Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci said Wednesday that President Donald Trump reflects a deeper economic and political breakdown, warning that the forces fueling populism will outlast Trump's time in office.

"Trump is a symptom, not the disease," Scaramucci wrote on X. "If it wasn't him it would be someone else with the same narcissistic, populist impulses — because the underlying conditions that created him haven't changed."

Scaramucci, who briefly served as White House communications director during Trump's first term, argued that housing costs and stagnant wages have left many Americans alienated from the economic system. He wrote that the median U.S. home costs $430,000 and that buyers need about $150,000 in income to afford the mortgage while retaining discretionary spending.

"The median salary is $84,000. That's a $50,000 gap," he wrote. "Fifty years ago 80% of Americans could afford the dream. Today it's out of reach for at least half the country." Scaramucci said that pain helps explain why many voters embraced Trump as "the avatar" for their anger.

He rejected the idea that Trump's departure from power in 2028 would restore pre-Trump politics. "The conditions that created him will still be there," Scaramucci wrote. "Until we fix those, we're just waiting for the next one."

A day earlier, Scaramucci criticized Trump's economic management, writing, "If Barack Obama had done half of what Trump is doing now, Fox News would have been calling for impeachment." He said Trump "has no economic philosophy," citing $8.2 trillion in first-term spending and a projected $9 trillion to $10 trillion this term.

He warned that high debt levels risk a sovereign debt crisis and that politicians may respond through inflation, which he called the "worst tax" on lower- and middle-income Americans.

The warning comes as Trump faces weak economic polling ahead of the midterms. A CNN/SSRS poll last week found 77% said Trump's policies raised their cost of living, while 70% disapproved of his handling of the economy, 74% disapproved on inflation and 79% disapproved on gas prices.

The recent poll also revealed that 55% of Americans say their finances are worsening, a record high since Gallup began tracking this question in 2001, with inflation and high prices remaining the top financial problems cited by American families.