Anthony Scaramucci has undergone quite the evolution.
The man famous for being spectacularly fired just 11 days into his job as White House communications director in 2017 has since transformed from a staunch defender of President Donald Trump into one of his highest profile critics.
This week, Scaramucci finally reached the position he had been approaching, slowly but surely, for some time: "He's got to go."
He called for the Republican Party to consider replacing Mr Trump with a different nominee for next year's presidential election.
"I'm calling for it to be considered, yes. I think you have to consider a change at the top of the ticket when someone is acting like this," Mr Scaramucci told CNN host John Berman.
"The guy's actually dissembling a little bit, and he's sounding more and more nonsensical."
He did not name a potential replacement for Trump, instead saying the party should "watch how this unfolds".
Anthony Scaramucci served as Mr Trump's communications director for 11 days. Photo / AP
Scaramucci was backed up by former Republican congressman Joe Walsh, who wrote a piece for The New York Times arguing in favour of a primary challenge, despite the fact that he himself voted for Trump in 2016.
"Mr Trump is unfit for office. His lies are so numerous, from his absurd claim that tariffs are 'paid for mostly by China, by the way, not by us' to his prevarication about his crowd sizes, he can't be trusted," Walsh said.
"In Mr Trump, I see the worst and ugliest iteration of views I expressed for the better part of a decade.
"Republicans should view Mr Trump as the liability that he is.
"We need someone who could stand up, look the President in the eye and say: 'Enough, sir. We've had enough of your indecency. We've had enough of your lies, your bullying, your cruelty, enough of your insults, your daily drama, your incitement, enough of the danger you place this country in every single day. We don't want any of this anymore.'"
But kicking Trump off the Republican ticket would be no easy task. First, it would require a credible challenger — and at the moment, there isn't one.
The only other person running for the Republican nomination is former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld. He has raised less than $1 million so far, compared to Trump's $124 million, and has been described as "the worst possible Trump challenger".
That tells you pretty much everything you need to know.
The other obstacle is Trump's continuing popularity among Republican voters, who would make the decision in any potential primary contest.
Trump's approval rating has been stuck in the forties for essentially the entire duration of his presidency, but it tends to hover in the eighties with Republican voters. They like him and have no intention of dumping him for the election.
Nevertheless, Scaramucci has been on something of a tear this week, appearing repeatedly in the media to discuss his newly announced opposition to Trump's re-election.
"We are now in the early episodes of Chernobyl on HBO, where the reactor is melting down the apparatchiks are trying to figure out whether to cover it up or start the clean-up process," he told Axios, referring to Republican officials.
"A couple more weeks like this and 'country over party' is going to require Republicans to replace the top of the ticket in 2020. We can't afford a full nuclear contamination site post-2020."
Back on CNN yesterday, Scaramucci claimed members of Trump's own Cabinet had told him they thought the President was losing it.
"I talked to three Cabinet officials last night who think the guy has lost his mind. The dam is about to start breaking with folks coming forward. I'm just the tip of the iceberg," he told host Erin Burnett.
"He's obviously going off the rails now. He's totally unstable, a nervous wreck last night, sweating like a pig. Let's just call it for what it is. He's got to go."
Scaramucci's attacks are all the more remarkable because he remained a reliable ally for Trump long after his tumultuous departure from the White House in 2017, persistently defending the President on television.
But he has become progressively more critical this year, first publicly denouncing Trump's attacks on the media and then suggesting he "dial down the lying".
The President doesn't like it one bit.
Trump has responded to Scaramucci by claiming the former communications director is bitter because he has not been given another job in the administration.
"He's called so much. He's a nervous, neurotic wreck," Trump said.
"He called so much, and I said 'Anthony, I'm sorry, I can't do that, I can't take you in,' and I said, 'You gotta stop all these phone calls, too many calls Anthony.'"
Scaramucci said the President's words were "blatant lies".
Anthony Scaramucci, who was quickly terminated (11 days) from a position that he was totally incapable of handling, now seems to do nothing but television as the all time expert on “President Trump.” Like many other so-called television experts, he knows very little about me.....
Scaramucci, who like so many others had nothing to do with my Election victory, is only upset that I didn’t want him back in the Administration (where he desperately wanted to be). Also, I seldom had time to return his many calls to me. He just wanted to be on TV!
