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There are many things about Omarosa Manigault that are befuddling. Like, say, why she enters every interview as if she’s Sensational Queen Sherri and everyone else is Miss Elizabeth or Sweet Sapphire.


Indeed, very few ordained ministers maneuver like Omarosa, who seemingly resides in a constant state of “Who the fuck want war?”



The fact that Jesus hasn’t tapped her on the shoulder and enjoined her to partake in a tall glass of chill still confuses me, but other matters pertaining to her are much more clear. Like, when it comes to her work with the Colby-Jack Führer, it’s a no-brainer: She’s an opportunist. Of course, she is loyal to the man who gave her the platform to become famous, but for all the criticism lodged at her, she is many things, though fool has never been one of them. That’s why I’ve found the articles centered on black Republicans’ frustration with her wonderfully comical. The latest comes from the Washington Post with the article, “Omarosa Manigault Is in Trump’s White House Because of Her Loyalty. But What Is She Doing There?”




The same thing as everyone else, Pinky: not a damn thing.



Vanessa Williams (one assumes not the one who had the legendary performance on The Arsenio Hall Show) writes:

Some African American political insiders already have concluded that she is ineffective, and she is routinely derided on social media as simply providing cover for a president deeply unpopular with African Americans. Some black Republicans were particularly critical of the Trump administration’s handling of the HBCU initiative, which included a White House meeting with the school officials that some viewed as little more than a photo op for the president. “She raised expectations too high, and now it’s turned into a negative,” said Raynard Jackson, a longtime Republican strategist. “This shows a lack of political understanding. This is Politics 101.”

Do any of the people in the White House know what they’re doing? Between those executive orders, the half-assed shot at dismantling Obamacare and the Twitter-egg prez shooting various conspiracy theories from the hip, Omarosa fits right in.

For months now, there have been multiple stories about Omarosa’s role in the administration—how she is useless or how she angers black Republicans.




Last month, Joy-Ann Reid wrote, “Why Does Everybody Seem to Hate Omarosa Manigault?” for the Daily Beast. In sum, the second verse is same as the first.

Reid notes:

This lifelong black Republican likened bringing in Omarosa to a Democratic president putting ’90s-era anti-affirmative action crusader Ward Connerly in their administration. “He’s got a black Democrat who hasn’t produced a single [Congressional Black Caucus] member to support any nominee that has been appointed,” this person continued. “She hasn’t produced anybody on the Democratic side who is willing to be supportive of anything that Trump has done. So what is her role?” They added: “She has no mission or goal other than to make Omarosa the head sister in charge.”


First off, Omarosa isn’t a magician, and even if she were, there’s no spell in the world that would spare a black Democrat from the wrath of Rep. Maxine Waters, who, like the legendary Kimberly Jones, has no time for fake ones. As far as “the head sister in charge” goes: 1) I’m offended a black Republican would talk like this; 2) aren’t most of the people in the White House operating from self-interest?

Ivanka Trump is trying to do her spin of Hillary Clinton’s guide to using her time as first lady to launch a future political career. Her husband, Jared Kushner, is operating both like a fake-ass Karl Rove and a shadow secretary of state. Grand Wizard Steve Bannon has never made it a secret that he sees 45 as a vessel to help promote his agenda.


Omarosa isn’t all that different, though Reid does pinpoint the real grievance:

The real source of consternation among her detractors is what they view as her role as gatekeeper; slamming the White House doors on them. Many black GOPers opposed Trump during the Republican primaries, and some continued to do so right through Election Day. But they say that while some white “never Trumpers” and Trump critics have been forgiven, and some have even been rewarded—Kellyanne Conway used to slam Trump on TV on a regular basis when she was a Ted Cruz supporter, and is now counselor to the president—most black Republicans with policy and political histories dating back to the first Bush administration have been cut out. And they laid the blame at Omarosa’s designer shoe-clad feet.


BuzzFeed’s Darren Sands has offered similar findings in his reporting in two separate pieces for Buzzfeed.

In “Omarosa Angers Black Republicans With Invite-Only Meeting,” Sands writes:



“The root issue is black Republicans have no leverage in the party outside of personal relationships,” Charles Badger, a former Jeb Bush campaign staffer with ties to prominent black Republicans, who supported Hillary Clinton during the campaign, said in an email to BuzzFeed News. “It’s because everyone knows black Republicans aren’t representative of most black folks. So the assumption—often true, but sometimes not—is that there’s not the depth of relationships there. So if you want to talk to black folks, are you going to go to black Republicans or through the NAACP, Urban League, black Greek letter organizations, clergy, etc., groups with wider reach?”


In other words, as dense as the man who sits in the Oval Office is, even he isn’t dumb enough to believe that black Republicans have any real sway. Granted, it’s hard to envision 45 having a sincere concern about the plight of black people based on his longtime history of racism, but nonetheless, black Republicans don’t have much in the way of capital, not even among actual Republicans.



While I have written critically of Omarosa aligning herself with a bigoted campaign, she did not do so with naivete. She is keenly aware of the tokenism at hand, but she did so for the sake of a lofty White House title—director of communications for the Office of Public Liaison—and all that comes with it. Omarosa would never have gotten this in a Clinton White House, so she got on the team that could afford her what used to come across as the implausible. Many of us would never sacrifice our morals in this manner, but at the very least, Omarosa knows exactly what’s going on.


So when I read black conservatives blasting her, again, it reads comically. The problem isn’t her; the GOP hasn’t taken black people seriously for decades. For these black conservatives to pretend otherwise is silly.



The party of voter suppression wants to help black folks out? When do they do any type of outreach with even the most socially conservative sects of our community? Sure, they champion Tim Scott when convenient, but he’s the same person who supported Jeff Sessions.




In “Why Is President Trump’s Only Senior Black Staffer a Democrat?” Raynard Jackson goes as far back as Richard Nixon (insert laugh track) to tout the GOP’s black outreach. The man who employed the Southern strategy and accelerated mass incarceration is the best template? Even if you want to snuggle next to some of Nixon’s other accomplishments, that was decades ago. What has your party done for y’all lately, beloveds?



Have your small government views all you want, but if you are a black person in a party that oozes outright racism constantly and consistently for decades, who are you to critique Omarosa’s usefulness? If we’re out here doling out unsolicited advice, one imagines that being a conservative nuisance like West Virginia Senator and barely Democrat Joe Manchin might get you further along in achieving your goals than pretending that 45, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan or Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell care. Actually, never mind: Suffer under your self-created burdens.




If anything, Omarosa knows exactly what the scam is and is aligning with it for a come-up. You know, just like her mentor Habanero Hitler, who used to be a Democrat but only fell into right side of thinking for careerist goals. Those two are one and the same. They’re both self-serving, but not completely deluded.

The game is the game. Omarosa may have sold out, but she never bought into the mythology that the GOP in its current state cares about “the blacks.” What a pity others continue to look away from the obvious.

