Donald Trump on Friday used words like “outstanding” and “great” when he announced via Twitter that Mick Mulvaney, the Office of Management and Budget director, would take over as acting chief of staff after John Kelly vacates the chief-of-staff position by year-end.

Despite being named to three high-level posts by Trump (Mulvaney also headed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau till recently), the South Carolinian is no dyed-in-the-wool loyalist, having said this of Trump just two years ago:

“ ‘I think he’s a terrible human being.’ ”

Mulvaney landed that jab during a debate with a then-congressional challenger in November 2016, less than a week before Trump was elected president.

“Do I like Donald Trump? No,” Mulvaney can be heard saying bluntly in the video. “But the choice on the other side is just as bad.”

That other choice, of course, was Hillary Clinton.

“We have perhaps two of the most flawed human beings running for president in the history of the country,” Mulvaney says. “I have to step back and look and say, ‘O.K., what do you all, the majority of the folks who vote for me, want me to do?’ In order to accomplish that, I have to support Donald Trump, and he has to win.”

Watch the video, which was obtained by the Daily Beast:

While the emergence of the video may complicate matters in the White House, Mulvaney is not alone among Trump hires in having slammed the president.

Rick Perry, during the Republican primaries, called Trump’s campaign a “cancer on conservatism,” and he’s now secretary of energy. Kellyanne Conway once criticized candidate Trump for not releasing his tax returns and for his “vulgar” rhetoric. Now, as White House counselor, she’s among the most visible and steadfast of Trump defenders.

How long will Mulvaney last in an administration known for high turnover? Sources told the Daily Beast he definitely does not want the chief-of-staff position beyond a temporary, interim assignment. “Why would he? He’s a sane man,” a source reportedly said.

A spokeswoman for Mulvaney, in a statement obtained by the New York Times, said his 2016 words were “old news” and came before he’d met Trump.

“He both likes and respects the president, and he likes working for him,” the spokeswoman said.