'That's his problem': Ex-Trump official explains why JD Vance can't be president

Anthony Scaramucci, who briefly served as President Donald Trump's communications director, argued this week that Vice President JD Vance lacks the one quality that makes Trump politically formidable — and that the deficiency is Vance's central problem heading into any future presidential run.

Scaramucci, who has become a frequent critic of his former boss, framed his assessment in blunt and decidedly modern terms.

"JD Vance doesn't have Trump's rizz," he wrote, using slang for charisma or charm.

Despite the criticism, Scaramucci offered a backhanded acknowledgment of Trump's political gifts. "Like him or hate him, Trump's got it going on," he wrote. "He captures peoples' imagination."

But the former aide was quick to clarify what he believes actually drives the president. In Scaramucci's telling, Trump "cares about: money and attention," and that pairing amounts to "the whole operating system."

He went further, arguing that Trump is "not there to serve the American public" but rather "to serve himself and enrich his family." Once that lens is applied, Scaramucci contended, everything else falls into place — the decisions, the chaos, and the late-night posts all become "completely predictable."

The throughline of his argument was that Vance, whatever his ambitions, simply can't reproduce the quality that animates Trump's appeal.

"And Vance can't replicate any of it," Scaramucci wrote. "That's his problem."

The post is the latest in a series of swipes Scaramucci has taken at the administration and at Vance specifically, coming amid heightened scrutiny of the vice president following his recent comments downplaying Watergate and comparing himself to former President Richard Nixon.

Scaramucci, who lasted just 11 days in the White House in 2017 before being ousted, has positioned himself as one of the more visible former Trump aides willing to publicly question both the president and his heir apparent.