Unhinged: An Insider's Account of the Trump White House

by Omarosa Manigault Newman

It was highly unusual to be called to the Situation Room in the West Wing—where former president Barack Obama plotted the strategy to kill Osama bin Laden; where President Donald Trump planned the attack on Syria to retaliate for their use of chemical weapons; where every president since John F. Kennedy had top-secret conversations with world leaders. Why didn’t Kelly want to meet in his office?

“There are serious integrity violations,” he said. Why was he being so vague? What violations? “The staff works for me, not the president. So after your departure, I’ll inform him. With that, I’ll let you go.” What is he talking about? Where is this coming from? Quickly, I connected the dots. This had to be about the N-word tape.

*Sips tea*

So which is it? Did I resign or was I fired? Had I exploited my walk-in privileges and spent

misogynist. My certainty about the N-word tape and his frequent uses of that word were the top of a high mountain of truly appalling things I’d experienced with him, during the last two years in particular. It had finally sunk in that the person I thought I’d known so well for so long was actually a racist.

I’ve been cast as the villain since my first day on television, and I nurtured that persona because it worked for my Hollywood career. That was fine for a reality TV star. But people didn’t want to see a reality star in the White House—I mean, other than Trump himself. It’s time to tell my story. It’s a good one. No doubt, you’ve come here with prejudice about who you think I am. But all I’m asking is that you hear me out. Part One The Apprentice Years

“I am somebody, I may be poor, but I am somebody! I may be on welfare, but I am somebody! I must be, because I am God’s child! I must be respected and protected! I am beautiful and black and I am somebody!”

luxury golf courses; and as a former beauty queen,

I hit the jackpot with The Apprentice. Trump and I both did. Our connection to the show, and to each other, was sealed.

The longer you live in Trumpworld, the more normal things like a work party at the Playboy Mansion seem to you. The Apprentice events were always populated with celebrities and models and his family. It wasn’t so far a leap to include nude models and porn stars. I made the rounds, skirting the grotto because God knows what went on in there, and talked to anyone who wasn’t in a thong.

Yet you still worked for him.

During boardroom outtakes, Donald talked about Obama often. He hated him. He never explained why, but now I believe it was because Obama was black.

When people try to understand the dynamic between Donald and me, it begins with shared triumph. Donald likes winners. He likes people who make him money and get him attention and headlines. I did all that for him and for the show.

“I’m still single,” I said, not flinching at his asking about my sex life. It was normal for him, and therefore normal for our conversation. “Mr. Trump, I’m getting an overwhelming response of people wanting to help you. It’d be great to do more outreach.”

He’d rather have a pretty woman with no experience around than a qualified, less-attractive woman. Through our work

Seventy percent of all women say that they have an unfavorable opinion of him. And, look, there are those who say if you attack someone else’s wife, it is petty, it is rude, it is undignified. . . . Women out there are telling pollsters they don’t appreciate a leader who is—has to get the last word all the time or uses certain words. . . . Do you think he wants to talk about health care, education, taxes, destroying ISIS, or you want talk about wives? So let’s be honest who created this mess.”

It was theorized in the press that, since Trump had never worked in government before, he’d rely on Obama for guidance during the transition and beyond.

Will we survive Trump? Will the presidency ever be the same? Is our democracy safe? The answer is yes! We’ve survived wars,