Move over, Mooch: The internet has a new way to measure short White House stints.
tags:The new White House press secretary is out, and Anthony Scaramucci has thoughts
By
Katherine Li
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Dustin Chambers/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Katie Zacharia’s run as White House press secretary lasted five days, and memes about her exit are rolling in.
There is someone who can relate: Anthony Scaramucci, whose brief stint as Trump’s White House communications director in July 2017 became a pop-culture unit of time — a “Scaramucci,” or “Mooch” — for measuring short-lived political appointments.
Scaramucci held the role for roughly 10 days — six if not including the time lapsed between Trump's announcement and his first day — before Trump fired him.
Scaramucci has been following Zacharia's journey closely and, in a series of tweets, has gone from wishing her well to offering advice.
It started on Thursday, when Scaramucci placed his bet that Zacharia would "make it."
The bet on Zacharia was short-lived. By mid-Friday, Scaramucci was addressing her departure.
Scaramucci also offered Zacharia direct advice.
Dear @katiezacharia — speaking as the world's leading expert on short White House tenures: turn off the news and go enjoy your family. In time you’ll realize that the Universe did you a major favor.
— Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) October 16, 2026
Meanwhile, the internet has been creating math equations over how many "Scaramuccis" Zacharia had lasted, suggesting she become the new benchmark.
Workers have long been told to stay in a job for at least a year to avoid looking uncommitted to future employers. A string of short stints can still raise eyebrows, but the dates on a résumé don’t always tell the whole story.
Leadership consultants have previously told Business Insider that quick moves that come with more responsibility and opportunities to build skills can strengthen a résumé, in which quick changes in roles could be seen as a sign of ambition and adaptability rather than instability.
Zacharia succeeded Karoline Leavitt, who left in August to spend more time with her young children. She became Trump’s sixth press secretary across his two terms, and the fourth to last less than a year.
While there is helpful career advice out there for Zacharia, a LinkedIn profile picture of Zacharia with the infamous "#Opentowork" tag has also taken off on X. The tweet was originally posted by the Democrats' official account.
The green tag itself has been a much-debated topic on the professional networking platform.
Some recruiters have previously told Business Insider that the label is the "biggest red flag" to hiring managers because it suggests "desperation." Data from 2024, however, show that workers with the public green tag receive 40% more messages from LinkedIn Recruiter than those who use only the private signal.
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Katherine Li
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Katherine Li is a reporter on Business Insider's West Coast business news team. She covers career, the future of work, and how AI is changing hiring practices and workplace trends.Previously, she was a newsroom fellow who wrote international breaking news and produced newsletters for Semafor. Before that, she wrote about climate policies for The Lever, covered the AAPI community for the SF Chronicle as a freelancer, and wrote about the 2019 Hong Kong protests as an intern for The New York Times.She is an alumna of the Graduate School of Journalism at UC Berkeley and a graduate of the international journalism program at Hong Kong Baptist University with minors in French and English literature. Email Katherine at [email protected] and follow her on Bluesky @katherineli.bsky.social.
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