beat him that way, he's beat him this way. But has he really? Because they're still there.

[Jessica Tarlov]

If you aren't already, please make sure to subscribe to our YouTube page to stay in the loop on all of the political news. Let's take a quick break. Stay with us.

[Brene Brown]

Hi, I'm Brene Brown.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

And I'm Adam Grant.

[Brene Brown]

And we're here to invite you to the Curiosity Shop, a podcast that's a

[Anthony Scaramucci]

place for listening, wondering, thinking, feeling, and questioning.

[Brene Brown]

It's gonna be fun. We rarely agree, but we almost never

[John Bolton]

disagree, and we're always learning.

[Brene Brown]

That's true. You can subscribe to the Curiosity shop on YouTube or follow in your favorite podcast app to automatically receive new episodes every Thursday.

[John Bolton]

There's basically been one guy in Republican politics who's argued for regime change in Iran for years and for America to take a proactive military role in making it happen. Ambassador John Bolton, President Trump's former national security adviser. But now even Bolton says Donald Trump is messing it up.

[John Bolton (continued)]

As far as we can tell, he did. No preparation of the opposition actually inside Iran. No coordination, no effort to see what they would do, no effort to support them, to provide resources, money, arms, if that's what they wanted. Telecommunications, just. Just no coordination at all. And they don't seem prepared for it.

[John Bolton]

How Trump lost the Republican Party's biggest Iran war. Hawk today explained every weekday and on Saturdays, too.

[YourRichBFF]

This week on Net Worth and chill it's my birthday and I'm turning 32. So I'm sharing 32 life lessons I've learned that have actually changed my perspective. These aren't the picture perfect Instagram infographic versions. These are the real hard, uncomfortable truths about money, career, relationships and everything in between. I'll explain why choosing a rest day is non negotiable or your body will choose it for you, why you should never take advice from anyone you don't want to be, and why nobody is actually looking at you so you should just go for it. Plus, I'm breaking down, why you should always negotiate your salary, why individualism is making you broke, and yes, why you should try eating a popsicle in the shower after a bad day. Listen wherever you get your podcasts or watch on YouTube.com YourRichBFF

[Jessica Tarlov]

welcome back. NBC just published a report this morning that apparently White House staffers show Trump like a daily snuff film essentially of American victories in this war. But it doesn't encompass the totality of what's going on. He has a shorter attention span. You can't necessarily put that much footage in. And so that's what's increasingly making him angry about the coverage. And it actually at a much smaller scale. I was thinking back to remember how President Biden was insulated from any of the negative coverage and the bad polls and it took like Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi being like there are bad polls, like we are going to lose. And I'm curious, you know, knowing the ins and outs of the White House and what it is like to deal with him, do you think that NBC report is accurate and can you see a world in which he's just watching, you know, 15 minutes of Rah rah America and is not hearing about the stuff that's going wrong?

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Yeah, yeah. I don't buy that. He's too smart for that. People underestimate him. He's got great political instincts. His polls are down every which way that you could imagine. Obviously the state legislature loss in his Mar a Lago area in Florida is an example of that. But I submit to you guys a very contrarian view that he does not care. So if you're a Republican that's listening to your guys, guess what? Trump does not care if you lose. Trump does not care if Cornyn loses in Texas. He actually does not care. Trump cares about two things. He cares about money and he cares about attention and he cares about self aggrandizement. He doesn't care about you. He doesn't care about the American people. And so this notion that Trump is going to help these guys win in 2028, it's a bunch of malarkey, okay? To use a Joe Biden word, okay? In fact, people said to me, who does Trump want to be his successor? How about Gavin Newsom? That's who Trump wants to be his successor. And just hear me out for a second, because the narcissistic, nihilistic narrative is, you were nothing before I got there, fellow Republicans, nothing. And guess what? Now that I'm leaving, you're nothing again. I'm the supreme narcissist. Everything is around me. Your success or your failure is dictated by my presence, okay? So just to understand that about Donald Trump, he doesn't care about these polls. He's got three years left. Don Jr said that they want to be the richest family in the world before he leaves the presidency. God only knows what they're doing. You know, I mean, the bald face stuff is they're, you know, they're buying oil. They're shorting the oil markets five minutes before he tweets. And they're. And they're getting. I mean, so God only knows what they're doing.

[Jessica Tarlov]

Does everyone just accept that that is the case? Is it actually, like, people in his family that are doing this, or like, I imagine, on Wall street and people that you're talking to every day, that this is a constant topic of conversation? Whoever is, you know, the best poly marketer, better must have links to this family. Like, what is going on there and why can we do nothing about it?

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Well, I mean, no, you could definitely do something about it. You know, we just have decided that we're not going to do anything about it. I mean, the answer is pretty simple. You know, we could, of course, do something about it. They locked Martha Stewart up for five months for, quote, unquote, insider trading. And so we 100%, of course, could do something about it. But the reason we're not doing something about it is that the SEC has told the enforcement agents they can't do something about it. Margaret Ryan, who was head of SEC enforcement to prosecute insider trading cases, complained about this. You can digitally tag the trades and you can find the accounts that are associated with the trades. That's how they got Sam Waxhall. That's how they got Martha Stewart. They could very easily do that. She's been pushed off by SEC leadership, so she left. Okay? And so, yes, you could totally do this, but this is a bigger problem because you guys are the raging moderates so let me indict both parties. Have you heard of something called Saronic Technologies? Ever heard of them?

[Jessica Tarlov]

No.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Okay. No, Me either. I never heard of them. Okay. But there's a Democratic representative, Kelly Morrison, who bought Saronic Technologies, which is an autonomous warship company, nine days after the beginning of the war with Iran. Right. As the Navy. Guess what the Navy was doing. They were awarding contracts to Saranic. Okay. So her office said that her portfolio is managed by an investment advisor and she has no prior knowledge. But the government watchdog groups that are looking at it called it a pretty clear conflict of interest. So there is massive nonsense going on on both sides. Just the Trump family has taken it. Exponential. Right. We had a guy named Hunter Picasso Biden. Okay. And Hunter, I remember him. Yeah. So Hunter Picasso was drawing paintings because his name was Picasso, his middle name was Picasso. So he was getting these ridiculous sums of money for his paintings, and the Trump family laughed at that. That's 3, 4 million dollars, to quote Trump. And to use a Trumpian word, that's peanuts. That's peanuts. Let's go for the jugular of the billions of dollars. Let's get a $400 million plane from Qatar. Of course we'll keep it after I leave office. Let's rock and roll on billions here and billions there. Let's put 80 story skyscrapers around the Gulf. Let's lock and load. And by the way, we traded Liberation Day on April 2. We traded the relaxation of Liberation Day on April 9. We traded October 10, which was the rare earth minerals day. And we traded recently. And by the way, they were short the oral markets yesterday when Trump was getting up to the microphone to say, we got a gift. We got a great big gift from the Iranians in the Gulf. I guess they must have let a tanker pass that had a lot.

[Jessica Tarlov]

A Thai tanker, I think.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Yeah, that had a lot of oil on it. Okay. And so. And of course, what happened? The oil traded down and then they closed out the oil position. So here's the problem with all of this. The problem is all of this is a kid like me when I was growing up in the 1970s, and there probably was corruption in the 1970s, I'm not saying there wasn't. But when I was growing up, I thought, okay, the system is fair enough for somebody like me from a blue collar family to seek my aspiration in the country. But now it is so bald for face corrupted that there's a funnel at the top where the Democrats and the Republicans are ciphering off profits through insider Trading Trump's gone exponential into the billions. Okay, Remember, it's not just a Republican and Donald Trump problem. This is a bipartisan thing that's happening. There's a huge funnel at the top. And when you're a young kid and you're looking at that, you're like, oh, my God, this is really not fair. Okay, I'm going to not be economically aspirational. It turns out that I should be economically desperational because there's a two tiered system and the system is unfair to me. And I'm telling you, people are really upset about this. And this is why you're seeing this rise of right wing populism and the rise of left wing populism.

[Jessica Tarlov]

Yeah, it seems like, I mean, you're obviously right and you can hear that candidates on both sides. I mean, I pay a lot of attention to the folks that I think will be movers and shakers in the 2028 primary. And like John Ossoff, for instance, is doing a really good job of, you know, skewering that class of people. But it doesn't change the facts on the ground about how people feel about the elected official class in general and their chance of getting ahead. And I'm curious because you already brought up the legislative wins last night in Florida, and it's now been two dozen flips for Democrats, no flips for Republicans in the Trump 2.0 era. Obviously pretty sweet that Donald Trump is now represented by a Democrat. She took the question well, Emily Gregory, about, you know, what happens now, and she said, I continue to fight for the things that I wanted, you know, that I promised to fight for. But one thing that has been nagging at me about these wins, and I love getting excited about the chance that we may get, you know, divided government, at least in 2026. I don't know if you saw this Reuters poll. It's completely dismal for the president. 36% approval, minus 13 on immigration, minus 41 on cost of living, minus 33 on the economy, and minus 27 on foreign policy. Obviously directly linked to what's going on, the war in Iran. But the matchup between which party do you trust more? Does not sync with that at all. Like, still on the economy, it's basically breaking even. He's still up on handling immigration, crime and policing the border. What do you make of that? Like, how. How is that not becoming a full circle moment?

[Anthony Scaramucci]

So I put out something on Twitter yesterday. Ro Khanna reached out to me and he said, you're 100% right. And what I said on Twitter was, guys, the best thing Donald Trump has going for him are the Democrats. And you guys can be really mad at me for saying this, but I just got to point out, you're fighting with each other. You don't have a consistent narrative. You don't have a threaded theme. There's no Democratic Leadership Council. And just to remind the younger people what that was, Bill Clinton and a group of guys got together, men and women, and said, okay, we have to organize and put our thoughts together, and all of us have to agree to this set of principles, okay? It was sort of the doppelganger to the Newt Gingrich Contract for America. And if you don't do that, what's going to end up happening is you're going to be shooting each other going into the primary, the presidential primary. You're going to be shooting each other during the midterm elections. And you work at Fox News, and you know that there's a great culture war going on in this country. If you don't think that there's a culture war going on in this country, then you don't understand the country. And you haven't stopped in the flyover states. So go to the flyover states and understand the culture war and get out of the culture war. Donald Trump is going to beat you every time in the culture war. He understands it better than you. He's the General Napoleon of the culture war. You can hate him, but he anticipates your move before you're thinking about the move. Remember, Andrew Roberts said that about Napoleon in the biography. He said this guy could look at the battlefield. And even before the general was making a decision on the other side where to move the troops, Napoleon said that's what he's going to do. He was four or five steps ahead, and that's Trump with the culture war and you guys.

[Jessica Tarlov]

So if the economy is bad enough, does that not offset their win for the culture war?

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Let me explain to you why it doesn't. Okay, let me explain to you why it doesn't. Because the average American hears socialism. The average American hears you're gonna take my potential opportunity to rise away. I'm not saying the Democrats are gonna do that, Jesse. I'm just saying that's what they hear. Okay? And remember, this is an emotional thing. Let me tell you guys, something doesn't reflect well on me, but I'll tell you the story. It's May of 2016. I'm on the Trump plane, and I have a research packet, and I'M reading this research packet, and Trump's looking over me, sitting at the table, and I'm sitting across from him. He says, what are you reading? I said, well, my economic team at Skybridge prepared an economic analysis of the Brexit. Trump looks at me, says, you're an idiot. I said, okay, I know I'm an idiot, but why am I an idiot? Oh, you're an idiot because I guarantee that that economic analysis your team put together said that the UK Citizens are not gonna Brexit. I said, well, that's correct. The economic analysis is such that it would be devastating to their economy if they Brexit. You know what Trump says to me? You're an idiot. Next month, they're gonna Brexit. And I said, okay, well, why are you saying that? He said, because this is an emotional thing. This is not an economic thing. This is not a common sense thing. This is an emotional thing. You're taking my liberties away. Okay? There were 10 high schoolers, and maybe you know the numbers better than me. Approximately 10 high schoolers identified as transgender that played in high school Sports. Trump spent $200 million advertising that all over the country. And whether people like it or not, it played in areas of the country that felt that their culture was being attacked. And so the economics are one thing, Jess, but they're not everything to a very, very large group of people that are driven by emotion.

[Jessica Tarlov]

I totally agree. I think it was the 10 in the NCAA. I'm not sure about the high school level.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Okay, maybe it was the ncaa. I'm just making the point that it was a very.

[Jessica Tarlov]

Agree with you. My extension question then, about the emotionality, because I think you're totally right. And I spend all day with conservatives, and I see what's animating them versus what's animating us, and there's just a huge disconnect between that. But is what went on with immigration enforcement a crossover into the emotionality issue? Because it does. Okay, so that is what happened.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Well, again, but look at Trump. He's got very good political instincts. Wow, we went overboard. Okay, this is the thing that could help the Democrats. They took that project 2029. They were running the card table, and then Looney Tunes Steve Miller said, okay, we can do anything we want. And then they started killing people in the street. And so that did not go over well. And so. But Trump, look, immediately he pulled Noem out of there. He pulled. The guy's name was Govino, who's now retiring. Pulled him out of there. Okay, and you know Tom Homan, some people on the left don't like him, but some people on the left, in my opinion, cuz I know Tom pretty well, don't understand him. Okay. He is a reasonable guy, okay. He got along with Obama, he's a reasonable guy. And they put him in there and he de. Escalated the situation. Okay. And by the way, if they kept going in that way, they probably would have lost the Senate. Probably would have lost the Senate in a sense.

[Jessica Tarlov]

You don't think they're going to.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

They still could. Yes, they still could. Yeah. Because they're gonna, they're botching the war. You put ground troops on the ground, okay. They have a very high likelihood that they're gonna lose the Senate. Yeah. And then Trump's going to look at those numbers and is he going to say, okay, you know, if I get impeached and removed from office, which is a possibility because he's so crazy and he's done so many wicked things and he's broken so many laws, but he's got the Republicans so scared of him. But let's say you went to 53 senators. The question is, could you get 14 Republicans to flip to remove him from office? Okay. And the short answer to that is probably not okay, But Trump doesn't care because Trump's gonna pardon himself and his family members on the way out because he's broken every other norm. Don't, don't think he won't break that norm as well.

[Jessica Tarlov]

You don't think there is ever any shame component?

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Shame.

[Jessica Tarlov]

That there are. Yeah, shame.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Okay, let me look for the shame. Hold on, I'm gonna look on. Hey, are you down there? Come on. Shame. There's no. I mean, you're a normal person. You like people. You're a normal person. The reason why your podcast is so popular is that you genuinely like people. And guess what? The people like you. Nobody likes Donald Trump. Does everybody understand that you are either paid to like him or you're forced to like him because you like power, or you're somehow related to him through DNA and you gotta stomach the guy. But there's nobody, and I repeat, there's nobody that likes Donald Trump. And guess what? He don't like anybody. Okay? That's not his personality. His personality is. I've been harmed. I'm a repressed guy. I'm a very angry guy and I'm gonna take it out on as many people as possible. And guess what? I have a very strong following in this country because a lot of other people feel harmed. A Lot of other people feel left out of the system. A lot of other people were told that they could get ahead, but the elites, they allowed the manufacturing to go to China. They prosecuted two forever wars that bled out our treasury. And then when push came to shove during the financial crisis, they gave all the money to the banks and no money to the poor people. It says a very large group of people that have a chip on their shoulder, just like me, and they've gravitated to me. And that's where my political power comes from. And oh, by the way, you Democrats, you put up two really bad presidential candidates against me. Otherwise I would have never been able to ascend to the presidency because a mediocre candidate beat me when I was an incumbent president. See, so that's what's going on. And so nobody likes him. He has absolutely no shame, and he wants to put some pain on the rest of the people. Look at the way he humiliates people in the Oval Office. Look at the way he talks to our allies. Come on, you gotta know the guy. You gotta know who he is. If you want to beat this guy, you gotta know exactly who he is and how he thinks. And you gotta not insert how you think into anything, okay? Because the Tarlovs, I guarantee there's a shame gene in there. The Scaramucci's, there's a shame gene. Donald Trump, no shame Gene. I looked, I looked under the desk. I didn't see any.

[Jessica Tarlov]

Nowhere to be found.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Nowhere to be found.

[Jessica Tarlov]

Do. Does that then mean that you think Gavin Newsom is prosecuting the case against Trump, the best of the Democratic field? Because he seems to have the best feeling for what kind of a human Trump is.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Well, I think that. And also despite. And I watched Johnson podcast with Governor DeSantis. I mean, you know, Newsom kicked DeSantis ass in on that debate. Just, I mean, just pounded him into the ground. Okay, so the whole notion that he left and all this other bunch of nonsense, okay, so Newsom's a very good debater. He's a formidable guy. He's got some problems in California. I did Gavin's podcast about six months ago and listed all the great things about California. Start talking about those. Beat back the narrative. You see, our buddies at Fox are very smart people. So in 1993, everybody looked around, Roger Ailes said, who's the threat? It's not Bill Clinton. He's already won. The threat's Hillary Clinton. So let's spend billions of dollars destroying her. So this way, when she goes to run for president, 51% of the people have a negative opinion of her. Where's the threat? The threat's California. California's the fourth largest economy in the world. If you take it out of the United States, it's got agriculture, defense spending, Hollywood, the exportation of our culture, Silicon Valley. AI, California is one of the most beautiful places in the world and it's one of the most well rounded economies. So let's spend billions of dollars destroying the narrative around California. It's got orange groves and Walt Disney, it's got major league sports, it's got everything. Okay, but let's destroy California because a politician coming out of California from the left could beat us on the right. And so Newsom has an image problem the way Hillary Clinton had an image problem. And the right is very well organized. You know this from your time at Fox and they've stayed on this for two or three decades. Gavin, you gotta beat that back. And you gotta calm people down like AOC and Mandani. And you gotta say, guys, I got really bad news for you. The culture's not ready for you guys, okay? So if you want to win, let me get the nomination and I'll browbeat Rubio or Vance or you pick the Republican into submission. Because these cowards link themselves to Donald J. Trump. And Donald J. Trump, even though he's won the presidency twice, is not a well liked guy in this country. Go look at the cross tabs on the polling. So guys, get out of the way. I'm a big, tall, good looking guy from California with a pretty good story and I can browbeat these guys. And if you want to retake the presidency, you don't have to like every one of my ideas, but I'm a better choice than the guys on that side. So I hope they figure it out, because you have to. And Mag, if you want a real renewal of the country and you want a redemption for the country, you have to. This personality culture has to die with the political power of Donald Trump. And you've got to get something out of that Republican Party that's very different from MAGA going forward.

[Jessica Tarlov]

Stay tuned. I guess I could go on forever about this. That was really interesting.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

I mean, you know, you had me at a low. You know, this is like Jerry Maguire.

[Jessica Tarlov]

Well, 11 days White House community.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

When you called me, I'm like, yes,

[Jessica Tarlov]

it was so great to have you. Thanks for stopping by.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

God bless. Sam.