Omarosa Manigault Newman keeps making news as various sections of her version of events from inside the Trump White House filter out into the public sphere. Omarosa continues to do what she’s always done best: promote herself as she burns down anything that looks like a bridge around her. This time it’s her new memoir about her time in the White House, Unhinged. All of the stories are believable and ludicrous and Omarosa’s “versions” of these stories are equally ridiculous. Did Trump float the idea of swearing on The Art of the Deal instead of the Bible for his inauguration? Is Trump insensitive to people not white and wealthy? It’s hard to know whether Omarosa’s stories are 90 percent true or 92 percent true. What is known is that Trump is freaking out, calling Omarosa a “dog,” while trying to silence her through the courts.
The newest story to come out details DeVos’s response to getting the cold shoulder in May of 2017, as she was roundly booed and students turned their backs on her during the ill-advised commencement speech she gave at Bethune-Cookman University. Speaking at one of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) was as tone deaf as anything else this administration’s done and, according to Omarosa, DeVos was as daft (and condescendingly racist) as you might imagine. She reportedly told Omarosa that she had done “great!” and that the students protesting didn’t “get it. They don’t have the capacity to understand what we’re trying to accomplish.”
Omarosa claims that she confronted DeVos about this which may or may not have happened; and subsequently Omarosa bemoaned DeVos’s ignorance of the nature of HBCUs, to the Donald himself.
When Manigault-Newman returned to the White House and complained about DeVos to Trump, she claims the president shook his head in disgust and implied he’d fire her soon: “She is Ditzy Devos, what do you expect? In a very short period of time, I will get rid of her. Believe me, believe me.”
It’s easy to believe that someone as dumb as Betsy DeVos—and make no mistake, she is not a bright person—would shield her privilege and stupidity by projecting onto people of color the same paternalistic condescension of racism that slaveholders used to argue against abolition. The response to DeVos from students of all ages, backgrounds, and institutions has been resoundingly negative. Her response has been the same as the rest of the Trump White House, playing a victim while crying white tears and suppressing dissent.
