Un-Real Reality Show at White House

One thing you can say about the Trump administration: It's never dull.

The latest episode of this "reality TV" series involves a "tell-all" (or tell more-than-all) book by Omarosa Manigault Newman. In the book and in a series of announcements and interviews hyping her book, Newman claims President Trump said all sorts of sordid things, including, allegedly, using the N-word.

Don't just take her word for it. She has tapes, and she's played some for the public's consumption (but not — so far — the president using the N-word in conversations). Some debate has arisen in the media over whether Newman has any credibility, despite the tapes supporting some of her claims. An interview early in her book-hyping blitz revealed a contradiction in her account of whether she had heard a damning tape of the president or had only heard of it. This thing isn't over, but news media (including the "mainstream media" Trump hates so much) are looking on the former White House aide with more than the usual skepticism.

What is particularly alarming to the news media gatekeepers is Newman's apparent total disregard for personal honesty and integrity and even for national security. One of her tapes was allegedly made in the White House Situation Room, a tightly controlled and closely monitored secure room that requires a high security clearance for entry. Sneaking a recording device into the room is a breach of national security and may even be a criminal act. Newman doesn't seem to care about national security and has offered no regrets over her extraordinary action.

Trump has reacted in his usual way, attacking his former trusted aide, calling her names and threatening legal action against her. But this is a crisis of his own making. Newman got the job, it seems, because she had appeared on Trump's television show, "The Apprentice," and she lavished praise on him as she sought a White House job following his election. The president was shocked that she would "go rogue" and turn out to be a threat to national security and (more important to Trump) his presidency. After all, the president said, "she said great things about me."

You would think that Trump, if he were the astute, brilliant businessman he claims to be, would know that hiring employees on the basis of how well they lick your boots is not a sound policy.

My experience as a manager who hires employees proved to me that hiring is the hardest part of any management job. A good hire can make your life easier. A bad hire can be a lingering nightmare. It's the most important thing a manager does and the most difficult.

As president, Trump has a pretty crummy record in hiring staff. He has put his daughter and son-in-law on the payroll as advisers. His son runs the family business. In most corporations, this would be forbidden nepotism. The list of Cabinet secretaries and other high officials who have had to resign is long. Scott Pruitt as EPA administrator is just the latest embarrassment of ethical lapses and luxury spending that included HHS secretary Tom Price. The departures began with Michael Flynn, caught lying about contacts with Russians. That kind of turnover, including several people Trump has fired, would raise red flags in any business.