39. The Lamborghini Episode (Live from Long Island)
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Hi there and welcome to The Rest Is Politics US with me, Cathy Kay. And me, Anthony Scaramucci. What you are about to hear is a portion of our member-only bonus episode that we recorded for our founding members from Anthony's house in Long Island.

Founding members of The Rest Is Politics US get ad-free listening, a weekly member-only Q&A, and early access to all of our miniseries. So if you're interested in signing up, go to therestispoliticsus.com. That's therestispoliticsus.com. So, Anthony, this is very exciting because in this special episode, the listeners finally get what they want. Me,

driving your Lamborghini. And without giving any spoilers about what people are about to hear, why don't you set the scene? Well, let me say this, okay? I check my blood pressure regularly as I'm getting older now. And so...

When you arrived at my house and I knew you were driving the Lamborghini, I elected not to check my blood pressure because I knew it was probably like 200 over 160. And I just didn't want to have a panic about that as well, like a neurotic panic. But I have to confess, okay, and I'm not going to give up anything more than this.

I have to confess that you are actually a very good driver. I was worried, Katty, but after you made the three-point, a few three-point turns in the car, I was like, all right, this is going to be okay. Suffice to say that my 25-year-old son, Jude, who loves cars, was absolutely amazed that you did let me drive your precious vehicle. Okay. Now, while I said she was a great driver, there was one little thing that happened that

And my only regret is we weren't playing Billy Joel, who is the national anthem author of all things Long Island in the car, blaring it like I did in 1981. So here it is, the Lamborghini episode live from Long Island. Okay, ready? Put on a guess. Okay. Where am I going? All right. So you're going to make a right. Tree? Lamp post? Yeah, not yet. I haven't said any bad. I haven't said any bad. I am nervous. I will confess to the viewership. Why are you...

Do you really? Because this is my... Okay, what have I ever done that you have not given your course not to have confidence in? I gave you... I invited you onto this podcast. It's been a great success. I hope that viewers and listeners do pray for me once in a while. Okay, so while you're driving, educate me. Okay.

You've been in the US 26 years. 26 years. I know. I came for three. A couple of the kids are citizens. Four of the kids are citizens, Anthony. One of them was born in Tokyo. Three of them were born in America. So tell me why you are not a US citizen. Such a good question. So I have a green card. I'm here legally. And I've had it for 20 years. So I'm eligible to get citizenship. And I think I'm going to get it. But it feels like...

It does feel like quite a big decision. I will get citizenship because I don't want to not have the citizenship of my kids. Can you move to like Pennsylvania or Wisconsin? Yeah, exactly. Sunbelt to Sunbelt. I'm going to get citizenship and there is so much that I admire about states. Okay, so just be careful because the road is wet and this thing is slick. And at its very best, I love America's attitude to immigrants and outsiders. All the way down to the stoplight. And it has that ability to bring people in.

that you don't find in very many countries around the world. None of the countries I've ever lived in have I found that.

I have to admit that there are things that trouble me. I mean, every time there is a school shooting, I want to pack my bags. Okay. And I want to throw my hands up and say, why can't this country fix this? And what is it about? And that is a real... Left. It is a real issue for me. Okay. But in the end, I will get it because my kids are American, because America has given me so much, and because I see in America the capacity to have something that I have never found in all of the very many countries I've lived in, and that is...

an openness to new ideas, new people. You said something very interesting and I'm fascinated by. You said that there's lots of class mobility in

the United Kingdom now. There's actually more... But there's less acceptance as people are moving. So, somebody can show up worth a billion dollars, but the posh people... May still see them as not being posh. I mean, I think that is something I also love about America. Yes, technically, there's actually more social mobility in the United Kingdom and in several other European countries than there is in the U.S. because...

of the wealth differences in America. Right. But what there isn't is an acceptance of people moving up as much. The class system still feels, whenever I go back to the United Kingdom, after living here for 26 years, the class system just is still stultifying.

and it hasn't got very much better. There's been some mobility, but not very much. - Make a right turn. - Do you think everyone thinks this is my car? And they're all looking at me and thinking, wow, she has a Lamborghini. - Yeah, I mean, come on. - And I love that here. Look, you have-- - Like, what is this lady driving around with a car down in the rain? - You can start as a crane operator's dad, have that social mobility. - You can make a right, you can make a right. Right on red. - And be accepted in,

Many places in Europe, the existence of aristocracy, the existence of classes that have been entrenched with privilege for decades and generations and generations,

means that although you might technically have social mobility in terms of wealth, you don't necessarily have the same social mobility in terms of acceptance into the upper. You will still always be slightly looked down on. And I find that very distressing about. But Americans actually don't care about that. Americans don't care about that. I watched that happen in the UK. When I got to the UK, I was a student.

And I noticed people were focused on each other's accents and they were focused on... Am I allowed to speed up at some point? Yeah, just because it's wet. I'm telling you, this car has no traction. Okay. This is a speed car. This is not a SUV. I know. Well, that's what I'm thinking. You're always telling me I'm not going fast enough. I think you're doing great, by the way. Okay.

My heart rate's gone from 180 back to like 61, okay? So, so... Will you come to my naturalization ceremony? When and if I... Yeah, of course. I'd be honored. What happens if I take a test and I don't pass? I thought you said something great at our live show.

that the seat in the house is quite good but the naturalization ceremonies it's very it's even a better seat right yeah it's very moving and it's that thing that america has that i said in the live show in new york of you go to a naturalization don't worry i saw it you go to a naturalization ceremony and the judge says listen

you've just become American citizens and welcome to America. But at the same time, you are Senegalese and South African and Australian and British and Mexican and never forget that you are those things and you can still be those things and remember your customs and remember your traditions and keep your languages and your foods. And that, okay, that is what I love about this country. That is why it would be a privilege to be part of this country. It's a beautiful rendition of what you're saying and

But am I wrong in saying this? I just get a reaction. That everything you just said about the inclusiveness in America,

The world, I don't know if it still does, but when I was growing up, I felt like the world had a love affair with America. Was I wrong with that or am I wrong? You can tell me. I was right. I'm not saying it's still the same way, but... It's not the same way. And there was a period during the Cold War and in the 90s after the Cold War where it was pretty... It was a sort of black and white view of the superpowers. And you either... You bought into the American system and... At that stop sign, make a right turn.

You know, it was the system of pluralism and democracy and freedom and rule of law and freedom of worship and free press against the autocracy of the Soviet Union. And it was the good guys against the bad guys. And for a period, I think what was interesting was that after the end of the Cold War in the 1990s, there was a honeymoon period where the world looked at what we'd just gone through and everybody brought into that world.

notion of pluralism and democracy and one person, one vote, and the good guys had won. And then I think that honeymoon kind of ended with 9/11 and people... Am I going right or left? Left, I'm sorry. And there was more... So just quickly, this is my neighborhood. These are all blue collar apartments here.

This is where I had my paper out. This is where you grew up? This is where I grew up. Yep. These are all blue-collar apartments. I'll show you. Yep. And this is where I grew up. Would your family have described themselves as working class or middle class? Middle class. I think we were... I would never dishonor my dad by telling him I grew up poor. I did not grow up poor. You'll see my dad's home, my mom's home. We grew up middle class. And the thing about it was we were all middle class. None of us cared.

You know, and we went in and out of each other's houses. I got hit by every Italian woman in this neighborhood. That's a difference between Europe. They hit you with a wooden spoon. They, you know, yell at you. They call your mother. The worst thing that could happen to you in the neighborhood I grew up in, you got hit by one of the other moms because she would call your mother and tell you that you hit and then you get hit again. It was like a double hit. In the UK, what Americans call middle class...

In the UK would be called working class. Yeah, exactly. And in much of Europe. And again, it's that aspirational thing. Exactly. Right about America. So this is my elementary school. See this? Oh, look at that. That's so nice. It was made in 1910. Yep. And this was the element. This was every grade. This was 1 through 12 when my mother went to it.

Okay, one through twelve. Your mother went to the same elementary school. So I grew up... Well this was one to twelve, like the elementary school to high school, then it became one to six and they built a high school. My childhood was so different from yours. If you make a right, if you make a right. Because I grew up moving every two or three years. I went to six different schools in the space of five years, in three countries, in two languages.

Okay, so this is my grandfather's house right here. See this house with the Halloween stuff on it? And then he built this other tiny house for my uncle who came back from the war.

Okay, and this house here, that house was the exact same size and they knocked it down and built that house. They built that big one. Okay, but these are the houses. So there's a little living room. So your father grew up in that house? No, my mother. My mother grew up in Wilkes-Barre in Scranton, Pennsylvania. As I told you, his house on Zillow, $34,000. These houses are $500,000, $600,000 now. Big house.

Because the neighborhood has come up. The neighborhood has come up, yeah. You can see it's a very nice neighborhood. They were bought for $2,000, $3,000, okay? Right. All right, so you got to do a three-point turn. Okay. Okay, I just wanted to show you how close I grew up to my grandparents. Okay, make a left and then obviously back out. Look at you. I am super impressed, Kathy. All right, that was a little bad. That's all right. That was bottoming out. But I had the yellow thing on. It's all right. It's okay. It's not your fault. It's just the car is too low for the street.

- Will it be okay? - Totally fine, yeah, there's a-- - There's a thing on it. - No, I paid for a steel plate to-- - Right, that's why I made that noise. - Yeah, yeah, exactly. That's the protector, okay? All right, you're gonna go to the stop sign, make a right. So-- - So this, you have deep roots. - Yeah, this is my neighborhood. That's my elementary school. - That's why you haven't moved. - You see how close-- - Because this is home. - These are all my, my cousin is living in that house. This is where I turned the thing off. I pay his rent.

to take care of all of it because he dislocated his hip. He has no disability. You follow what I'm saying? How many family members do you support? I've got 20. Oh, forget about it. I take care of almost all. Forget about it.

You can't grow up in a blue collar neighborhood and get wealthy. It's here what it is. Which way? Make a right. See the Harris-Wall sign? That is like all the immigrants who send back remittances and support their families back in Africa or Latin America. It's the same. 100%. Same thing. You're going to park in that driveway. Okay. These people are... Reverse. Ready? Yep. Wait, there's a car behind us. All right. So stop. Now you hit paddle. And this is the house I grew up in.

And this part of the house... It's a nice house. Yeah. No, I mean... This is much bigger than the house your... Grandparents are from? Yeah. This is how I grew up. This was added to the house in the 80s. Okay. Ready? Yeah. Park. Okay, now. Hold on. Am I far enough forward? You are. It's fine. Okay. Look at you. I mean, come on. Right? Come on. All right, come on. Let's take a walk.

As you would imagine, I pay for all the landscaping, right? I'm getting my mother a new fence. I don't have my phone on me, but... It's fine. Don't worry. It's the house I grew up in. So, yeah, I mean, I literally moved every two years, my whole childhood. I never left the neighborhood.

Ma? All right, say hello to my podcast. I'm not even dressed. Hi. Look at me. Look, Mrs. Scaramucci. What a pleasure to meet you. I'm Kathy. Hi, Kathy. Ciao. You're the one that's doing the podcast? I am the one that's doing the podcast and the live shows with Anthony in England. Did you see those photos? We did like with thousands of people turned out.

Oh my God. Look at this handsome. He did great. Look at him. Here we go. Italian mother. You speak Italian, right? Yeah, I speak Italian. You speak Italian, Ma, or you speak a dialect of Italian? I speak a dialect. My mother died young, so I got away from the language like that. Did you go to Anthony's house? We were recording one of our... He let me drive his car.

Driving the Lambo. I drove it too. And? I heard you drove it fast. Huh? I heard you drove it very fast. I did. I'm not slow. I used to drive a motorcycle. See my picture? I was 30 in this picture. That was your bike? My brother was ghost. He had a motorcycle.

What's going on? You should have worn that. Relax, Maya. Nobody gives a shit. Relax. No, no, no. So this room, other than the rug and the furniture, this is what it looked like growing up. See, this is the walnut paneling from the 1960s. She wouldn't let me take any of it down. You see the linoleum? Yeah, that's original. That's original. It's probably worth a fortune now.

So, so, Caddy, shall I tell them who knocked on the door while we were at my mother's house? I suspect if I say no, don't tell them, you're going to tell them anyway. So go on, go ahead. So I was knocking on the door. This big dude comes into the house. He's wearing one of those yellow vests. He's a worker from the town of North Hempstead.

He knows my cousin Bobby. And so the license plate got blown off the car on Jefferson Street. And I live on Webster. At least that's where I grew up. He came running down the block with the license plate. He knew exactly who I was because we went to high school together. He's good friends with my cousin Bobby. He's like,

begging on the door. He says, Mooch, you idiot. You left the license plate on Jefferson Street. So there's a couple of things there. Number one, never leave the neighborhood because in case your license plate gets blown off by a Brit as she's doing a three point turn into a curb, uh,

You have buddies around that can run down the block and save you from ordering a new license plate from the Department of Motor Vehicle. But I have to confess this, Caddy, that was my fault because I knew the car had a low profile and I told you to make that turn. So all in all, I thought you were quite a good driver. The other...

moral of the story is make sure that you have a customized license plate that has the Mooch written on it because then everyone will know whose it is. Mr. Mooch. Hey, listen, it doesn't say Sir Mooch yet, but I do know that that license plate is available in New York. But right now it's just Mr. Mooch.

I'm sorry about the license plate. That was a tiny, tiny hitch on my part. But I'm so glad I got to meet your mom and see the house that you grew up in, which has not changed since the 1960s, since you were a kid, one bit right down to the yellow linoleum floor. Just want to point out, not my fault. I've renovated the bathrooms. I would have renovated the whole house for her, Katty, but you...

I met your mom and she definitely said she's not going to have it. So I wouldn't even try. She wants it for Micah. Hey, Carol Brady from the Brady Bunch called, wants the paneling back in the living room.

But my mother says when she walks around in that house, it makes her think of her kids when she was young. They were young and she doesn't want me to change it. So there you go. Yeah, I can see that. It was such a treat to go and drive around the neighborhood. And we saw, you know, there's one cousin's garage mechanic shop. There's another cousin's pizza parlor. There's another cousin's deli. And for me who grew up totally rootless, moving house every two or three years, you know, it made me think about what different childhoods we had and how lucky you are, Anthony, that you grew up

always in the same place with all your family all around you and that you still live there. I think we're both beneficiaries of our different life experiences, but I appreciate you coming out. That meant a lot to me. And of course I got to meet your family this week too. So that was a great fun for me and my wife, Deirdre. By the way, can we just say quickly about Deirdre and how you married up?

up like by leagues and she is clearly not just the better half like the much better half no she's the better nine tenths she's not the better half i mean she could be the better 99 she could be the better 10 honestly

Yeah, well, we know that. By the way, what are you like Captain Obvious now on the podcast? I mean, of course, we know that true. Anyway, thank you so much to everyone for listening. If you want to hear the full version of that episode with a bonus Q&A, sign up and become a founding member at therestispoliticsus.com. And again, I just like to say thank you guys so much.

For all those people who've signed up so far, we're planning on doing some more mini series after the election, and you'll be the first to hear about them. Thanks so much for listening. Hi there, it's Anthony here. I just wanted to let you know that on Tuesday, November 5th, I'll be covering the U.S. presidential election through the night, live in studio from New York City. I'll be joined by Rory and Alistair from The Rest is Politics, Dominic Sandbrook from The Rest is History, and Marina Hyde.

from the rest is entertainment. We'll be live on YouTube from 3 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday afternoon and back again at midnight through to the early hours of Wednesday morning. The show will be totally interactive, so you can ask us anything you like in the comments section.

We'll cover the breaking news from all the swing states, as well as getting a ton of big guests to join us in the studio. For more information, just search The Rest Is Politics, America Decides on YouTube. Can't wait to see you there.