Prominent Wall Street financier Anthony Scaramucci is the new White House communications director

New York — He was the only Trump ally on stage that day.

Yet Anthony Scaramucci didn’t seem to mind the tough questions from MSNBC host Joe Scarborough or the hostile crowd that filled the luxury hotel ballroom at last month’s private gathering of Mitt Romney supporters. Scaramucci drew from his working-class New York roots to explain Trump’s appeal.

“He did a better job telling the Donald Trump narrative than anybody I’ve heard,” said Spencer Zwick, a longtime Romney ally, who was there that day. “Did he change anyone’s mind? I think he probably did.”

Scaramucci formally became Trump’s new communication’s chief on Friday. The man known on Wall Street as “the Mooch” is now tasked with crafting the president’s communications strategy amid escalating political crises and sinking popularity.

But for all his passionate defense of Trump in recent months, Scaramucci becomes one of the least experienced White House communications directors in recent memory. Trump press secretary Sean Spicer quit in response to the hiring, objecting to what he considered Scaramucci’s lack of qualifications as well as the direction of the press operation, according to people familiar with the situation.

Scaramucci joins the White House directly from a job on Wall Street, where he made a name for himself as a hedge fund manager who enjoyed appearing on television — and rubbing elbows with celebrities like Trump — as he emerged as a prominent Republican donor. Those who know him describe Scaramucci as less a political operative than a quick-thinking New York operator who rewards friends with perks like performance tickets.

He ended his first appearance at the White House briefing room podium Friday with a blown kiss to the assembled press.

“He has the New York style, the New York pace that the president likes and is used to,” said former Trump aide Barry Bennett.

Scaramucci grew up on Long Island in the shadow of New York City.

In a recent interview, he said that neither one of his parents went to college. He shoveled snow and delivered newspapers as a child to make money. He would go on to graduate from Harvard Law School before heading to Wall Street.