Omarosa: Yet Another Ridiculous Member of The Circus

[SilverBeach]

Fuck Omarosa.

[GrumpyGran]

2 hours ago, SilverBeach said:

Fuck Omarosa.

And Dumpy moves on. There is just so much, so much that happens that we will never know. Someone had to convince him that she was a liability. And when she kissed his ass every day, that is hard. What's the magic word or words? Bannon, and now her. Kelly must be pretty clever for a shit.

[Cartmann99]

A quick note for those who follow The Real Former Government Employees of D.C:

 

[AmazonGrace]

On the other hand, Trump has fired far more white people.

[laPapessaGiovanna]

True. But to fire more black people he should have hired more. From the top of my head I can think of only two black senior officials in this administration and one just got fired. Maybe there are more and I just don't know.

[AmazonGrace]

Probably not. His judicial nominations are white male almost exclusively, the only diversity is that Trump is nominating more unqualified people.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/11/28/this-is-how-trump-is-changing-the-federal-courts/?utm_term=.0c5373892bae

[GreyhoundFan]

2 hours ago, laPapessaGiovanna said:

True. But to fire more black people he should have hired more. From the top of my head I can think of only two black senior officials in this administration and one just got fired. Maybe there are more and I just don't know.

The WaPo published an article about this topic: "Omarosa Manigault’s departure highlights lack of diversity in Trump White House"

Spoiler

Omarosa Manigault, the former reality-TV star who joined President Trump’s White House as one of his most prominent African American supporters, resigned under pressure after a confrontation with Chief of Staff John F. Kelly that ended when she was escorted from the premises, White House officials said Wednesday.

Kelly pushed her out as director of communications for the Office of the Public Liaison late Tuesday after growing frustrated with her abrasive and attention-seeking style, which included a personal wedding photo shoot in the West Wing in the spring, according to one official. Kelly, a retired Marine Corps general, has sought to impose more discipline among White House staffers and limit their communications with the president.

She did not “go quietly,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel matter. Although her resignation is effective Jan. 20, the Secret Service said it had deactivated her security badge granting access to the White House grounds. The agency said it was not involved in escorting her off the property.

Her rivals cast the move as an overdue housecleaning, but her departure, on the day that black voters helped catapult Democrat Doug Jones to an upset victory in the Senate race in Alabama, highlighted perhaps a more worrisome issue for the White House and the Republican Party heading into a midterm election year — the stark lack of diversity in Trump’s administration and the GOP’s diminishing appeal to minority communities.

Manigault, who earned the top-level staff annual salary of $179,700, was, along with Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, one of two black officials among Trump’s more than three dozen Cabinet members and senior staffers.

Her presence hardly immunized Trump — who sparked outrage with his handling of the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville and NFL players’ national anthem protests — from criticism over his stance on race and diversity. Acting in an ill-defined capacity, Manigault struggled to make a connection with African American constituencies to support Trump’s agenda and chafed at criticism that she had sold out her integrity for a White House job.

Michael Steele, a former Republican National Committee chairman, pointed to Trump’s endorsement of Republican candidate Roy Moore in the U.S. Senate race in Alabama despite Moore’s history of racially insensitive remarks and the allegations against him of sexual improprieties with teenage girls.

Ninety-six percent of Alabama black voters supported Jones.

“It was a resounding rejection of our party among African Americans who see it as racially charged and not within their interests,” Steele said. “All that occurred during Omarosa’s tenure and relationship with the president. Either she did not have the cachet to move the president or she is complicit in it. I don’t know which it is.”

In the end, Manigault’s bond with Trump appeared to be one of kindred spirits instead of policy adviser. It was a union forged during their appearance on the first season of “The Apprentice” in 2004, where she gained fame playing the role of a backbiting villain who would kneecap other contestants in her quest to win. She did not take the top prize, but she became a favorite of Trump, who invited her to participate in subsequent iterations of the show.

“Thank you Omarosa for your service! I wish you continued success,” Trump tweeted late Wednesday.

She brought that confrontational persona to the political arena, fiercely defending Trump against accusations that he was racist and sexist. She and Carson often joined Trump at events with African American groups, and she was present Saturday as the president spoke before the public opening of a civil rights museum in Mississippi.

Friends said that despite her relationship with Trump, Manigault did not agree with his handling of some issues involving race, such as last summer’s rally by white nationalists and white supremacists in Charlottesville in which a counterprotester was killed.

The president was slow to condemn the hate groups and suggested that “both sides” were at fault for the violence.

“As recently as last week she told me about her concerns about the president endorsing Roy Moore. It bothered her, being a woman,” said Armstrong Williams, a businessman and a longtime friend. He did not know whether she raised her objections with the president.

In a brief statement, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Manigault had resigned “to pursue other opportunities. . . . We wish her the best in future endeavors and are grateful for her service.”

Longtime black Republicans chafed at Manigault’s White House post, arguing that she was not a true member of the party. Before Trump entered the presidential race, she had backed Democrat Hillary Clinton. Manigault also worked briefly as a low-level aide in the White House during President Bill Clinton’s tenure.

She was asked to leave that job, a former official said, because she was “so disruptive.”

Manigault was a polarizing figure inside the Trump White House, known for interrupting meetings, subverting chains of command and erupting on other aides she disliked. And in recent months, whatever outsize cachet she once enjoyed had waned considerably as her job duties grew increasingly ill-defined, according to White House officials.

In recent months, Manigault engaged in public spats with African American groups, including the Congressional Black Caucus, grass-roots activists and black journalists.

She also was criticized for promising that Trump would provide additional funding to struggling historically black colleges and universities — help that did not materialize. The presidents of those institutions gained little other than a highly publicized meeting with administration officials in February, which included a photo op with Trump in the Oval Office.

Jamil Smith, a contributing opinion columnist for the Los Angeles Times who writes frequently about race, said Manigault had lost any significant standing within the black community.

“She has long ago been disinvited from the cookout, so to speak,” Smith said. Her shortcomings were “not necessarily because of any lack of black authenticity on her part. She was just completely unqualified and inexperienced. That matters.”

Leah Wright Rigueur, an assistant professor of public policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, said African American political appointees often struggle to work effectively within Republican administrations whose policies are often antithetical to the demands of black communities.

“Even though she had access and was touting herself as this powerful figure,” she said, “that power really meant nothing because she didn’t have the power to influence Donald Trump, at least publicly, on issues she professed to care about and on issues that black people said they cared about.”

In April, Manigault, who is also an ordained minister, married John Allen Newman, who at the time was pastor of a church in Jacksonville, Fla., at Trump International Hotel in downtown Washington. Trump did not attend the wedding.

Williams, the businessman, said Manigault had planned all along to stay only a year in the job, but he acknowledged that she clashed with Kelly.

“You have to remember, there was a time when Omarosa was one of the few people who could walk right into the president’s office,” Williams said. For Kelly to try to limit her access to Trump “is a big deal. She’s in-your-face. She’s the female Donald Trump. There’s a price you pay when you have a Trump personality and don’t have the power to go along with it.”

 

[AmazonGrace]

Omarosa is a minister?

every day you learn something new

[JMarie]

She says she "has quite a story to tell."  Smells like a book deal!

[GreyhoundFan]

1 minute ago, AmazonGrace said:

Omarosa is a minister?

every day you learn something new

Yes, it's amazing, isn't it? Definitely a church I would never want to attend.

 

"Omarosa Manigault dismisses reports of dramatic firing"

Spoiler

Omarosa Manigault said Thursday that she was not fired and escorted off the White House grounds, blaming “one individual who has a personal vendetta against me” for the dramatic narrative of her departure as one of Trump's top aides.

In her first comments since the White House confirmed that she was leaving, Manigault said during an interview on ABC's “Good Morning America” that her decision to leave came after she sat down for a candid conversation with Chief of Staff John F. Kelly and shared her concerns about the job and the administration. Her resignation from her job as director of communications for the office of the public liaison is effective Jan. 20.

Manigault told host Michael Strahan that as “the only African American woman in this White House senior staff, I have seen things that have made me uncomfortable, that have upset me and affected me deeply and emotionally and affected my people and my community.” She said that when she is able to share her thoughts and experiences of working in the Trump administration, it will be “a profound story that everyone will want to hear.”

Manigault, who earned the top-level staff annual salary of $179,700, was, along with Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, one of two black officials among Trump’s more than three dozen Cabinet members and senior staffers.

She has had a close friendship with Trump for more than a decade, dating back to when she became the breakout star in the first season of “The Apprentice.” When Trump launched his presidential campaign, she was one of few African Americans to campaign for him. She fiercely defended him against charges of racism and sexism, saying she owed her careers in entertainment and business to him.

“Thank you Omarosa for your service! I wish you continued success,” Trump tweeted late Wednesday.

A White House official told The Washington Post that Kelly had grown frustrated with Manigault’s abrasive and attention-seeking style, which included a personal wedding photo shoot in the West Wing in the spring. Kelly, a retired Marine Corps general, has sought to impose more discipline among White House staffers and limit their communications with the president.

Manigault said in Thursday’s interview that she had “more access than most people” to the president, which rankled some of her colleagues. “People had problems with our 14-year relationship,” she said.

She pushed back against reports that she and Kelly had a blow up at a holiday event, saying they were "100 percent false.” Furthermore, she said, if there had been such a fight “where are the pictures or videos?” She did not offer, nor was she asked, the name of the person who she said was spreading the story about her being physically removed from the White House.

“The assertion that I would do that in front of 600 guests at a Christmas party . . . I have to tell you are completely false,” she said. Instead she said, she and Kelly sat down in the situation room  and had “a very straightforward discussion about concerns that I've had and issues that I've raised and as a result I resigned.”

Manigault's supporters suggested she had grown increasingly frustrated with the administration's handling of issues concerning race. Trump has sparked outrage with his responses to the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville and NFL players’ national anthem protests.  Acting in an ill-defined capacity, Manigault struggled to make a connection with African American constituencies to support Trump’s agenda and chafed at criticism that she had sold out her integrity for a White House job.

In the end, Manigault’s bond with Trump appeared to be one of a kindred spirit instead of policy adviser. It was a union forged during their appearance on the first season of “The Apprentice” in 2004, where she gained fame playing the role of a backbiting villain who would kneecap other contestants in her quest to win. She was fired three times from his shows, but she became a favorite of Trump, who invited her to participate in subsequent iterations of the show.

Oh yeah, I believe that she and Kelly had a quiet sit-down in the situation room. Suuuuuure...

[AmazonGrace]

 

[onekidanddone]

1 hour ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Ninety-six percent of Alabama black voters supported Jones.

I'd like to have a conversation with the 4%. Ask them really? What the actual fuck? I know all black voters don't  have the same view on every issue, but what the FUCK? If you didn't support Jones, okay.. but you couldn't have written in somebody? Hitler quoting Roy (slavery was GREAT) Moore was your man?

[GreyhoundFan]

Just now, onekidanddone said:

I'd like to have a conversation with the 4%. Ask them really? What the actual fuck? I know all black voters to have the same view on every issue, but what the FUCK? If you didn't support Jones, okay.. but you couldn't have written in somebody? Hitler quoting Roy (slavery was GREAT) Moore was your man?

I saw something, I believe on Rachel Maddow's show, that at least some of the 4% did write-ins.

[onekidanddone]

16 minutes ago, AmazonGrace said:

 

She is telling the truth here. His statement was crystal clear where he stood and she didn't defend him or criticize him. She just stated fact. Kind of in a Kellyanne way she proved her support for Trump without actually saying so. 

[GrumpyGran]

Well, her bread and butter is being a public figure so she'll work hard to stay in the public eye. She might consider changing sides again but I don't think anyone who has been in the Dumpy admin. would be able to find work on the left.

I suspect she is trying to angle a job at Faux, but they won't have her. A book really is her only option. This makes me think we need a new section in the library called Personal Experience Fiction. For all of the former members of Dumpy's administration who later write books. 

[Cartmann99]

2 hours ago, JMarie said:

She says she "has quite a story to tell."  Smells like a book deal!

Shill, baby, shill!

Diamond and Silk are jumping into this:

They are upset about Ryan's account of Omarosa being physically escorted off of the premises. Diamond and Silk also had a tweet where they bragged about going to a Christmas party at the White House and meeting Scott Baio and his wife.  If you don't follow the drama surrounding the Baios, they are rabid Trump fans who brag about how much money they have and then get in stupid fights with people on Twitter. Think middle school kids in adult bodies. 

Omarosa's Christmas tweet:

Spoiler

 

Was that taken at the White House?

[JMO]

@Cartmann99 I'm fairly certain.  I have a friend with a spouse in the Secret Service and they had their picture taken in front of a tree in the same room at the WH Christmas party last year. 

[Howl]

Um, Pastor and Lady Newman?  Did she just give herself a title, or is this a thing?

[onekidanddone]

1 hour ago, Howl said:

Um, Pastor and Lady Newman?  Did she just give herself a title, or is this a thing?

Has she been Knighted by the Queen of England or by Trump?

[JMarie]

3 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

Shill, baby, shill!

Diamond and Silk are jumping into this:

They are upset about Ryan's account of Omarosa being physically escorted off of the premises. Diamond and Silk also had a tweet where they bragged about going to a Christmas party at the White House and meeting Scott Baio and his wife.  If you don't follow the drama surrounding the Baios, they are rabid Trump fans who brag about how much money they have and then get in stupid fights with people on Twitter. Think middle school kids in adult bodies. 

Omarosa's Christmas tweet:

  Hide contents

 

Was that taken at the White House?

Those Diamond and Silk ladies have a bunch of stuff available for purchase on their website, including a song which nobody will EVER want to download.

 

[EmmieJ]

The reason Trump and Omarosa got along so well is because they are like two peas in a pod.

[GreyhoundFan]

1 hour ago, Howl said:

Um, Pastor and Lady Newman?  Did she just give herself a title, or is this a thing?

She's done that before. She had cards printed up, calling herself "The Honorable". She wasn't eligible for that title and pitched a fit when told so.

[GreyhoundFan]

"Robin Roberts to Omarosa: ‘Bye Felicia.’ The Internet to Robin Roberts: LOL!"

Spoiler

Yes, she really did say that.

During Thursday’s broadcast of “Good Morning America,” co-anchor Robin Roberts let everyone know what she thought of Omarosa Manigault’s White House exit, delivering a swift retort that was retweeted ’round the Internet with glee.

While wrapping up GMA co-host Michael Strahan’s one-on-one with Manigault, during which the former White House aide repeatedly plugged the “story” she had to tell, Roberts appeared unenthused.

“She said she has a story to tell. I’m sure she’ll be selling that story,” said Roberts, before adding in a seemingly exasperated tone, “Bye, Felicia.”

For those without an urban dictionary, “Bye, Felicia” — a line from the 1995 comedy “Friday” and 2015’s N.W.A. biopic “Straight Outta Compton” — has become the de rigueur dis of Mean Girls the world over. It’s a way to dismiss someone (“bye”) while also disregarding them (everyone’s a “Felicia”).

Roberts delivered the line — practically as a dramatic aside — and then quickly moved on, spending less than 30 seconds on Manigault. But the Internet doesn’t miss stuff like this: Online reactions and subsequent headlines came flooding in, all cheering Roberts on.

... < great tweets >

 

[Cartmann99]

1 hour ago, Howl said:

Um, Pastor and Lady Newman?  Did she just give herself a title, or is this a thing?

You know how the pastor or minister's wife is referred to in some places as the First Lady of XYZ Church? I think it probably evolved from that. If she ever gets an honorary Doctorate, she'll be like Gorka is about demanding that people use her title. 

32 minutes ago, JMarie said:

Those Diamond and Silk ladies have a bunch of stuff available for purchase on their website, including a song which nobody will EVER want to download.

That is just downright sad. 

50 minutes ago, onekidanddone said:

Has she been Knighted by the Queen of England or by Trump?

Knighted by Trump sounds like the worst porn ever!

[GreyhoundFan]

From the NYT op-ed: "What Omarosa Did Best: Get Fired"

Spoiler

We don’t know what exactly Omarosa Manigault Newman did at the White House, but we do know the number one skill she brought to the table — being fired.

Donald Trump has now axed her four times: on “The Apprentice” in 2004, on “The Celebrity Apprentice” in 2011 and 2013 and on Tuesday evening. She is really, really good at getting canned. Maybe her true purpose was to remind America of the time when Mr. Trump was popular because he fired people like her, including her.

The Trump administration clearly looked at Doug Jones’s victory in Alabama on Tuesday and decided to reach out to black female voters by firing one. This is consistent with Mr. Trump’s previous attempts to bond with black voters by not allowing them to live in his apartment buildings, coming up with new ways to suppress the black vote, and threatening to send the National Guard to the South Side of Chicago.

In fact, Mr. Trump is probably sitting around right now drinking Diet Coke, watching TV, and dreaming up a plan to make Jeff Sessions hold every black voter’s hand in the voting booth while whispering sweet nothings about the Ku Klux Klan.

When Steve Bannon got fired, people cheered. When Anthony Scaramucci got fired, people laughed, because most of us have had bouts of flu that lasted longer than he did. But now the Trump administration is giving me a chance to relax during the stressful holiday season by firing someone I can feel neutral about.

Ms. Newman’s official title was director of communications for the White House Office of Public Liaison, but she was better known by a title that reflected the breadth and depth of her job responsibilities: director of nothing. Her firing puts the White House in a real jam. Who in the administration is going to do nothing now?

Traditionally the position of director of nothing in a presidential administration falls to the vice president, whose main responsibility is standing around waiting for the president to die, but Mike Pence left an N.F.L. football game a couple of months ago, so his resume’s too full. Given that Ms. Newman made the maximum White House staffer salary of $179,700 a year, it’s clear that director of nothing is too important a position to go unfilled.

Ms. Newman was theoretically supposed to do African-American outreach. Without her there, no one will do nothing to reach out to black people, which is a huge loss for everyone who was dedicated to Ms. Newman’s particular style of ignoring African-Americans.

Ben Carson ignores black people, but he doesn’t do it with the same level of intrigue. Now Mr. Trump’s going to have to celebrate Black History Month by issuing a few misspelled tweets and falling asleep in the middle of everything Ben Carson whispers without Ms. Newman there to do nothing next to the two of them.

Even though Ms. Newman didn’t do anything during her time in the White House, it would still feel weird if she didn’t write a book about it. Can’t wait for her upcoming memoir “What I Did in the White House,” which reviewers will call “a riveting collection of blank pages.”

Until then, we can have a good time imagining the blank goodbye cards the other White House staffers probably sent her after melting down in frustration that Hallmark doesn’t have cards that say “why are you here.”

I love the characterization of the inevitable Omarosa memoir as being "a riveting collection of blank pages."