Scaramucci calls for America to back risk-takers as it turns 250

Anthony Scaramucci used the approach of America’s 250th anniversary to argue that the country must keep rewarding ambition, risk and newcomers. In a Fortune commentary published June 28, the SkyBridge Capital founder said the American promise depends on leaving room for people with little more than drive and an idea.

Scaramucci framed the essay around Joe DiMaggio, describing the baseball star as the son of a Sicilian fisherman in San Francisco’s North Beach. He wrote that DiMaggio’s path from an immigrant family to Yankee Stadium captured a recurring American pattern: parents seeking safety while their children chased a larger chance.

According to Scaramucci, that bargain helped bind the country together during earlier generations of immigration and upward mobility. He argued that the shared act of striving, rather than sameness, helped turn separate ambitions into a national identity.

DiMaggio as a symbol of discipline

Scaramucci pointed to Ernest Hemingway’s admiration for DiMaggio in “The Old Man and the Sea,” where the ballplayer appears as a figure of endurance and precision. Scaramucci used that example to argue that public life has drifted away from a respect for restraint and quiet discipline.

He contrasted DiMaggio with what he described as a current culture that gives more attention to grievance and self-display. Scaramucci wrote that dignity once meant doing difficult work without turning the effort into a performance.

The commentary also invoked Hank Greenberg, Joe Louis and working-class figures from immigrant communities, including Poles, Irish and Italians. Scaramucci said those examples showed people pushing through different circumstances without expecting guaranteed outcomes.

A defense of the American middle ground

Scaramucci, who is also co-host of “The Rest Is Politics US” podcast and a bestselling author, tied that argument to business and innovation. Drawing on his career in finance, he wrote that capital follows courage and that America prospered because it allowed people to build without treating their origins as a barrier.

He cited Andrew Carnegie’s rise from steerage passenger to steel magnate, along with immigrant families who built film studios, scrap businesses and software companies. Scaramucci said the country’s willingness to tolerate failure and allow another attempt helped create wealth and invention.

The essay also warned against two political impulses that Scaramucci said now divide the country: excessive praise of America and excessive contempt for it. He argued for a harder position between those poles, saying citizens can love the country while recognizing its failures.

Scaramucci acknowledged that earlier America excluded, jailed and lynched people, and that many who worked hard were denied equal access to opportunity. He said the lesson is not nostalgia for the past but a renewed commitment to keeping opportunity open.

Closing the piece, Scaramucci argued that the next 250 years should be built by honoring risk-takers and newcomers, including through modern technology. He said his grandfather’s generation built with physical labor and tools, while the current generation has different means to continue the work.

This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.