The hottest party in Davos, I’m told, is Anthony Scaramucci’s annual “wine-tasting” in the Hotel Europe’s piano bar. Wine-tasting is a euphemism, according to attendees.
The Wall Street financier, aka “the Mooch”, might hold the record as the shortest-serving communications director in White House history (he lasted just 11 days before then US president Donald Trump saw red and fired him back in 2017), but he’s also a staple fixture at the World Economic Forum (WEF), having attended the event since 2007.
He’s famed for throwing the most raucous late-night bashes, the latest instalment of which took place on Tuesday night. His parties (and those of others) have, however, smeared the event as a talkfest for wine-swilling elites, or as one comedian called it, “the money Oscars”, rather than a forum for high-minded debate.
The most infamous Scaramucci soirée took place back in 2011. It featured only super-expensive vintage wines and apparently turned into “a drunken mess” by midnight. Chastened by a slew of bad reports, the former Goldman Sachs banker toned it down the following year, turning it into a charity fundraiser for a non-profit group that teaches entrepreneurship to young people.
‘’When we first started, we weren’t completely in touch with the vibe and sensibilities of the World Economic Forum,” Scaramucci, the head of SkyBridge Capital, said in 2015.
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Either way, excessive over-the-top consumption by gilded elites at late-night Davos parties is now a trope that the event can’t seem to shake. It clashes with the forum’s claim to be “committed to improving the state of the world” and invites a steady stream of cynicism.
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Most political leaders shun the apres-forum circuit for fear of being implicated. It’s not a good look to be seen quaffing Champagne while highlighting the existential threat of climate change or the nasty cost-of-living squeeze facing workers.
Since his brief and bruising stint in the White House, Scaramucci has turned his back on Trump’s prospects of being re-elected, claiming he will vote for Biden, while describing November’s election as a “battle for the American democracy”.
“When someone’s telling you they’re going to flex and be a dictator on day one and go after their adversaries, this is against the 200-plus-year experiment of America,” he said in an interview with CNN recently.
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Back in the 2000s, Scaramucci supported the presidential campaigns of Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. In 2010, however, he called on Obama to “stop whacking Wall Street like a piñata” before switching sides to the Republicans.
He told news website Politico yesterday that while the consensus at this year’s Davos event, among politicians, business leaders and others, is that Trump will win, they’ve all got it wrong, noting Davos attendees made the wrong call in 2016 and 2020. “He’s losing the election,” Scaramucci said.
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