LAS VEGAS — Sin City’s 10th Annual Skybridge Alternatives Conference, known as SALT, is your standard rich-meet-powerful confab, the kind of thing you’d find in Davos or Aspen. With one notable exception: It’s run by Anthony Scaramucci.
Many people in politics had left the Mooch for dead. But at SALT at least, he’s very much alive.
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Skybridge is The Mooch’s investment company. At its height, say in 2017, SALT was pretty mega. Former heads of state and A-list entertainers appeared on stage. But then Scaramucci’s fortunes changed in July 2017 when he took a job as President Trump’s White House Communications Director. That resulted in one of the all-time greatest D.C. faceplants. Eleven days into the job, Scaramucci was fired, and his brand was beclowned.
The Mooch was alone. There was no SALT conference in 2018.
But a year is a long time, and the finance world has once again opened its arms to Scaramucci. SALT 2019 lacked some of the star power of previous years, but the Mooch did get some heavy-hitters. Former White House chief of staff John Kelly was the keynote guest. Other panels included Chris Christie and Jeff Sessions.
Some Democrats showed up, too. Former Obama advisers Valerie Jarrett and Susan Rice were there. Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard stopped by, too.
“My issues with the president are not what he’s doing. He’s got some very, very good policies actually working for average people,” Scaramucci told VICE News. “My issue with the president is how he’s doing it.”
This segment originally aired May 9, 2019, on VICE News Tonight on HBO.
