Once again, the president is talking about tapes.

Not the “pee tape.” Not the “Access Hollywood” tape. Not the tape of Donald Trump recorded by his former lawyer Michael Cohen.

The new tapes have entered the discussion thanks to the former White House adviser and reality-television personality Omarosa Manigault Newman, who is releasing recordings of White House officials. So far, they include one of her firing by Mr. Trump’s chief of staff, John Kelly, and one of a telephone conversation with the president himself. She’s also promised the existence of yet another tape: a recording of Mr. Trump using a particular racial slur against black Americans on the set of “The Apprentice.”

Rumors of such a tape surfaced during the 2016 election, but nothing materialized. And details of Ms. Manigault Newman’s account are fuzzy: She told NPR that she heard the recording herself, but wrote in her book that she was only told of its existence by third parties. (She claims there is no contradiction.) Nevertheless, the president was rattled enough to insist on Twitter that “there are NO TAPES,” while Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said she couldn’t “guarantee” that no such recording existed.

At this point, the question is not only whether such a tape exists but, if it exists, whether it will matter. After all, Mr. Trump survived the “Access Hollywood” tape. His distaste for the black Americans he supposedly serves is not only obvious but, for some of his most committed supporters, part of his appeal. So why would this be the tipping point?