The last time Omarosa Manigault was a guest on The View, in 2004, she was there as a contestant on the very first season of a new reality show called The Apprentice. 13 years later, she returned to the show on Friday as a member of the communications and public engagement staff under President Donald Trump.
It’s been a long journey for Omarosa, as she prefers to be called, starting as a scheduler for Vice President Al Gore in the Clinton White House and most recently serving as director of African-American engagement for the Trump campaign. As The View co-host Sunny Hostin pointed out on Friday, 94% of black women voted for Hillary Clinton. Does she think Trump is just “using” her for “optics” or does he “really care” about the African-American community?
Omarosa defended her boss by saying he “doubled” the vote percentage Mitt Romney had with African-American voters overall, claiming Trump got 13%. Yet that may be another “alternative fact.” According to Pew Research, Trump got 8% of the black vote compared to 6% for Romney. The 13% number appears to apply only to black men.
ADVERTISEMENT
Unfortunately, the hosts of The View did not have these correct statistics handy. On the other part of the question, Omarosa said, “No one uses me.” Over the next several minutes, she monologued about her bonafides and seems to get annoyed each time one of the hosts tried to jump in with a question.
Speaking to Joy Behar, Omarosa said, “I know it’s gotta be really hard after the last year and a half, of all the things that you said about Donald to see him sitting in the Oval Office”—“It is hard, it kills me,” Behar chimed in—“but here’s the thing. You all know him as the president, I know him as a friend.”
When Omarosa accused Behar of not giving Trump a “chance,” the host shot back that she’s waiting for him to “apologize—to veterans, to John McCain, to the handicapped, the disabled. That’s what I’m waiting for!”
Even “people who disagree” with Trump, Omarosa said, “have to agree that this first week has probably been one of the most productive weeks of any administration.” On that point, The View’s guest host for the day, former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson, pushed back.
“It has, but it seems that sometimes he gets a little off track as well,” Carlson said, citing Trump’s obsession with the size of the crowd at his inauguration and decision to investigate a phantom voter fraud problem. “Is this a distraction for President Trump?” she wanted to know.
Omarosa defended Trump by saying he’s “not a politician,” has “never held office,” and is still learning how to transition from the private to the public sector. “I think in the first five days he’s done a spectacular job or dealing with the most important, high pressure job in the world.”
Without specifically addressing those “distractions,” she simply said she believes Trump will be “incredible” for the country and accused “the media” of continuing to talk about “those things.” To which a frustrated Behar shot back, “He continues to talk about it!”
“We’re not going to look in the past, we’re going to look forward and put this country first,” Omarosa said later in the interview. “And that’s what’s not been happening in the last eight years.” If that’s the case, someone might want to tell the new president to stop looking in his rearview mirror.
At the end of the segment, Omarosa deflected questions from Behar about Trump’s tax returns by pointing to her fiancé, who was seated in the audience. And she just couldn’t help but get in one last cruel dig.
“He brings me such joy,” she said, turning to Behar, “and I hope that you, one day, can find that kind of joy, Joy, in your life.”
As the crowd groaned, Behar said, “Oh, please.” Quoting former First Lady Michelle Obama, her co-host Hostin added, “When they go low, we go high.”
“And I feel like I could get high right now,” Behar joked.
