Omarosa Manigault Newman has been trading insults and accusations with Donald Trump over the past week, as she makes the circuit of television shows to promote Unhinged, a tell-all book about her year working in his dysfunctional White House.
On Sunday, the fired former White House aide upped the ante, telling MSNBC — in perhaps her most explosive allegation yet — that Trump “wants to start a race war” in the United States.
On the campaign trail, Trump sometimes appealed to African American and Hispanic voters to consider ditching Democrats — who black Americans often support at the ballot box at rates of 90 percent rate and even higher.
The Republican nominee urged people of color to give him a try, telling them on the stump: “What do you have to lose?”
With that refrain in mind that Manigault Newman told host Reverend Al Sharpton, “With this White House, we have a lot to lose.”
“Clearly, we have to lose a voice, an advocate, someone who understands the issues and knows how to reach out to the community. We have a lot to lose. In fact, we’re losing right now because Donald Trump is disingenuous about his engagement. I believe he wants to start a race war in this country,” she said.
Her remarks came just days after the president, in a new low, referred to his former The Apprentice co-star as “a dog.” Omarosa appeared on television last week saying that she could confirm a longtime rumor that tapes exist from Trump’s time on The Apprentice in which he can be heard using the N-word.
The president lashed out at her on Twitter a short time later, calling her a “dog” and a “crazed, lying lowlife.”
Manigault Newman on Sunday defended her decision to go to work for Trump in the White House. “It’s very important to have somebody at the table and not allow them to make decisions about us without us,” she explained.
“My intent was to make sure that I was a voice advocating for education, advocating for justice reform, civil rights. There’s so many things happening in this administration while they were trying to dismantle — one by one — every accomplishment that President Barack Obama did. I wanted to make sure I was in there to preserve the things that he worked for so that we can advance,” she told Sharpton.
The minister and television host also has a long history with Trump, from years interacting with him when Sharpton was a New York community activist and Trump, a Manhattan real estate developer.
“Unfortunately, I think you’ve known Donald Trump longer than I have. He has a very destructive spirit,” Omarosa told Sharpton. “What I saw within those first 100 days disturbed me greatly and that’s why I wanted to write about it in Unhinged.”