Welcome to the first episode of my new video/podcast Q&A series: Failing Up!

If you are wondering about the title, it’s not because I’m interested in interviewing “losers” – to use Trump parlance – on the contrary, I will be interviewing “winners.” But people are so much more thoughtful and interesting when discussing overcoming adversity than when discussing smooth-sailing. Smooth-sailing is actually pretty boring.

I can’t think of anyone in my rolodex better to kick this off than my friend, Anthony Scaramucci (aka The Mooch), the financier, podcaster – and not least, the notorious Trump White House Press Secretary of just 11 days.

I met Anthony in 2016 before he went into the Trump White House. We clicked right from the start. He’s impossible not to like. (Even Trump – he believes, and I suspect he’s right – still loves him. That’s why he bothered to post on Truth Social a couple of days ago that Anthony is a “major loser.”)

I talked to Anthony often during that messy 11-day period. And I talked to him in the days and weeks right after. It’s extraordinary to watch someone you know and admire blow themselves up like that so publicly – but what’s even more extraordinary is the way he coped and recovered, bouncing back better and stronger than before.

I was looking through my notes before doing this interview to remind myself of what we talked about during that time. I wrote down that just 24 hours after he lost his job, Anthony hadn’t lost his sense of humor.

He answered his phone to me, “White House Communications Department.  Oh, excuse me, I’m sorry. Is this not the White House Communications Department?”

Ask yourself if you’d be capable of that when you are a punch-line on Late-Night TV.

I certainly wouldn’t be.

These days Anthony is hosting a podcast – The Rest is Politics (US) with Katty Kay, the former BBC anchor – on top of running his alternative asset management firm, Skybridge Capital.

He’s as irrepressible and honest as ever.

Watch on Vicky Ward Investigates