Since President Trump assumed office, there has been a continual list of scandal, disruptions, and White House turmoil that would seem more fit for reality television than an office of government.
In another scandal, Omarosa Manigault, a former actress on The Apprentice show with Donald Trump during his reality television days, secretly recorded private conversations inside the White House before she was fired and then played them for the public to hear, shortly thereafter which she announced the release of a book about her experiences working for the White House under Trump as she is potentially facing legal charges:
Omarosa Manigault-Newman drew a new wave of condemnation from President Trump’s inner circle on Monday after the release of a secretly taped phone call with the president — compounding the backlash and security concerns raised by her recording of Chief of Staff John Kelly in the Situation Room.
“Donald Trump made her,” Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani told “Fox & Friends” on Monday. “What kind of ingratitude is this?”
The recording was released on NBC’s “Today” Monday morning, purporting to capture a conversation between Manigault-Newman and Trump after she was fired by Kelly in December.
“Omarosa what’s going on? I just saw in the news that you’re thinking about leaving. What happened?” Trump asks on the recording.
“General Kelly came to me and said that you guys wanted me to leave,” Omarosa responds.’
“No. Nobody ever told me about it,” Trump replies.
“Wow,” Omarosa says.
“You know, they run a big operation, but I didn’t know it,” Trump is recorded saying. “… God dammit. I don’t love you leaving at all.”
Reacting to the tape, White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley described the frenzy as the work of a “disgruntled” and “self-serving” former official.
“The thought of doing something like that to a fellow employee, not to mention the leader of the free world, is completely disgraceful,” he told “Fox & Friends.”
Over the weekend, Manigault-Newman released a different recording—of Kelly notifying her of her firing. Manigault-Newman said Sunday that Kelly was “threatening” her in the White House.
In the recording, Kelly seeks Manigault-Newman’s “friendly departure” from the administration without any “difficulty in the future relative to your reputation.” According to the tape, Kelly says things could get “ugly” for her, and that she would be “open to some legal action” for conduct that would merit a court martial if she were in the military.
Manigault-Newman described that comment as a “very obvious…threat” on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. She said she had recorded the conversation because otherwise no one would believe her.
“We’ve got to talk to you about leaving the White House,” Kelly apparently says in the tape. “It’s come to my attention over the last few months that there’s been some pretty, in my opinion, significant integrity issues related to you and the use of government vehicles and some other issues.”
When she asks whether the president was aware of her pending termination, Kelly, on the audio recording, purportedly tells her that “this is a non-negotiable discussion” and that her firing was related to “pretty serious integrity violations.”
When asked about Manigault-Newman’s secretly recorded conversations with both the chief of staff and the president, Giuliani said the former aide was in violation of White House rules.
“She’s certainly violating national security regulations,” Giuliani said Monday.
Giuliani also denied that White House officials pressured or attacked her, saying if anyone wanted to hurt her, they could have leaked derogatory information to the media, like, “Everybody in the White House thinks she’s a backstabber.”
Upon release of the first conversation with Kelly on Sunday, White House officials fired back immediately saying that Manigault-Newman’s termination for alleged ethical violations was handled appropriately and charged that she would have flagrantly violated security protocols by taping Kelly in the highly secured room in the basement of the West Wing.
“The very idea a staff member would sneak a recording device into the White House Situation Room, shows a blatant disregard for our national security—and then to brag about it on national television further proves the lack of character and integrity of this disgruntled former White House employee,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement on Sunday evening.
In January, shortly after Manigault-Newman’s firing, the White House announced a new policy banning staff and guests in the West Wing from using personal cellphones, citing concerns about the “security and integrity” of White House “security systems.”
Manigault-Newman, who campaigned for Trump before taking the job as director of communications for the White House Office of Public Liaison, left the White House in December 2017. (source)
While I have criticized President Trump before, this time I am NOT going to criticize him or his policies. Instead, I would like to point out two patterns of behavior taking place.
First, is that the Trump White House, as mentioned earlier, is functioning like a reality television show. What are reality television shows comprised of? Scandal, intrigue, fighting, public spats, fits of rage, crying, angry women, arrogant men, and general silliness that eventually resolves itself in the end. It is known that reality television is overwhelmingly staged, meant to convey the impression of reality without it actually being reality.
I do not wish to understate the gravity of some of the accusations being leveled concerning the Trump White House staff. However, many of these “controversies” are internal disputes that could and in normal circumstances, would be resolved privately or in a way with minimal public attention. Instead, they are being played before the world to see, all to cries of “fake news”.
This is not how a government functions. This is how a reality television show works, or when a government wants itself to be portrayed in a certain way.
Second, is that President Trump has been, without question, the greatest force yet in pushing for the conditions to bring a third world war.
This is not an accusation against Trump as opposed to other presidents, because other presidents before him- Obama, Bush II, Clinton, Bush I, and Reagan alike and before- all served a role in preparing the geopolitical conditions to usher in another potential conflict in the future. However, we can say that under his administration, Trump:
-Declared that China, Russia, and the E.U. are foes of the USA (source)
-Allowed Turkey to invade Syria and Iraq (source)
-Pushed and is pushing for Germany to revive her military (source)
-Established tarriffs to promote U.S. isolationism and protectionism (source)
-Moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem in a move to trigger regional destabilization (source)
-Promoted and is promoting war against Iran (source)
-Backed Saudi Arabia’s war against Yemen in which thousands have died (source)
-Broke his major campaign promise and attacked Syria (source)
-Sold weapons to Saudi Arabia (source)
-Promoted restrictions on guns for legal gun owners (source)
This list could go on with more items. What must be understood is that under Trump, while there has been certain notable benefits which have taken place, the general orientation of the society and development has not changed at all. In fact, it seems to have sped up in comparison with previous administrations. Trump, for what reforms he has done have been very little, and overall has shown himself to be even potentially more controlled than previous presidents by his actions.
This is the real scandal. But instead of discussing this, the public is being fed by both the left and the right a narrative about a loud-mouth and foul-dispositioned television actress named Omarosa and her rampages about Trump.
Did it occur that she had to have planned to write that book months before this debacle with the tape?
Did it occur that this entire event may have been set up with the knowledge of Trump himself to boost his image while keeping the public distracted?
There are many questions, and fewer answers.
Stop watching the reality TV show and start paying attention to the corporations, individuals, and policies being implemented, because they are driving the world to war that this time the US may not be able to avoid even with her geographic isolation from the majority of the world.