The Trump era has been described as the first "post-truth" presidency, a time when facts have increasingly little influence on political debate and all that really matters is spectacle. Trump foreshadowed this in his ghost-written book The Art of The Deal, in which he argued the key to successful public relations was to use bravado and exaggeration (which he described as "truthful hyperbole") to play to people's fantasies. Manigault Newman is now using Trump's own tactics against him, and doing so masterfully. Telegenic, articulate and powered by an undisguised desire for revenge, she knows where her former mentor's pressure points are and is happy to stick her thumb into them. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video A striking feature of Trump's presidency is that - despite a high turnover of staff - most of those who have left the White House have either remained loyal to him or have kept silent about their time there. Former press secretary Sean Spicer remains an acolyte despite being fired, as does ex-chief strategist Steve Bannon. Former chief of staff Reince Priebus, secretary of state Rex Tillerson and national security adviser H.R. McMaster have said next to nothing about their time in the White House following acrimonious exits. Manigault Newman is the first former Trump loyalist to emerge as a full-blown critic of the President, having turned down an offer of a $US15,000 ($20,700) per month salary conditional on her agreeing not to disparage him.

Some of the book's titbits are trivial, such as the (disputed) claim that Trump secured a tanning bed for the White House. At another point Manigault Newman describes the famously vain Trump as "clearly obese" and says the "world has yet to learn about the extent of his Diet Coke habit". Trump, she says, drinks at least eight cans a day. Other vignettes are simply bizarre, such as when she says she saw Trump chewing and swallowing paper to dispose of a sensitive document. Then there is the deliciously catty assertion that Trump refers to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos as "Ditzy DeVos" when she leaves the room. Omarosa Manigault smiles at reporters as she walks through the lobby of Trump Tower in New York. Credit:AP The most explosive claim in the book is that tapes exist of Trump using the n-word to describe African-Americans. Manigault Newman herself says she never heard the tapes and one of the people she claims did hear Trump use the slur - Republican pollster Frank Luntz - flatly denies it. Manigault Newman has also reportedly claimed in conversations to have heard the tapes herself, casting more doubt on her credibility. A different president would have ignored such a book, refusing to give Manigault Newman the publicity she craves.

But not Trump. After attacking her on Monday as "wacky" and "vicious but not smart", Trump went further a day later by tweeting: "When you give a crazed, crying lowlife a break, and give her a job at the White House, I guess it just didn’t work out. Good work by General Kelly for quickly firing that dog." In less controversial times: Omarosa appeared on The Apprentice in 2004. This instantly sparked debate on whether it was sexist or racist or both to call an African-American woman a dog, and propelled Manigault Newman into another news cycle. In an interview with MSNBC on Tuesday afternoon, local time, Manigault Newman responded by saying that Trump had advance knowledge that Russians had hacked the Clinton campaign's email servers during the 2016 election campaign. She has also been drip-feeding conversations to the media she secretly recorded in the White House, including inside the high-security Situation Room.