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With Donald Trump looking to return to the White House, his one-time director of communications Anthony Scaramucci has warned that the former president's "malevolence" and "cruelty" could be costly to the United States and the world.
In a wide-ranging interview with 7.30, Mr Scaramucci, who was sacked by the previous Trump administration after just 11 days in his role, spoke on Kamala Harris, the upcoming US election and what he sees as the dangers of a second Trump White House.
Mr Scaramucci believes that what Trump stands for and represents is dangerous.
"It's the malevolence, it's the cruelty," Mr Scaramucci told 7.30.
"You can't have the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbour, and you can't have Lincoln talking at the Lincoln Douglas debates about it being the last best place for all mankind and the need for all of us to suppress our tribal instincts and unify, and then have Trump.
"He's an anti-American presidential candidate."
Donald Trump is looking for a second term as US president. (Reuters: Reba Saldanha)
A major fear for Mr Scaramucci is that Trump will run an isolationist United States that will repeal trade agreements and pull out of NATO, potentially leaving Russian President Vladimir Putin unchecked.
Trump has already said he would cut US funding to Ukraine as it continues to fight a war, after Russia invaded in 2022.
But Mr Scaramucci warns that Trump would do much more to enable Putin, who he courted a political relationship with during his presidency.
"There are three big dangers," Mr Scaramucci told 7.30.
"The first danger is that he wants to destabilise the current world order, so he'll roll back the WWII rules-based society, which, at least in North America and in Europe, is NATO.
"He'll roll back NATO [and] he'll give space for Vladimir Putin to project his power back into Eastern Europe, which will keep Vladimir Putin in power and be absolutely devastating for Eastern Europe. "
Vladimir Putin recently visited Mongolia but was in no danger there despite an ICC warrant for war crimes against him. (Sputnik via Reuters: Natalia Gubernatorova)
Mr Putin's war in Ukraine has already caused the estimated loss of hundreds of thousands of lives.
There have been other ructions too, especially in northern Europe.
There were flashpoints at the Finland border in late 2023 as an influx of asylum seekers tried to cross into the Nordic nation, which resulted in Finland closing the border with Russia.
Finland also began construction on a 200-kilometre fence on its Russian border, while they and Sweden, longstanding non-NATO nations, moved to join and were successful.
Mr Scaramucci said that was a sign of Mr Putin's ambition and that Trump rolling back NATO would only enable the Russian leader.
"They're smart people in those two countries [and] they're telling you that they feel a danger from Vladimir Putin," he said.
"The rollback of NATO, that's a very big danger. It will diminish the rules-based society and it will also weaken our position with our allies."
At a February campaign rally in South Carolina, Trump said he would let Russia "do whatever the hell they want" to NATO countries that did not spend enough.
Isolationist US and Project 2025
Mr Scaramucci believes a second Trump White House would not only abandon NATO but become more isolationist.
Could the White House once again see Donald J Trump in the Oval Office? (Reuters: John Pryke)
"He literally wants to wall off America … from the rest of the world," Mr Scaramucci told 7.30.
"He wants to put on exorbitant tariffs, he wants to reject immigrants.
"He's calling for a deportation of 15 million people.
"That's in Project 2025 and it comes out of his mouth almost every night at these rallies."
Project 2025 is what the director of a network of conservative groups, Paul Dans, described to Four Corners as a detailed "battle plan" that has the people trained and ready to execute it.
The plan would see the power of the US president expanded and the civil service stacked in his favour.
Opponents of the plan warn that it would see Trump empowered, enabled and emboldened and push the USA towards an authoritarian state.
Trump has said he has "nothing to do" with Project 2025 but Mr Scaramucci says the former president's goals are not that different.
Anthony Scaramucci has gone from Trump supporter to ardent Trump critic. (AP: Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
"There are 14 million people that work for the government, 12 million that are employed, 2 million contractors," Mr Scaramucci said.
"He wants the top 50,000 people to be fired."
"He put 85 loyalists into the project.
"What's embedded in the project is exactly what he wants to do."
Trump's own campaign page says he wants to stop migrants and seal the US border as well as "carry out the largest deportation in American history" as its top two objectives.
However, it does not state any changes to the US civil service or the way government operates.
'A Trumpist party'
The upcoming US election has been turned on its head since US President Joe Biden stepped down as the Democratic candidate and Vice-President Kamala Harris took his place.
Mr Scaramucci, like many analysts, believes it was a move that changed the election, with Ms Harris a genuine chance of defeating a Republican party that has been lurching farther to the right.
Donald Trump has been campaigning in the "rust belt" states already. (AP: Alex Brandon)
A self-described lifelong Republican, Mr Scaramucci has described it as being a party of hoopla about one man: Donald J Trump.
"This is a Trumpist party," Mr Scaramucci said.
"This has elements of fascism in it. This has elements of liquidating the other two branches of the government.
"He has a group of acolytes now with him that are hard right.
"He had more mid Republicans, middle-ground Republicans and careerist Republicans with him in 2016 but he doesn't have that now, those people have left him.
"He's got 40 people that served him in various capacities, in the cabinet, including his vice-president [Mike Pence] that are denouncing him and explaining the danger of him.
"He's got this new group of people that are to the hard right, and they're very well-organised, which makes him more dangerous.
"He's not an ideological person himself, but he's now adhered to ideological people."
Kamala Harris has 'shaken' Trump
Standing in Trump's way is Ms Harris and Mr Scaramucci says the exit of Mr Biden has meant Trump has had to pivot his attack plan but has yet to master it when it comes to the Democratic nominee.
Vice-President Kamala Harris will soon debate Donald Trump in a major moment for US voters. (Reuters: Kevin Lamarque)
"I think he's been shaken by her but I think he's a very adaptive guy," Mr Scaramucci told 7.30.
"He's a human Swiss Army knife and in terms of his political instincts, he'll find the right tool to strike at her rhetorically.
"He hasn't been able to find that yet because he was fixated on Joe Biden. He was fixated at being the younger of the two candidates in the race, and he's also been imperilled by the demography.
"You've had this great demographic recirculation, so when he calls her stupid and he says she turned black and all this sort of nonsense, baby boomers were conditioned to deal with that, but the generation Zs, they don't like it at all."
While Mr Scaramucci praised Ms Harris as being intelligent and having a good policy record, he believes she has to be more aggressive in combating Trump on the election trail.
He says their upcoming debate will be a key moment for Ms Harris but she needs to explain her position and how she will help Americans.
"If you look at the predicted markets and so forth, he [Trump is] in the pole position.
"He is favoured on two issues that really matter to America, the economy and the issues at the border as it relates to immigration, and she can take them on, but she's got to get way more aggressive.
"Her economic agenda is actually working, and Americans may not feel it today, but she can go into the heartland and she could explain to them what Joe Biden and her did, that are actually creating a good set-up for the next four years … but she's got to get out there and articulate that."
When it comes to November, the "rust belt" is predicted to be key. That area includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Wisconsin and parts of New York State.
Mr Scaramucci told 7.30 people there were desperate and could be attracted by Trump's messaging.
And to win the presidency, Ms Harris will need to appeal to them.
"[These] people have become economically desperational and Trump's message resonates with them," Mr Scaramucci said.
"The victim message, 'let's stick it to Washington'. It works with them, but if she comes at it from a different perspective, which is more unifying and more healing, she could [get] them, but it's going to be tough."
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