Ex-staffer who turned against president makes 'prediction' about post-Trump US

A former staffer to Donald Trump believes the period after the president's second term will be one of redemption for the country.

Anthony Scaramucci, the former White House communications director who served in Trump's first administration for just 10 days, believes the US will repair itself once the president leaves office. Speaking to The Guardian about how the US can repair itself after Trump's second term, Scaramucci said it will be the passage of time that helps most of all.

He said, "I predict that we will go through a reflective period of time, a period of redemption and a period of renewal. That’s America. I believe that the country will heal itself, because the country always heals itself."

The former White House communications director also suggested Trump would hardly be affected by the release of Jeffrey Epstein's files. He said, "You can never count him out. The Epstein files won’t knock him out. I’ve said that consistently. It’s just not in his personality. He’s too impetuous. He’s too impulsive."

Scaramucci also criticized the strikes on Iran in an essay posted to X earlier this week. He wrote, "When a democracy launches a preemptive military strike without legislative authorisation – when it bypasses the very deliberative processes that are supposed to distinguish it from the authoritarian regimes it opposes – it undermines the moral foundation on which the entire theory rests."

This period of reflection and redemption predicted by Scaramucci could come sooner than expected should the midterm results effectively hinder the president's power and the Republican Party majority in the Senate.

Simon Rosenberg, a Democratic strategist, believes Trump understands he is close to the end of holding a majority in the Senate, and that he may be hindered heavily by the results of the November elections.

Rosenberg said, "I mean, strong theatrics, you know, it felt like it was a last hurrah in some ways — that he was just enjoying himself being on stage. But there was no significant course correction, no significant change in direction that’s going to alter, I think, the struggle that he has.

"It may have felt good for him, and he may have reconnected with some of the voters that he was struggling with, but I don’t think it did what he needed to do to reset what is a period of struggle with him politically."