Anthony Scaramucci, founder of Skybridge Capital, has a warning for two of the most powerful economic officials in the Trump administration: they've caught the same disease that ended his own brief and chaotic stint in the White House.
In an interview on CNBC's "Executive Decisions" with host Steve Sedgwick, released Tuesday, Scaramucci said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick both suffer from what he calls "Potomac Fever." It's the same affliction he says led to his own 11-day, scandal-plagued run as White House communications director in 2017.
'Washington Changes You, You Don't Change Washington'
Scaramucci described "Potomac Fever" as the mindset of a smart Wall Streeter who believes they can descend on Washington, cross the Potomac River, and fix the city. "You think you're smarter than the people that live in Washington. But Washington changes you; you don't change Washington, and that's the truth about Washington," he added.
The condition is dangerous, he said, because it's invisible to those who have it. "One of the great symptoms of Potomac Fever is you don't know you have it," he said. "Bessent has it. Lutnick has it. You're tying your ego to the significance… it is an aphrodisiac."
A Firing That Forced a 'Moral and Intellectual Reckoning'
Scaramucci was appointed White House communications director in July 2017, only to be removed just 11 days later after John Kelly took over as chief of staff. He said the fallout, along with missing his son's birth and his wife filing for divorce during that tumultuous period, forced "a real moral and intellectual reckoning."
"That explosion that happened to me, I think, helped me," he said.
Scaramucci, who also failed the New York bar exam twice earlier in his career, said the White House experience ultimately reshaped his relationship with his children, teaching them it's okay to "fail at things."
Chasing 'the Coolest, Hottest' Job Early in His Career
He said his first job at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS), in real estate investment banking, stemmed from insecurity rather than aptitude. "I was so insecure coming out of Harvard that I wanted the coolest, hottest, highest-paying job," he said, recalling that real estate investment banking was considered the most prestigious path at Harvard at the time.
He was fired from that role "due to incompetence" before being rehired weeks later into Goldman's private wealth division, a job he said suited him far better.
