Omarosa Manigault-Newman has hit the headlines and talk shows recently with (1) a new book about President Donald John Trump and (2) several interesting and intriguing tapes of conversations between her and Trump-and-other White House personal. There are a number of both salacious and controversial features of Omarosa's latest sally into theatrical politics (aka "reality TV") [as well as Trump's tweetstorm response] which are — I believe — quite interesting. However, there are two more important features of this media skirmish which are frequently overlooked — as I will discuss below.
Trump and Omarosa have had a seemingly long standing relationship which began with her appearances on the Apprentice (2004) and subsequently included her starring role in The Ultimate Merger (produced by Trump in 2010) and nearly all of 2017 within the Trump White House. This sometimes uneven relationship, however, unceremoniously ended when she was fired in December 2017.
I would like to propose that the relationship was grounded in the deep, usually unspoken, assumption that race has never been about 'race' — but about power. Donald Trump's personal history has been so deeply tinged by racial bigotry and demagoguery that it is easy to forget even that slaveholders and the worst southern segregationist usually had small pockets of social space where slaves and the descendants of slave could operate with some measure of autonomy. Slaves were, for example, usually free from work on Sunday and frequently attended church. Even Judge Roger Taney, author of the infamous Dred Scott decision, freed 11 of his own slaves when a young man. So, if a dark person with African ancestry could approach Donald John Trump in a non-threatening way, it should not be too surprising (in hindsight at least) that some enterprising person (i.e. Omarosa) might be able to wheedle her way into one of his inner circles.
Omarosa and Donald John are both more ambitious and more cynical than most of us — and in their own individual ways are both more proficient at lying and more inured to dishonesty than more 'normal' human being who are more comfortable with small lies and/or culturally sanctioned hypocrisy. And, in this context, it must be remembered that men such as Donald Trump who self-identify as "white" have always been more threatened by 'black' men than by 'black' women. (Historically, it has been a truism among southern segregated Afroamericans that "the white man and the black women" are the 'most free' southerners (e.g. within patriarchal caucasians and matriarchal afroamericans). I forgo the case of D.J. Trump for the moment. The case of Omarosa Manigault-Newman, however, appears to need some immediate attention. {Several commentators have been quick to announce that they will not 'buy' the new Omarosa book. As several of these 'commentators' make much of their current salaries from their frequent 'informed' opinions on D.J. Trump and his lies, I conclude that they 'have a problem.' […as in "Houston, we have a problem." from the Apollo 13 spacecraft.]}
Historically, slaves and the descendants of slaves (more accurately, usually, descendants of slaves-and-masters) have had to make some very difficult choices between open rebellion, occasional resistance, general accommodation, and/or abject surrender. There is an entire literature on this continual tension within the descendants and partial descendants of slaves. [Historically, these tensions are perhaps best illustrated in the work of William E. Dubois and Booker T. Washington in the late 19th Century or that of Martin Luther King and Malcomb Shabazz ("Malcomb X") in the 1960's.] And, historically, women have — usually, and in many civilizations other than our own— been more accommodating than men in 'adjusting' to slavery and other forms of injustice. [Of course, Harriet Tubman and Joan of Arc are two of many, many counter examples which belie the completeness of any simple generalization such as the above comment. Furthermore, in terms of our own narrative, we need to keep in mind the old adage that 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned…]. Still, overall, I think that is quite fair to say that on numerous occasions that Omarosa Manigault-Newman has been more accommodating to Donald J. Trump than say, Booker T. Washington, who met with Teddy Roosevelt on several occasions. Washington, taking the segregation of his day as a given, worked to educate "the Negro" for 'practical' work at his Tuskegee Institute. As Omarosa has taken this quite 'accommodating' approach towards Trump it is not surprising that a number of black and liberal parties have referred to Omarosa as, in effect, a 'witch' and other epithets — both cruder and more refined — which express their displeasure, disgust, and anger at her sometimes sycophantic and frequently dishonest — and thoroughly ambitious 'accommodation'.
But our story is not over. Omarosa spent several months in getting D.J. Trump to hold a March 2017 White House meeting involving a large number presidents of Historically Black Colleges. While we are all free to debate how important this particular meeting and some of the attendant particulars were within the overall scope of today's racialized politics, we must — I believe — recognize the shard of honor in Omarosa's 'faithfulness' to her actual roots embedded, as it were, within her ambition. And, this gets us to the main point, Donald and Omarosa, soul sibling in their dishonest ambitions would eventually have to part because — as is always the case — their lies to the public-and-to-themselves are-and-were always inconsistent. Whether you hold the Queen or Ace of Spades when you play the race card — neither card can trump the truth. And, now it's out, the slop for the hogs has spilled on the floor — and the would-be king is as unhinged as ever.
And, if you want to bring down our would-be godfather, take heed! If you want to attack Donald John Trump, attack him directly. Don't be distracted by his lies. Ignore them when that is best. Laughter is sometimes unavoidable, but don't gloat. However, politics is not a TV show. TV itself is an important, but often poor reflection of reality. It is ubiquitous, however, and when you use it — don't pussyfoot around. Donald is a demagogue first and a racist second. Omarosa has been driven by reality out of a few of her own lies to herself, but she has more courage than much of the press and much of the democratic opposition in that she knows that untruth is essential and assumed within the Trump narrative. Jesus did not need to respond to all of the charges trumped up by the high priests and various Pharisees of his day. It is not possible for most of us to know when Donald J. Trump is consciously lying, when he is simply fantasizing, and when the inertia of age works its inexorable will. Presumably all of these are factors in his sometimes demonic untruthfulness. Our task, however, is to face those untruths where they meet us in our lives — in our personal lives, in our trump friendly neighbors, in our economics, in the bloated public and private prisons of the disunited United States, and in the children torn from their mothers by the corporate will of the USA. The "Shining City on a Hill" — which has occasionally been an important beacon to others — is collapsing from its own institutionalized greed and pride. Unlike Jor-El of the Planet "Krypton" we do not have a private spacecraft that can save our son, our friends, country, or our world.
We can, however, look at lies in the face with both courage and compassion. Omarosa has had and still has her failings, but nevertheless she has a little more spunk than most of us in seeing how Donald's private demon works its spell.
He/she who has ears to hear, let hem [him or her] hear.
The Book & some background.
Omarosa Manigault-Newman (2018) Unhinged: An Insider's Account of the Trump White House. Barnes and Noble.
The Ultimate Merger
Trump, Omarosa, Trump
Unhinged
