U.S. President Donald Trump’s former pal and one-time staffer Anthony Scaramucci says his ex-boss has big self-esteem issues. Scaramucci, who infamously served just 10 days under Trump as White House communications director, told ABC Australia his advice to Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison would be to give the president the spotlight “at all times” if he wanted to maintain a positive relationship.

I mean the poor guy has the self-esteem of a small pigeon. Anthony Scaramucci on U.S. President Donald Trump

The man known as “the Mooch” suggested Australia’s leader should mimic Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s “smart” handling of the president. “I would tell him [Morrison] to follow the Justin Trudeau model. President Trump is very intimidated by Justin Trudeau because he’s a good looking, smart kid and President Trump is like this orange, fat blob,” Scaramucci told ABC. “And so he’s very intimidated by the way the guy looks. And Justin Trudeau has been very, very smart at keeping his distance from President Trump.”

Scaramucci attributed Trump’s weeklong obsession with defending his Hurricane Dorian Alabama gaffe ― despite denial from U.S. meteorologists ― to his fragile ego. “Again, it’s his inability to ever be wrong about anything or ever to apologize for anything,” said Scaramucci, who recently flipped from staunch Trump defender to all-out enemy. “It basically has to do with very low self-esteem,” he added. “I mean the poor guy has the self-esteem of a small pigeon.”

JIM LO SCALZO/EPA VIA THE CANADIAN PRESS Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump sit down for a chat in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on June 20, 2019.

Scaramucci made similar comments in at the Toronto Global Forum last week, praising Trudeau’s “masterful” tactics in trade negotiations from the background while Trump took centre stage. “Because when you’re dealing with such a complete narcissist like that, it could have been detrimental and destructive if they didn’t do that,” Scaramucci said in an interview at the conference. Scaramucci is currently fundraising against his former boss in a bid to make Trump a one-term U.S. president. He was spotted at a charity event featuring Joe Biden on Long Island’s Southhampton last month. Though he insisted he’s still a “registered Republican,” he acknowledged he was on the hunt for a new candidate to back because he believed the president had “lost his mind.” Trump has regularly fired back at his former employee, calling him “totally incapable” of his job and saying nobody had “ever heard of this dope until he met me.”