Trump vilifies another minority
WASHINGTON » President Donald Trump unloaded on former aide Omarosa Manigault Newman Tuesday, calling her a “crazed, crying lowlife” and “that dog,” as a clash rooted in the reality star’s accusations of racism focused new attention on his frequent disparagement of prominent African-Americans.
The public conflict showed no signs of slowing, as Manigault Newman did another round of interviews to promote her tellall book and Trump’s presidential campaign filed arbitration action against her alleging she breached a confidentiality agreement.
Manigault Newman, who has painted a damning picture of Trump and alleged there is a videotape of him using a racial slur, said she is not going away.
“I will not be silenced. I will not be intimidated. And I’m not going to be bullied by Donald Trump,” she said.
Trump, who has denied the existence of any such tape, assailed Manigault Newman in language that stood out even by his trashtalking standards, praising his chief of staff, John Kelly, “for quickly firing that dog!”
That slam follows a pattern of inflammatory language about women and minorities. In 2015, shortly before he launched his campaign, Trump described Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington as “a dog.” He has recently targeted California Rep. Maxine Waters, basketball star LeBron James and TV journalist Don Lemon, all African-Americans, and has repeatedly attacked black football players for kneeling during the national anthem in social protest.
Manigault Newman told the AP that “at every single opportunity he insults African-Americans,” and she accused him of trying to start a “race war.”
During the campaign and her White House tenure, Manigault Newman, who was the highest ranking black official in the West Wing, stood by Trump even at moments of racial strife, including the clashes between white supremacists and counterprotesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, and Trump’s targeting of NFL players kneeling during the national anthem in social protest.
Fired by Kelly in December, Manigault Newman now says many of Trump’s actions gave her pause but she was sympathetic to him as a longtime friend and mentor.
In her book, she casts herself as a strong black woman.