Donald Trump's decision to appoint Anthony Scaramucci as his new communications director was hailed as a smart move by media pundits, who described the financier as a "smooth operator" and a reliable helmsman as the Trump administration is buffeted from all sides by allegations of collusion and infighting.

"Smooth and soft-spoken. Lighthearted and optimistic" are the words Boston Globe's Washington bureau chief Matt Viser used to describe Scaramucci's first appearance in front of the press.

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But a week is a long time in politics...

The "slick and conciliatory" character description was quickly replaced by the words "foul-mouthed and aggressive" after Scaramucci, also known as 'the Mooch' showed his true colours to the media and his colleagues in the White House.

Here are five of the most shocking things the Mooch has said and done.

He called Trump's chief of staff a "f*cking paranoid schizophrenic"

All the drama kicked off when Scaramucci launched into a furious tirade against White House chief of staff Reince Priebus.

During a phone call with Ryan Lizza, a reporter for The New Yorker, Scaramucci employed a string of expletives to rant about his new colleague, who he had described as a brother just a few days before.

The Mooch turned on Priebus when Lizza refused to reveal who had told him about the president's dinner plans with political pundit Sean Hannity and former Fox News executive Bill Shine.

"Reince is a fucking paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac," Scaramucci told Lizza after threatening to fire the entire White House communications staff.

Lizza said Scaramucci was extremely agitated about the leak and eventually convinced himself that Priebus was the source.

Just days before, Scaramucci had told reporters that he had a brotherly relationship with Priebus. "We are a little bit like brothers, where we rough each other up a little, which is totally normal for brothers," he said during his first press conference.

After details of his foul-mouthed rant were revealed, Scaramucci wrote on Twitter: "I sometimes use colorful language. I will refrain in this arena but not give up the passionate fight for Donald Trump's agenda."

He told a reporter: "I'm not Steve Bannon, I'm not going to suck my own cock"

During his conversation with Lizza, Scaramucci also railed against Steve Bannon, Trump's chief strategist.

After he stressed that Priebus would lose his job soon, the Mooch turned on Bannon, questioning his loyalty to the president.

He said that, unlike other White House officials, he had no interest in media attention.

"I'm not Steve Bannon, I'm not trying to suck my own cock ...," he told Lizza. "I'm not trying to build my own brand off the f*cking strength of the President. I'm here to serve the country," he said.

Scaramucci's appointment was reportedly supported by the president's daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who have successfully managed to marginalise Bannon's role in the Trump administration.

He paid $100,000 to be in a Michael Douglas film for 15 seconds

The Mooch reportedly paid the producers of Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps $100,000 for a 15- second cameo alongside Douglas and Shia La Boeuf.

Scaramucci appears in two scenes in the 2010 Wall Street sequel. In both he is talking on the phone to a client and in the second he appears to adopt his new boss' tone: "Churchill Schwartz has a yuge position in this thing and I want to get you in that stock."

The logo of his investment fund SkyBridge Capital features prominently in the backdrop.

The financier refers to his cameo several times in his book "Goodbye Gordon Gekko: How to Find Your Fortune Without Losing Your Soul", which was published the same year as the film premiered.

He deleted all his anti-Trump tweets

The Mooch and the Donald have not always seen eye to eye. During the election campaign, Scaramucci described Trump as a "hack politician" who was "anti-American".

He told Fox News in 2015 that Trump should be president of the "Queens County Bullies' Association."

"You're an inherited money dude from Queens County," he said. "Bring it."

Scaramucci's tweets from 2015 and 2016 reveal that he vehemently disagreed with some of Trump's most important campaign pledges.

Shortly after Trump announced that he would build a wall along the Mexico-US border, Scaramucci commented: "Walls don't work. Never have never will. The Berlin Wall 1961-1989 don't fall for it."

He also criticised the president's climate change scepticism. "You can take steps to combat climate change without crippling the economy. The fact many people still believe CC is a hoax is disheartening," he wrote in March 2016.

But after his appointment as communications director, Scaramucci tried to erase his past comments by deleting several tweets that don't align with the president's views.

"Full transparency: I'm deleting old tweets. Past views evolved & shouldn't be a distraction. I serve @POTUS agenda & that's all that matters," he wrote on Twitter on Saturday (29 July).

He missed the birth of his son to attend an event with Trump

Mrs Scaramucci is less than pleased with her husband's new appointment. His decision to work for Trump and become involved in the "insane DC world" led Deirdre Ball to file for divorce while she was eight months pregnant, a source told the New York Post.

"She is tired of his naked ambition, which is so enormous that it left her at her wits' end. She has left him even though they have two children together," the source said.

Scaramucci is certainly taking his new role seriously. He was so busy helping the president that he did not even have time to be present for his son's birth last week. He chose to accompany Trump on a visit to West Virginia while his wife gave birth in New York.

He reportedly sent his wife a text message that read: "Congratulations, I'll pray for our child." He did not visit his wife and newborn son for four days, according to the New York Post.

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