Trump adviser: Don't take Trump literally, 'take him symbolically'

Take Donald Trump seriously but not literally — or better yet, take him symbolically, a member of the president-elect’s transition executive committee advised Tuesday.

“No, no, no, no, don’t take him literally, take him symbolically,” Anthony Scaramucci told MSNBC. “See, it’s different.”


Scaramucci suggested that Trump has pushed back his news conference from Dec. 15 because “he’s a very precise, very detail-oriented guy” who wants to have “all of the answers to all of the types of questions that’s he’s gonna get thrown.”

Trump tweeted Dec. 12 that he would have a news conference “in the near future to discuss the business, Cabinet picks and all other topics of interest.” He originally wrote in a series of Nov. 30 tweets that he would have “a major news conference” with his adult children “to discuss the fact that I will be leaving my great business in total in order to fully focus on running the country in order to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

“Hold on. If he’s a detail-oriented guy, then how does this statement that we’ve been hearing for months — don’t take him literally, take him seriously — make sense?” anchor Stephanie Ruhle asked. “Because that’s sort of the opposite.”

Scaramucci countered that the president-elect should be taken seriously and symbolically.

“You should definitely take him seriously because he’s a man of his word, but I do think that some of the things that happens with the media is when he’s sending out tweets or he’s speaking in a certain way that sets the hair on fire of the nation’s media — particularly the left-leaning media — I think his supporters see that more as symbolism and a rejection of sort of that egg and tomato throwing that he’s experienced from June of 2015 when he announced his campaign.”

Scaramucci said “some people out there that do get a little crazy with the president-elect,” to which Ruhle responded that Trump puts information out there but doesn’t answer questions about it. Trump’s last news conference was July 27.

Trump is “the most scrutinized person in the world,” Scaramucci argued. “And so [as] a result of which, when that press conference comes, my guess is he’s gonna have nine and 10 derivative-like questions, and he just wants to be ready for it. And that’s why he delayed it, which I think is a sign of his great temperament and very good judgment.”