Open Book with Anthony Scaramucci - Jun 2026 Q&A: Breaking From Trump, Reforming American Democracy & Book Recs

Episode Date: June 30, 2026

It's the June Q&A on Open Book, and you came at me with everything this month: aliens, whether there's a reckoning coming when Trump's term ends, and the honest reason it took me so long to break from him. I'm dodging none of it, plus I'm handing you a summer's worth of book recommendations. Keep the questions coming in the comments. 📚Books mentioned in this episode: 1. One Up On Wall Street by Peter Lynch 2. The Essays of Warren Buffett by Lawrence Cunningham 3. The Lessons of History by Will & Ariel Durant 4. Power Failure by William D. Cohan 5. Money and Power by William Cohen 6. The Last Tycoons by William Cohen 7. Money to Burn by William Cohen 8. Lords of Finance by Liaquat Ahamed 9. 1873: The Rothschilds, the First Great Depression, and the Making of the Modern World by Liaquat Ahamed 10. Criminal Violence Criminal Justice by Charles Silberman 11. Tyrants and Rogues by Robert G. Parkinson 12. A Perfect Coincidence by Jim Rasenberger 13. Regime Change by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan 14. 1942: Crux of War by Jonathan Parshall 15. Ike and Winston by Jonathan W.Jordan 16. Robin by Dave Itzkoff 17. Ten Caesars by Barry Strauss Anthony Scaramucci is the founder and managing partner of SkyBridge, a global alternative investment firm, and founder and chairman of SALT, a global thought leadership forum and venture studio. Pre-order my next book, All the Wrong Moves: How Three Catastrophic Decisions Led to the Rise of Trump, out on the 17th of September in the UK and the 22nd of September in the US: ⁠https://www.scaramucci.net/allthewrongmoves Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Please play responsibly. Welcome to Open Book. I am your host, Anthony Skitt. Garamucci. Well, guess what? It is question and answer time again on Open Book. So this is the June 26 questions coming in. We collate them at the end of the month. Happy Fourth of July, everybody. And by the way, I appreciate your support. I hope you're enjoying Open Book. And I can tell by the questions, things are getting better for all of us. So dig in. We want all comments, good, bad, otherwise. I want to hear from you guys continually. Let's start with.

YouTube. This is from Nick finds gold 9788. And I love these, I love these names. I got to come up with a cute name. Is there going to be a reckoning in U.S. politics when the Trump term ends? He has exposed a fundamental weakness in your system and that power in the wrong hands can be all but absolute. So Nick, I agree with that. I'm not so sure there'll be a reckoning, however. I think that we're going to have to find a few transformative politicians. They're going to be willing to challenge the status quo in the system. So for the last 16 years, we've allowed money into this system in one of the most egregious crazy ways. And so you would really have to get politicians on both sides to say no more of that. A few of my friends are actually working on a

constitutional amendment to end Citizens United, which brought all this money into the politics. I do think that Trump has weirdly, his personality, some of the things he's done as president, has set the template up for counter-corruption. So meaning a transformative healing leader, I would say, okay, here are all the things that Trump did. We're going to codify against all those things to protect us from a future miscreant like Donald Trump. Could that happen? I don't know. Are we ready for it? We're certainly ready for it.

You have to tell me which leader on the horizon is going to talk that directly to the American people. But it's such a great question. Okay. We're going to Instagram, Max, Juliana. Have you going to grad school again today? Would you still go to law school? If not, why not? So such a great question.

I never like giving advice from my personal life because my personal story is different from your story. when I mentor people, I'm really looking for the arc of what they want to do. I don't like mentors that say, well, you know, I went to law school and that sucked. And so you should go to business school. I went to law school and that was amazing. And so the only thing you should do in life is go to law school. Because, you know, at the end of the day, it's your life. So first thing I would say to you is look at your life, look at the things that you want to do.

and then try to reverse engineer what you think your launch pad should be, whether it's just graduate education, not going to college, going to business school or law school or, you know, a professional school, medical, etc. So to me, if you can ask me point blank that I like going to law school, I did. I felt it really gave me a level head in terms of thinking about different ideas. I think it also gave me a point of view where, I could be really right about something, but there are super smart people on the other side of it. I better really understand their ideas. And so one of the things law school does for you,

it gives you the ability to hold two opposing ideas in your brain and not get overly ideological. So that was beneficial to me. But again, I don't recommend law school to people unless they're telling me about their lives. And I think law school fits their future. Okay, LinkedIn, Zach asks any recommendations for resources. These are books, podcast, blogs, whatever appropriate for an early high school level, like ninth grade on how markets really work. So the number one thing I would recommend, Zach, is one up on Wall Street. This was written by Peter Lynch maybe almost 40 years ago now,

but I still think it's the best book in terms of understanding how you should think about Wall Street and how you should think about investing. thing. Second thing is the essays of Warren Buffett by Lawrence Cunningham. Even for a ninth grader, Buffett writes in very easy to understand language. And I think it would make sense really to read those things. As far as blogs and podcasts and things like that, you know, I'm a little biased to all things markets with me and Mike Novigratz. But there's a lot of good things. Prof. G. with Ed Elson is a great podcast about the markets. The Pets. The Pets. Hivit podcast. That would also be Prof. G. and Kara Swisher. So those are the things I would recommend,

but just be open-minded. You know, pick up a copy of the Wall Street Journal, believe it or not, flip through it. It's written with a ninth grader's language in mind. So keep those things at the front of your mind. You'll do very, very well. Okay, this is from Axis's Joanna with a lot numerals, starting with a five and ending with a four. Which books would you recommend a 12-year-old boy who's an advanced reader with an interest in history and fantasy adventure. So obviously the Lord of the Rings. Harry Potter, those are great books. But I think for somebody that has a real interest in history, read Will Durant, Will and Ariel Durant's lessons in history. It's a short book, but is a pretty good compendium of things. And I would recommend that he

start there. Okay. YouTube's sick of it all. Don't be sick of it all. Okay, what's the honest reason it took you that long to see what you now say so confidently? And what do you think current Trump aligned officials are rationalizing right now that you used to? Okay, it's a good question. So why did it take me so long? So, you know, I am a gradualist by nature. My whole entrepreneurial being is based on gradualism. Some of that's been successful for me. Some of that probably hasn't been. successful, maybe I should have been more aggressive. But, you know, with my political approach, I was with Jeb Bush. At the end there, when he dropped out of the race, I gradually moved over to President Trump or then Mr. Trump, candidate Trump. I bought into the idea that we were going to help lower and middle income people. I actually thought that was part of the thing. You know, there were people that were campaigning with Donald Trump thought he was going to release the Epstein files and end forever worse. And so he didn't do those.

So you can say that's political naivete on my part. But what I really see it as a gradual Republican who wanted to be loyal to the party, I did get sucked in, unfortunately. And so I think this is where I see most Trump-aligned officials right now. They're basically sucked in. They want the significance of being in the motorcade. They want the significance of working in the White House. And they want the significance and the prestige that they see.

and I would tell you that maybe I'm at a stage of my life where I worry less about that and want to speak more candidly and more openly about where things are. And by the way, human nature, look at Bill Cassidy. He was the senator from Louisiana, more or less against Trump, said very positive things about him, lost the election, and then came out and started telling people the truth. So, you know, we all get to the truth in different ways. I will remind people that I got fired in 2017.

It's nine years ago already, but I didn't break from Trump into 2019. I thought it was the right thing to do to try to stay loyal to the party. But I just think he went too far overboard. But yeah, you're right. People want to be critical of me for staying with Trump too long. Criticism accepted. I am certainly a flawed human being and wish always that I had done that part of my life better. But I can't go back.

And I think that's the biggest lesson for people. You can't go back. You're better off admitting your mistakes and then moving on, which is frankly what I've tried to do. Okay, let's go to Instagram. This is Ryan Deccos. What are your thoughts on the New York Democratic primary results? So I have two thoughts. Open the primaries.

Without that that, okay? Open primaries. Because what's happening now is a very narrow band of people are voting in these primaries. And so it looks like they have this, like, huge mandate, these Democratic Socialists, but they don't. There's a small slate of candidates, small slate of voters. But if we just opened the primaries and made the primaries this wide aperture where Democrats, Republicans, and independents were in the mix together. I think you would see really where the body electorate lives. And so that's my reaction to the New York Democratic primary results.

Instagram, Freddie 1312. I want to read more but struggle with time. what's a short punchy book you would reckon? Well, there's so many great short punchy books, but I would just say you pick the book, okay, not me. You pick the book and dedicate 15 minutes a day to reading. You will be blown away at how much reading you can get done in 15 minutes. Even if you're a slow reader, you'll probably do a minute a page.

You'll do 15 pages. Multiply that by 365 days. And man, you've got a lot of books read. So you pick the book. I don't want to pick your book. But there's just so many great ones out there and start the book. And by the way, if you don't like the book, put the book down. You know, it's not school.

You don't have to read the book to the end if you don't like the book. Okay. Let's keep going. This would be LinkedIn Robert Furpo Capiello. I love your own. Well, that's very nice. You thank you. where you said economic inequality is fixable by bringing back the pay-as-you-go federal budget process

that led to surpluses in the 1990s reversing Citizen United and ending gerrymandering. Do you believe, as I do, that those three goals are compatible with the Democratic Socialist wave we just witnessed in the New York City primers? You know, Robert, it's a good question. I'm not a Democratic socialist, so I don't know the answer to that, but I'll tell you what, I would be a very open-minded person to any politician that championed those three ideas because that's where the problem is. You've got to stop the money from going into the politics.

You've got to end the gerrymandering, which allows that cartel to control the political situation, even though the voters don't like what they're doing. And I think if you got back onto the pay as you go legislation, if you read about that, it would take about 15 years, but we'd start running budget surpluses again. You know, that's something we could do. We could fix it. So if they're open to it, I'd be open to it. How about that?

Okay, let's keep going. This is from Facebook, Alex Shields. My political beliefs are left, but I value pragmatism above all outs, and I agree with a lot of what I hear you talk about. You bring exactly the right kind of perspective. I want to work with a, in terms of political and policymaking, rather than just surrounding myself with an echo chamber. My question to you is this.

How can we encourage others on both sides to drop the dogma and pitchforks, put your heads together, and think critically about the issues. More dialogue. Persuade others of each other's side. How can we jumpstart this cross-isle communication? So, Alex, we've got a structural problem going on right now. If you gerrymandar and you screen out the people in your district that don't like you, well, then you never have to modify your positions. Remember, if we just did a demographic test and we said, okay, these districts are going to look like the demography of the district irrespective of the Democrats or Republicans. And guess what happens?

The candidates are in a marketing competition. And so guess what happens? They'll start marketing to more moderate points of view and they'll start meeting each other in the middle. But this sort of tribalism born from the gerrymandering, et cetera, makes it much harder to do that. So this is a structural problem more than it's just as, hey, can we get along? The system is now designed for these people not even to hang out together or go to lunch together like they used to. YouTube, this is Jordan. Do you have any advice for a young person looking to make a positive contribution to our democracy?

Well, listen, I mean, there's a lot of things you could do. I would start with these food banks. You know, if you live in New York City, go to City Harvest. I'm a new board member there. I would go volunteer at one of these places. Once you volunteer there, you'll get a sense for the scale of the problems that we have. And then you can start thinking constructively about how to fix the problem. So you can donate time and energy to political leaders.

But I would also say, look at some of the charities that you like. Donate some time, possibly a little bit of money and a lot of energy. And I think you will be way ahead of the game in terms of what your conference. contribution is. Okay, YouTube, Tanner Glacier, given Trump has hijacked the American patriotism, what are some practical ways for American citizens to reclaim it a constructive way? So that's true. I think Trump is, you know, I often say Trump has made the birthday, the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. He's made it about me, the person, as opposed to we, the people. And I think it's upset people.

But I would just say, and this is something I'm doing myself, is just be yourself. If you want to wear a flag bin, wear it. If some people associated with MAGA, you don't like MAGA, who cares? If you want to put a banner out on your house, which I do every 4th of July, put the banner out on your house. I wouldn't be sheepish about my patriotism is the big message. I think I would say to people. And I think that's the most important thing. So this is from Jerome Grazioli, Jerry, how you doing?

Who is a famous entrepreneur who you would like to see run for president? Hmm. I don't know. A Jamie Diamond and an entrepreneur? I don't know. I think Jamie Diamond would make a phenomenal president. I just, the problem is you got to win the presidency and you got to go through that arduous campaign process. It's not clear to me that an entrepreneur would make the press president as much as a consensus-driven corporately.

might do, you know. And so, you know, an entrepreneur like Mike Bloomberg, we started that business from nothing, but then showed that he could run a gigantic business through process and was a phenomenal mayor is an example of the best of all worlds. But the person that comes in mind for me, and probably one of the smartest people I know is Jamie, who I think has a really good idea about how to move the country forward and would do a good job, has enough self-confidence to let people run their businesses inside the government, respectively. That's the first person in my mind that comes to mind. LinkedIn, Larry McGinnity, many leading members of the financial community

have a genuine and deeply held engagement with art. Do you collect and do you have a favorite artist or art movement? And so I don't collect, but my son, A.J. Scaramucci is a collective. and I'm an investor in his business called Treasure Trow. And so he's collecting things that would include Pokemon cards, Mario Brothers game cartridges, art from around the world, new art, old art, modern art. He's putting together this sort of physical asset treasury company. I have to confess this to you that, you know, I didn't really understand art as a kid.

I was more focused on just trying to make money. So I'm not a super art aficionado. I do own some works by Roy Nacham, who's a very famous Israeli artist. He's done a beautiful job for me. He's commissioned a few things from him. And I love Charlie Fizzino. So I own a lot of Fizinos that have also been commissioned. But, you know, I guess if you ask me that question in 10 years, I'll give you a better answer because I've been collecting more things now.

Okay, this is from X. This is Coru X-666. What's the one thing you wish you knew at 20? Hmm. It's going to work out. I think that's the big thing. Okay, be a pro-noia. Be a pro-noiac. Pro-noia. P-R-O-N-O-I-A. Believe the universe is going to bend towards you. If you do that, you'll take more risks. And if things go badly, you'll just assume it's a setback and not a heartbreak. Those are things I wish I had thought about at age 20 a little more carefully than I do today. YouTube, Rahul Bhati 1562, which books provide the best overview of U.S. financial history, especially the role of bank bailouts and private equity in shaping the modern economy? This is a really good question.

So William Cohane, C-O-H-A-N, has written books about Bear Stearns, Lazzard, Goldman Sachs, General Electric, and a new book about to be published about Apollo, the private equity firm. That's somebody I would be reading. Leiaquod Ahmed has written two books, Lord of Finance, Lords of Finance, phenomenal bestseller in 2008 or nine, and then the second book that just came out, 1873.

You read those books, you're way ahead of the game in terms of what's going on in the world of finance and private equity. Michelle May, what is the best advice you give to kids about politics? Stay out of politics. That's probably the best advice.

Because people don't listen to that advice. No one does, including myself. I say, do your best to pick people that you would like to hang out with and be friends with. Those are the ones that I think you should be associating with in politics. Okay, 17. This is from LinkedIn. Gary Cannell. Has a book ever changed your opinion on an issue?

If so, what was it? Okay, you know, I'll tell you what, I have to dig that up. I don't know the answer to that question, so I'm not going to just do it on the fly. But in 1980, at the age of 16, Charles Silverman, who wrote a book called Criminal Justice, wrote an essay about the death penalty. And when I was a kid, I was like, okay, an eye for an eye. if someone commits a murder and then, you know, you have to kill that person. I was like a believer in the death penalty. But after I read that essay, and I realized how unfair the death penalty is in terms of the

distribution of outcomes and, frankly, how racist it is, you know, if you have a 70 IQ and you're poor and you live in Texas, more likely to get the death penalty. And if you're a super genius multi-billionaire mass murderer, you know, you could probably pay enough lawyers to get yourself not the death penalty. So I sort of feel like the death penalty is arbitrary and capricious. And that changed my mind. That's 46 years ago and I still believe that. Okay.

Let's keep going. This is from Roja Bill Pilemo. This is from Instagram. Do you believe aliens are among us? It's a super, super loaded question. Obviously, I worked for the government. so I'm always cautious about answering this. I'm just going to say to you that if you go to our Salt Conference videos

and you look up somebody like Gary Nolan and he spells his name with 2R. So it's G-A-R-R-Y-Nolan. If you look up his Salt Conference video with a gentleman by the name of Alex Clocus, or you look up Carl Nell, N-E-L, American military person, national security person, also Salt Conference video, interview with Alex Klokas. Look at those two, and then you'll get a pretty good sense of where I am.

And so the short answer is, I do believe in aliens, but I don't want to get more detail than that. but I would encourage you to go look up those two interviews, and you'll get a sense for where I think things are. Okay. LinkedIn. Gabrielle Solnika. What is your best takeaway and your greatest regret from the early career days? You know, it's not just an early career.

I think it's all parts of your career. Be nice. You know, niceness is a superpower. Now, some people think niceness is a weakness. I don't buy that. And maybe I would be worth more money if I was more ruthless and less nice, but I think it got to be nice to people. I think at times in my career where I've gotten my ass kicked, by being nice to people,

it helped me. It made it easier for me. It created a softer landing. So that would be my message. Be nice. Okay? All right. Let's go to the next one.

This is from Facebook. This is David Tisdale. What are some book recommendations that you can offer? maybe 10. All right, David Tisdale, are you ready? I'm going to read you some of the books that I'm reading this year. Some of them I've read already and some of them in the process of reading. Okay. So I am reading Tyrants and Rokes by Robert Parkinson. Okay, and this is about the Declaration of Independence, phenomenal book. Okay, I just finished Perfect Coincidence by Jim Rassenberger. and this is the coincidental story of both John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, dying on the 50th anniversary of the country on July 4th, 1826.

And these two men had such a big impact on the founding of the country. They went through a falling out together and then they reconnected later on in life. A phenomenal book. I am reading Regime Change by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan. I thought that was a phenomenal book. Definitely something that you should read if you want to learn about American politics. You know, Jonathan Parschell has just written a book called 1942. What a great book about the war and how brutal 1942 was globally.

So something I would want people to read. I mentioned Leokwad Ahmed earlier, 1873. This is a story of the Rothschild banking crisis. how they became one of the most powerful banking and sort of finance families in the history of the world. Ike and Winston. This is by Jonathan W. Jordan. If you like the Alliance Between Us and Great Britain, that's a phenomenal book. Wow, this is an old book, okay.

This is about Robin Williams. And this is David Iskoff. What a phenomenal book that is. And if you like comedy or you like P.E. Robin Williams is one hell of a guy. And the last book, which I've read before, but I'm rereading, is about the Ten Caesars. And this is from Barry Strauss. So that's a couple of big book ideas for David Tisdale and the rest of you.

That's a wrap for today. And this question and answer episode of Open Book. Remember, we are reading all of your comments. And so I would love to have you guys send more, send more questions. If I missed your question, don't worry. We'll be back next month with another round of answers. Until then, let's keep the conversation going. And we'll be back at the end of July with a Q&A session on Open Book.

Thank you so much for joining us today.