The Mooch's Eleven Days

2017

Date: 21 July to 31 July 2017 · Place: White House West Wing · The New Yorker interview by phone · Figures: Anthony Scaramucci, White House Communications Director · Ryan Lizza, New Yorker reporter · Reince Priebus, Chief of Staff · Steve Bannon, Chief Strategist · Tags: White House, Unit of Time, Profanity 01. On the Record Anthony Scaramucci, a Long Island financier, is sworn in as White House Communications Director on 21 July 2017. Six days later he calls Ryan Lizza of The New Yorker, on the record, and describes Reince Priebus as a 'paranoid schizophrenic' and Steve Bannon in an unprintable anatomical position. The piece publishes on 27 July. Priebus resigns the next day. New Chief of Staff John Kelly fires Scaramucci on 31 July. Total tenure: ten days. 02. The Scaramucci The unit of time enters the language. A Scaramucci is eleven days. Headlines measure subsequent White House staff departures in Mooches. The Atlantic, Politico, and the BBC all use the unit straight. Scaramucci himself leans in, hosts a podcast called The Mooch, and remains a media presence. The administration he served runs through four Chiefs of Staff in four years. Sources • Ryan Lizza, 'Anthony Scaramucci called me to unload about White House leakers,' The New Yorker, 27 July 2017 • Maggie Haberman and Glenn Thrush, 'Scaramucci is out as White House Communications Director,' New York Times, 31 July 2017 • BBC News, 'Anthony Scaramucci sacked: How long is a Scaramucci?,' 1 August 2017