Just when you think you've heard everything...
"Receipt collector-In-Chief" Omarosa Manigault-Newman has released a new audio tape of President Trump from her time in the White House, and to say it's shocking would be a bit of an understatement. In the tape, the President of the United States of America seems to make fun of the deaths of four US soldiers in combat in Niger last October.
Manigault-Newman recorded the tape about two weeks after the ambush on October 4, 2017, during a meeting with the communications team about the terrorist conflict in the African country.
In the tape, the President explains the ambush and then jokes, "I wouldn't, I don't think I'd want to be a terrorist right now. It's not a good life, but it's, uh, the only thing that — What else is there?" at which the assembled group and President Trump share a hearty laugh.
Speaking to MSNBC's Craig Melvin, Manigault-Newman called the issue, "not a laughing matter. We lost four American soldiers and four of our allies, the Nigerien troops that we were fighting alongside," adding that the incident shows how "unhinged and inappropriate" President Trump is.
Manigault-Newman also went on to put the tape in further context, noting that in the immediate aftermath of the ambush, Trump treated the death of one of the soldiers, La David Johnson, in such a way that can only be described as cavalier, telling his widow Myeshia Johnson that her husband, "knew what he signed up for," a comment that deeply upset her.
"[I]t made me cry because I was very angry at the tone in his voice and how he said it."
Johnson also told ABC's "Good Morning America" at the time that the President, "couldn't remember my husband's name. I heard him stumbling on trying to remember my husband's name."
As you might expect, social media reactions ranged from outrage:
While others couldn't help but see parallels with another military ambush that sparked Republican outrage:
But investigation seems to be the furthest thing from anyone's minds if the tapes are any indication. Once the discussion of Niger is finished, the President pivots to what seems to be his favorite topic--Hillary Clinton--saying she is "getting killed now with Russia" and the "real Russia story is Hillary and collusion."
Some things just never change.
