If I could ask Omarosa one question.....

[DFW]

A Raw Story quotes her as saying White House people had a hash tag from Trump, namely #TFA, or "Twenty-Fifth Amendment."

But apparently not all the time:

"According to to the former Apprentice star, who was unceremoniously fired by White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, not only did senior staffers use the hashtag in text messages, but that it was used by “family members” when he acted incompetently or erratically. She did not clarify whether she was exchanging those internal White House texts with her own family or members of Trump’s immediate family."

Hold on here. They used it when Trump "acted incompetently or erratically??"

OK, then someone please tell me when they did NOT use it.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Good question, my dear DFW.......

I wish she could answer.

[DFW]

2. Alas, Dear Peggy

Some questions are just destined to remain shrouded in mystery for all eternity.....

[Hortensis]

3. Especially considering who's being asked.

She matters because she was in the WH, even if not in his immediate orbit most of the time, and I would be very surprised if historians weren't still discussing the validity of various statements 300 years from now.

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. I am reading her book, Unhinged.

She correctly states she and trump have a lot in common. One thing is a huge ego. She talks about working for him on the campaign,
and discusses events like campaign leaders coming and going only in terms of how it affected her,( made my job harder,etc) not how it affected the campaign, or even Trump.

She also claims that for 15 years or more, she never noticed his negative personality traits, even the blatant racism.
Her jobs in WH prior to Trump are alluded to in terms that belie the actual duties, and her her being fired twice for what other people have described as abrasive personality problems.

damn little insight or discussion of what we now know were critical events and significant people.

I am left wondering who the title really refers to.

[Hortensis]

5. :) Very interesting. That goes along with my general

idea that there's something wrong with her. With her talents and determination she could be so much more by now.

One bit that's been quoted extensively that is worth examination, though, is the 2016 interview where she claimed:

“Every critic, every detractor, will have to bow down to President Trump,” she said. "It’s everyone who’s ever doubted Donald, who ever disagreed, who ever challenged him. It is the ultimate revenge to become the most powerful man in the universe.”

Manigault, Trump’s director of African-American outreach, made the prediction in an interview for a PBS “Frontline" special on the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner. It has been reported that President Obama’s mocking of Trump over his "birther" stance during the dinner prompted the real estate magnate to run.

Recalling the dinner and watching Trump get “hammered” by Obama, Manigault told PBS she thought, "Oh, Barack Obama is starting something that I don’t know if he’ll be able to finish.”

Of course, she was claiming to think Obama should fear Trump years later, in September 2016 after Trump had become the nominee, something that no one in 2011 believed was remotely possible. But still, it does leave one wondering, did it contain some indication of his thinking back in 2011 or of new thinking in 2016, even if possibly wishful? There's plenty of evidence that Trump never expected to win.

But David Corn on Trump's obsession with revenge:

Mother Jones: ... I wrote about this prior to the election (for all the good it did), noting that one constant in Trump’s life was his profound desire to get even and smite any of his detractors. Often he follows this impulse when a reasonable person might conclude it was self-defeating. As I noted back then: ... Trump seems to live to settle grudges. For him, retaliation is a religion. But don’t take my word for it. Take his. In speeches and public talks Trump gave in the years before he ran for president, he hailed retribution as an essential element of a success. ... At the top of the list was this piece of advice: “Get even with people. If they screw you, screw them back 10 times as hard. I really believe it.”

If she claimed to know how Trump might punish America for failing to admire and support him adequately, I'd want to check it out...

[dixiegrrrrl]

6. So far, we are up to the election victory

She did write that she knew exactly what Trump was feeling/thinking/planning after Obama's remarks back then, and by now we all know what a vengeful petty turn he is. She also said Trump had talked about running back in 2000, 2004, 2008 etc.

She is, at this juncture in the book, post election day, not mentioning anything unusual about his win. At same time, it is clear at that point, her ego was all wrapped up in being part of the "in crowd" on the way to a WH job.

[Hortensis]

7. Easy to believe he was ranting and raging after that

dinner, and we do know from other sources that he considered running for years.

"In" with all those aspiring-to-the-D-team opportunists. Don't suppose she mentioned all the people who turned down jobs in this admin, leaving a vacuum for them. Fire and Fury, with its own credibility problems, said those in the campaign all had made other plans for what they'd be doing after November 8, including Trump with Ailes and his Trump network.

I guess a question is how capable she seems to be of objectively and accurately evaluating what she saw, without too much clueless warp and distortion, aside from how she chooses to portray it now. We'll be seeing interviewers trying to pull layers off this onion for years to come.

Which reminds me, Woodward's book comes out tomorrow. I was going to just listen to the talk and wait for it to hit the flea market tables but broke down and bought the Kindle version.

Enjoy.