Why Anthony Scaramucci returning to the White House makes perfect sense

After all: The Mooch was run out of town on a rail following a phone call with the New Yorker's Ryan Lizza in which he savaged a number of current and former Trump allies, worked in curse words the way Picasso worked in abstraction and tried to force Lizza to reveal his sources. It was an epic(ally) bad performance -- and it cost The Mooch his job.

This is not the sort of thing one's career usually recovers from. Which made this headline in the Daily Beast on Monday night all the more intriguing: "Anthony Scaramucci Is Telling Pals That Donald Trump Wants Him Back."

WHAT? Also, let me add: WHAT?!?!?!

Here's the key paragraph from the story:

"The former White House communications director has privately told friends and associates that the president and other members of the Trump family, including White House adviser and first daughter Ivanka Trump, miss him and want him back in the West Wing. Three sources close to Scaramucci have independently told The Daily Beast that the Mooch continues to brag that he and President Donald Trump talk on the phone, and that the Mooch believes his resurrection in Trump-world could be imminent. One of these sources said that the Mooch claimed he was flying out to either Washington, D.C. or Mar-a-Lago early this month to meet Trump to talk about it."

They miss him! (Who doesn't!)

Now. Scaramucci texted the Daily Beast to say that he isn't coming back. "Happy new year [and] be well," he wrote. "I have said nothing like that at all...Don't believe BS."

And, on Tuesday morning, he tweeted this at New York Times reporter Ken Vogel: "I will be back in the @WhiteHouse when @kenvogel wins the Pulitzer. Ha! Neither of those things happening anytime soon!"

So, yeah, The Mooch probably isn't making a grand return to the White House any time soon. Still ...

If you think about what we know of President Donald Trump's psyche -- as demonstrated by his past actions -- there is a totally credible case to make that Trump might, eventually, want Mooch back.

Remember that Trump is, at heart, a reality star/reality TV producer. He knows what gets people watching and what keeps them watching. And he judges himself, almost exclusively, by ratings of some sort or another.

Given that, Trump likes drama. He encourages it. He marinates in it. And he is drawn to the people in his orbit who cause it.

Omarosa. Dennis Rodman. Bret Michaels. Joan Rivers.

In each of these instances -- all of which came about on either "The Apprentice" or "The Celebrity Apprentice" -- Trump rewarded these people or kept giving them more and more chances because, well, he knew they were good TV. And, he knew that the only thing better than a big confrontation with a major drama king or queen is bringing one of them back in some sort of unexpected way.

Starting to ring any bells for you yet?

In terms of eyeballs and buzz, The Mooch was among the big winners of the first year of the Trump administration. (If you think it's ridiculous to make judgments in terms of eyeballs and buzz, I would remind you that the President of the United States makes judgments that way.)

Thinking like a TV executive, what better way to get even more buzz than to bring The Mooch back somehow?

Admit it: It makes a lot of sense.

Now, it's possible that less buzz-minded heads at the White House would prevail on Trump not to bring Scaramucci -- and his baggage train -- back into the fold, even if the President was actually considering it. (There's no evidence that he is.)

But, holy crap, would it be an amazing storyline. Which is why I don't think you can ever say never.