The Daily Gamecock

Opinion: I was wrong about Omarosa

Omarosa during the daily press briefing in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Jan. 24, 2017 in Washington, D.C. . (Cheriss May/NurPhoto/Sipa USA/TNS)
Omarosa during the daily press briefing in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Jan. 24, 2017 in Washington, D.C. . (Cheriss May/NurPhoto/Sipa USA/TNS)

I know one of the greatest appeals of reading the Daily Gamecock opinion section is to surround oneself with the brightest minds of our generation, who are never wrong nor contradict themselves. However, I am writing this to humbly express the revelation that I was wrong about Omarosa Manigault Newman. 

I penned an article last semester for the Opinion section titled “Ignore Omarosa's Tall Tales,” which covered the reality star’s departure from the White House last December and her description of stories from that period to the press. The entire point of that piece was to illustrate my opinion that Omarosa was merely feeding the media whatever they wanted to hear in order to reclaim some shred of credibility and boost ratings on the then-new season of Big Brother. 

However, it came to light over the past few months that Omarosa was in the possession of several compromising tapes about members of Trump’s cabinet and a few of his aides. One of these tapes outlined a $15,000 monthly salary for her silence regarding her time at the White House by Trump’s daughter-in-law, which raised further ethical questions for the current administration.

Another tape consisted of a phone call between Manigault Newman and Trump, and created the impression that Trump never in fact ordered her to be fired and was surprised to hear her go. This stunning piece of evidence suggests either Trump is being puppeted by the likes of John Kelly, or he is merely lying. The president responded to these tapes and others with a vitriolic tweet that called Manigault Newman a “dog,” among other names. 

Now, just because I was wrong about this aspect of Omarosa Manigault Newman does not mean I don’t stand by anything else in the original article. I am still convinced that her time in the White House was an utter sham and waste of tax payer money. Her handling of even basic tasks was subpar at best, and betrays a position given solely out of favoritism and cronyism. Bottom line, wherever Omarosa lands, she will always be serving her interests first. The tapes, mind you, were only released to coincide with the release of her new book about her time at the White House.

In case it wasn’t obvious, I am no fan of Omarosa. However, I am a bigger fan of how she has turned against the current administration and how her tapes are putting pressure on the president. She is my favorite anti-hero in this season of the reality show that is the United States.


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