The context-less (and since-deleted) tweet sparked speculation that it was meant to be a private direct message, not a public tweet, as many called into question Scully’s ability to fairly moderate the face-off between Trump and challenger Joe Biden.
Scully deleted the tweet, but the Internet is forever…. https://t.co/jTWsiadTKd
— Sister Toldjah 😁 (@sistertoldjah) October 9, 2020
Was this supposed to be a DM?
— Ricky Lavina (@LavinaRicky) October 9, 2020
“Should I respond to Trump” Scully tweeted to Scaramucci on Thursday. The former administration member has since become one of the president’s most vocal mainstream media critics, causing many to suggest the pair were in cahoots or “coordinating” against Trump.
What? Why is the next presidential debate moderator publicly asking one of Trump’s staunchest critics in Anthony Scaramucci if he should respond to the president? In a related story, Scully once interned for Sen. Joe Biden. Optics here are horrible & underscore mistrust is media. https://t.co/Ipkv0CVUCA
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) October 9, 2020
So the next debate “moderator” asks one of the president’s fiercest critics if he should respond to Trump?
The debate commission is a corrupt and complicit swamp cabal. https://t.co/19RXsZLhXh
— Steve Cortes (@CortesSteve) October 9, 2020
Scaramucci’s response only added fuel to the fire. He replied with his own cryptic tweet, telling the C-SPAN host to “ignore” Trump because he was having a “hard enough time” and that some more “bad stuff about to go down.”
Ignore. He is having a hard enough time. Some more bad stuff about to go down. https://t.co/cMphfQJELL
— Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) October 9, 2020
The fact that Scully later deleted the tweet added some credibility to the speculation that it was intended to be a private message.
HE DELETED IT#steveScully @debates pic.twitter.com/8bgPMU2w7a
— BURNT Rubber (@KURT_bball) October 9, 2020
Given the fact that it was online for more than 10 hours, however, quite a few commenters seized on the tweet, with some suggesting it was “disqualifying” for a moderator to be consulting with a fierce Trump critic.
So the next debate “moderator” asks one of the president’s fiercest critics if he should respond to Trump?
The debate commission is a corrupt and complicit swamp cabal. https://t.co/19RXsZLhXh
— Steve Cortes (@CortesSteve) October 9, 2020
Others simply mocked him for the Twitter fail.
“If you select me as your moderator, I promise to at the very least not be a sketchy boomer and tweet out my private [direct messages],”quipped conservative host Saagar Enjeti.
Makes me want to see Chris Wallace’s DMs https://t.co/J2P3PMQ2V5
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) October 9, 2020
Kind of hilarious a debate moderator is going to be replaced over an errant DM. https://t.co/GTMUTvpgvd
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) October 9, 2020
The Twitter backlash marks a second instance of Scully being accused of anti-Trump bias. It was previously revealed that the future debate moderator had been an intern for Joe Biden when he was a senator in Delaware.
The second debate was scheduled to take place on October 15 in Florida, but was switched to a “virtual” format by the Commission on Presidential Debates on Thursday, due to Trump’s diagnosis with Covid-19. Trump rejected the notion of a virtual debate, however, saying he wouldn’t “waste his time” on it. It’s unclear when, or even if, the second debate will now go ahead at all.
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