As Omarosa describes in her book, she grew up in the projects in Youngstown, Ohio, her father had been murdered, and her family went on welfare. From there, she won a beauty contest (Miss Youngstown, Ohio), went to a historically black college in Ohio on a sports scholarship, went on to the prestigious Howard University in Washington, D.C., and was working on her PhD when she went to work for Vice President Al Gore, and then into the Clinton White House. From there, when the Democrats were out of power, she applied to the first Apprentice TV series, and became a celebrity. (She had the ultimate poise and experience for that show, with a background including the projects, the African-American experience, a beauty contest winner, M.S. and work on a PhD, and political experience in the Clinton White House.)
Omarosa has known Trump through continual meetings and phone calls since 2004. Omarosa is really smart and incisive. (For example, read her strategy for becoming a celebrity in the Apprentice: "A black person won't win in that first season, but there are other ways to win by playing a certain part.") The Trump organization demands absolute loyalty, and Omarosa tells how, in return, she has benefited a lot from her association with Trump.
In 2015, she wanted to work for Hillary Clinton's campaign and was part of the "Ready for Hillary" PAC. After Hillary decided to ignore the "Ready for Hillary" PAC with strong African-American representation, she then received a personal call from Trump asking her to join his campaign.
Omarosa is basically a liberal trying to help the African-American community (and minorities and women) but working on the inside. With her experience from the projects and growing up lower class, her style is direct and honest, without the occasional silences or euphemisms that you would find among many middle-class writers. (This reminds me of my own father who grew up in a Jewish family on welfare, and who would remind me how people from the projects prefer to speak directly rather than speak around some sensitive subjects.) She reviews well-known incidents for context in an honest way that both left and right would agree to.
The book can be divided into three parts: early years and association with Trump and the Apprentice; working on the Trump campaign; and working in the White House. The middle part is a bit slow, but the first and third parts are fascinating and incisive. There are enough "inside details" to keep one interested, but what is special for me is her insights into the internal mechanisms that created the circus atmosphere that we mostly have known only from outside journalists' articles. In particular, Omarosa was the only senior African-American among about 30 APs, and she worked extremely long hours especially to help the situation of African-Americans and minorities. She feels that too often, her work was hindered by others either with other agendas or out of sheer ignorance. (A notable example is her comments about Betsy DeVos, Education Secretary, and how Omarosa feels that DeVos's real agenda is to replace public schools by for-profit schools -- Omarosa: African-American parents should be able to choose between the two, rather than simply have public schools closed down in minority districts and preference given to publicly supported for-profit schools.)
Omarosa's time in the White House became a time of searching her conscience whether Trump was a racists, or simply "racial" as she had always said up to then. It was a slow evolution given all the benefits that she, a black woman, had received from Trump. But as she weighed Trump's generous help to a black woman against the mounting evidence in the public spotlight, the reaction of Trump to the Charlottesville march of the KKK, neo-Nazis, and alt-right became the final straw. After that, she had started planning her exit in January, 2018, when General Kelly ambushed her in December, 2017.
Omarosa, Keith Schiller, and Trump's family are the primary people in the White House who Trump had known for a long time and who could keep Trump grounded and in touch with ordinary Americans. Omarosa and Schiller are gone now, but Omarosa knew Trump from 2004, and can comment on how Trump's health and mental acuity have diminished by 2017. This has become a "political football" with critics using it against Trump and with Trump doctors hiding any concerns. (Dr. Bornstein said that his public assessment of Trump's health was dictated to him; and Dr. Jackson reported in 2018 that "Some people have just great genes. I told the president that if he had a healthier diet ... he might live to be 200 years old.") Omarosa was _the_ longest friend of Trump (or TrumpWorld) in the White House, and she freely admits that she is not qualified to make any formal medical assessment. But her anecdotal observations make her worry --- for a previous friend, and for the nation. With her directness from the projects, she had tried to alert others in the White House to this, and kept getting told that this is not something that one talks about.
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Reviews with images
Very insightful.
Based on the prologue alone, I understand why she had to write this book. I would have done the same in her shoes. Pieces of the puzzle come together with every page. I couldn’t put it down, and things make much more sense after reading this book. Highly recommend. 👍🏼👍🏼
Top reviews from other countries
J. Barnes
Well written by a powerful and articulate woman!
Reviewed in Canada on October 12, 2018Caio I. Bertazzi
Nota-se o carater de Trump
Reviewed in Brazil on September 7, 2018
KvR
Le peuple choisit celui qui lui ressemble
Reviewed in France on January 13, 2019