Former Trump communications director Anthony Scaramucci cautioned that former President Trump will try his best to extend his power if he is reelected as president in November.
“The real fear is, if you know the man, he will do everything he can to expand executive powers. He’s got a very strong team of people working for him on his campaign that believes in the expansion of what they’re calling unitary executive power,” Scaramucci said Tuesday in an interview with CNN.
Scaramucci, who served on Trump’s campaign team and in the White House for 11 days before being dismissed by the then-president, quipped his former boss does not “understand” the Constitution’s separation of powers.
“So, this is something that we have to fight against. To really understand the marvel of the American Republican system, [there] are these wonderful checks and balances and the separation of powers in our Constitution,” he said. “Mr. Trump deplores that; he doesn’t really understand it, but he’ll go after that, and that’s why we have to stop him.”
The former president has spurred concerns in recent months he will act like a dictator. These fears were further fueled after he made and doubled down on comments that he would act as a dictator if reelected, but only on “day one” of his second term.
Scaramucci on Tuesday listed what he believes to be Trump’s “worldview,” warning it will be a “disaster for the global community.”
“His worldview, thankfully, is not well articulated by him. But the Trump worldview and his acolyte Steve Bannon is to bring the United States back to the 1890s, to wall it off from the rest of global civilization — both physically and metaphorically,” he said. “He will have a very strong anti-immigration stance as well and this will be a disaster for the global community.
“It will ultimately be a long-term exhaustive disaster for the American people,” he added.
Scaramucci has emerged as a staunch critic of Trump since leaving the White House. Last month, he weighed in on Trump’s foreign policy and remarks about NATO, arguing the former president has a “love affair with Vladimir Putin” after encouraging Russian aggression toward “delinquent” NATO members.
He has vowed to campaign for President Biden if Trump wins the Republican presidential nomination and recently called the former president the “most un-American presidential nominee in U.S. history.”
The Hill reached out to Trump’s campaign for comment.
