CNBC’s Kernen Torches Scaramucci Over Trump Takes: ‘Do You Ever Eat Any Crow?’

 CNBC’s Joe Kernen torched former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci this week for some of his anti-Trump takes prior to this week’s election.

The intense exchange on MSNBC’s “Squawk Box” came after Kernen said that Scaramucci had gotten “pretty heated” in his rhetoric against President-elect Donald Trump, who Scaramucci briefly worked for during Trump’s first term in office.

“You have had an utter disdain for Trump,” Kernen said. “You’ll always be welcome at the table of legacy media and have people nodding as you trash Trump. That’s always going to happen. But aren’t you the slightest bit embarrassed or at least humbled about how wrong you were about the feeling of most Americans?”

As Scaramucci tried to cut him off, Kernen fired back: “Let me finish!”

“And for enthusiastically supporting a candidate who a majority of people thought had no business being anywhere near the Oval Office?” Kernen said. “And you’re a Republican and you saw that all the different policies that she was talking about are anathema to what you’ve thought your whole life. And yet you went along with it.”

“Do you ever eat any crow or not even even a little crow wing?” he continued. “Or a little capon? Or you just, I mean, Michael Avenatti could still be on TV trashing Trump. You’ll always find a place on TV. If he wasn’t in prison, he’d still be on CNN running for president with Brian Stelter. Just give me a little bit, little bit, Anthony, about how wrong you were.”

Scaramucci responded: “Joe, first of all, I immediately put out a congratulatory tweet. They won, we lost. In the immortal words of Barry Diller when he lost the Paramount deal, ‘next, Joe.’ What would you like me to do? Do you want me to get on bended knee before you?”

 

“We have a violent disagreement about lots of things related to Trump’s personality,” Scaramucci continued. “You like Trump, I was up close to Trump, I got to see the ugliness of what he is. And by the way, Joe, it’s not just me. There were 40 of us that worked for the president and were warning people –”

Kernen fired back that Trump has been “very good” for Scaramucci’s career.

“I think he’s been incredibly good. You’re here, are you not?” he asked. “And you’re going to be welcome anywhere you want to go. I think he’s been very good for you. And you’ll be able to live off this for another four years.”

Scaramucci responded by repeatedly asking Kernen to “calm down.”