A major fund-raiser for Donald Trump once blasted him as a bully and a 'hack politician'

As Donald Trump’s inevitability as the GOP nominee sinks in, some Republicans who once opposed Trump’s candidacy are breaking land-speed records to disavow their previous stances and back his nomination.

One notable about-face is that of Anthony Scaramucci, a New York investor and hedge fund booster who joined Donald Trump’s finance committee in recent weeks, just months after he attacked Trump as a dangerous, divisive candidate.

In a 2015 appearance on Fox Business, Scaramucci called Trump a “hack politician,” said that his derogatory comments about hedge fund managers were “anti-American” and “very, very divisive,” and claimed that Trump would be better-suited to lead the “Queens County Bullies Association” than the United States.

“I don’t like the way he talks about women, I don’t like the way he talks about our friend Megyn Kelly,” Scaramucci said. His appearance was prompted by Trump’s remarks that hedge fund managers were “paper pushers” who don’t deserve favorable tax rules.

“You’re an inherited money dude from Kings County,” Scaramucci said in response. “Bring it, Donald.”

In a now-deleted tweet, Scaramucci also took aim at Trump, writing, according to Bloomberg News: “David Trump [sic] started it by a trashing our industry with no facts he should stick to TV and Real Estate.”

Recently, Scaramucci’s Twitter account has been much less critical of Trump. On Monday, he tweeted: “More time spent with @realDonaldTrump the more you like him.”

Scaramucci, a notorious Wall Street booster known as “The Mooch” who runs the annual SALT hedge fund conference in Las Vegas, served as national finance co-chair for Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign in 2012. He served as Wisconsin governor Scott Walker’s campaign finance chief during the early months of the 2016 campaign, and joined Jeb Bush’s team after Walker dropped out of the race.

At the time of his Fox Business appearance, Scaramucci predicted the imminent end of the Trump campaign.

“This nonsense is gonna end,” Scaramucci said of Trump’s candidacy. “And I predict it’ll end before Thanksgiving.”

Reached by phone on Tuesday, Scaramucci walked back his negative comments about Trump, and said that in his Fox Business appearance, he had been responding to Trump’s criticism of the hedge fund industry.

“Like Donald Trump, I am an opinionated New Yorker and a little bit of a reactionary,” Scaramucci said. “I feel that the industry is unfairly attacked by the media and politicians, and I reacted as a typical New Yorker would.”

Scaramucci said that he had recently spent “several hours” with Trump, and came away determined to support him.

“He is the people’s choice,” Scaramucci said. “As a team player, my consistent promise was to support whoever the eventual Republican nominee was.”

Trump’s finance committee is led by former Goldman Sachs executive Steven Mnuchin, who supported Mitt Romney in 2012, who has a history of donating to Democrats, and who was the ex-chairman of OneWest, a housing lender that gained notoriety for foreclosing on homes during the 2008 financial crisis. A spokesperson for the Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.