New Yorker takes high-profile post in Trump White House

They call him the Mooch. Anthony Scaramucci (pronounced scare-uhMOOCH-ee), a New York financier, TV personality and GOP donor, is the latest addition to the Trump administration’s top ranks.

Hours after his hiring as White House communications director, Scaramucci appeared in front of reporters in a dark blue suit and a bold, bright blue tie. He exuded confidence as he showcased his new role in one of the administration’s highest-profile jobs.

“I love the president,” Scaramucci said. “I’m very, very loyal to the president. And I love the mission the president has.”

When he was finished, he blew an air kiss to the media.

Scaramucci replaces Mike Dubke, who resigned in May. The hiring has already caused controversy in the White House, as press secretary Sean Spicer resigned shortly after news of Scaramucci’s hiring spread in the media.

White House chief of staff Reince Preibus and chief strategist Steve Bannon were both reported to have opposed Scaramucci’s appointment.

Like Trump, Scaramucci, a Long Island native, is an outer-borough New Yorker without government experience who has ascended through the business world — and television media — to leap directly into the White House.

Scaramucci is a former vice president of Goldman Sachs who went on to found the hedge fund SkyBridge Capital in 2005 and secure a spot as the co-host of a Fox Business Network show in 2015.

“I’m a registered Republican. I’m a fairly free-market person,” Scaramucci told the Los Angeles Times in 2010.

But he has not been dogmatically conservative. He has also hosted the SALT (short for SkyBridge Alternatives) Conference, an annual gathering of financiers, politicians and celebrities that has featured Democrats and Republicans alike.

Although most of his donations have gone to Republicans, Scaramucci has also given thousands of dollars to the campaigns of prominent Democrats, including Hillary Clinton (when she was running for re-election as a senator from New York), Harry Reid (when he was the Senate majority leader) and Barack Obama (when he was first running for president in 2008).

“I am not a partisan just practical,” Scaramucci tweeted in 2011. “I voted for Clinton and Obama.”

His most recent donation to a Democrat, U.S. Rep. Kathleen Rice of New York, came in 2015, according to data from the nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics.

He has also expressed support for gun control and fighting climate change.

“We (the USA) has 5 percent of the world’s population but 50 percent of the world’s guns,” Scaramucci tweeted in 2012. “Enough is enough. It is just common sense it apply more controls.”