In a segment Tuesday morning, CNN contributor Jeffrey Toobin said President Trump is racist for calling disgruntled ex-White House employee Omarosa Manigault Newman a “low life” and a “dog.”
Omarosa, who was fired from the White House last year for reportedly abusing car service privileges, among other things, has been leveraging what she says are audio recordings of conversations she had with White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and the president himself to get airtime and promote her “tell-all book” about her brief tenure at the White House.
Some fear that Omarosa may have used a pen with an attached recording device to record snippets of audio in secure White House locations, including the situation room, that prohibit the use of any recording devices or cell phones in those locations. For several days, Trump has been tweeting disparaging things about his former employee to discredit her claims.
President Trump tweeted Thursday: “Good work by General Kelly for quickly firing that dog!” in reference to Omarosa.
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 14, 2018
In response, CNN contributors and guests had a meltdown and claimed that Trump was a racist for calling her a dog — an insult he’s used for many people of all different skin colors.
“Let’s not also forget about Omarosa, she’s an African-American woman,” Toobin said. “Who does the president attack on Twitter constantly? African Americans.”
"Who does the President attack on Twitter constantly? … It's always black people … The entire basis for Donald Trump's political career is his racist attack on Barack Obama … The tweet today calling Omarosa a 'dog' is just part of that story" —@JeffreyToobin pic.twitter.com/o4OaGKo3M0
— CNN This Morning with Kasie Hunt (@CNNThisMorning) August 14, 2018
“Whether it’s the UCLA basketball team, whether it’s the NFL football players, whether it’s our colleague Don Lemon, LeBron James, it’s always black people that he’s attacking,” he continued. “Not exclusively, but to a disproportionate extent, he’s attacking black people.”
“The tweet today, calling Omarosa today, is part of that,” he said.
Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Florida) insisted that Trump’s tweet was racist as well.
“The president of the United States is calling a woman of color a dog,” she said. “How dare he! How dare he call anyone a dog!”
She then went on to take a swipe at the president with this odd insult: “He has a nickname for everyone, and his nickname is ‘Don In The First Grade Reader.'”
Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson slams President Trump for calling Omarosa Manigault Newman a "dog" in a tweet: "How dare he? How dare he call anyone a dog?" https://t.co/ARPWobX6hu pic.twitter.com/WDR6w4z1EA
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) August 14, 2018
Trump has called numerous people a dog or said they had been fired like a dog, including David Gregory, Steve Bannon, Erick Erickson, Rick Tyler, Glenn Beck, Chuck Todd, and Bill Maher.
.@DavidGregory got thrown off of TV by NBC, fired like a dog! Now he is on @CNN being nasty to me. Not nice!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 30, 2016
.@EWErickson got fired like a dog from RedState
and now he is the one leading opposition against me.— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2016
I hear that sleepy eyes @chucktodd will be fired like a dog from ratings starved Meet The Press? I can't imagine what is taking so long!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 13, 2015
Does anyone remember this @BillMaher clip when he got fired from ABC- in fact, fired like a dog! http://t.co/Xekz6GTm
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2013
Wow was Ted Cruz disloyal to his very capable director of communication. He used him as a scape goat-fired like a dog! Ted panicked.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 23, 2016
He has also called Kristen Stewart a dog for reportedly cheating on her then-boyfriend and costar Rob Patterson, as well as Mitt Romney, George Will, David Axelrod, and Mac Miller, all of whom are, in fact, white. You can read a more complete list of people Trump has called a dog on Twitter here and here.