President Donald Trump has unloaded on former aide Omarosa Manigault Newman, calling her a "crazed, crying lowlife" and "that dog," as a clash rooted in the reality star's accusations of racism focused new attention on his frequent disparagement of prominent African-Americans.
The public conflict showed no signs of slowing, as Manigault Newman did another round of interviews to promote her tell-all book and Trump's presidential campaign filed arbitration action against her alleging she breached a confidentiality agreement.
Manigault Newman, who has painted a damning picture of Trump and alleged there is a videotape of him using a racial slur, told The Associated Press she is not going away.
"I will not be silenced. I will not be intimidated. And I'm not going to be bullied by Donald Trump," she said.
Trump, who has denied the existence of any such tape, assailed Manigault Newman in language that stood out even by his trash-talking standards, praising his chief of staff, John Kelly, "for quickly firing that dog!" That slam follows a pattern of inflammatory language about women and minorities.
During the 2016 campaign, Trump described Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington as "a dog." He has recently targeted California Rep. Maxine Waters, basketball star LeBron James and TV journalist Don Lemon, all African-Americans, and has repeatedly attacked black football players for kneeling during the national anthem in social protest.
Manigault Newman told the AP that "at every single opportunity he insults African-Americans," and she accused him of trying to start a "race war."
"She's drawing a direct line of comparison between herself and other black women Trump has attacked," Rigueur said. "She's suggesting that the president is racist and sexist and using herself as evidence."
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders insisted yesterday that the president's insults were not racially motivated, saying: "This has absolutely nothing to do with race and everything to do with the president calling out someone's integrity."
Trump has pushed back hard, tweeting that he had received a call from the producer of "The Apprentice" assuring him "there are NO TAPES of the Apprentice where I used such a terrible and disgusting word as attributed by Wacky and Deranged Omarosa."