Omarosa Manigault Newman’s new book comes with an explosive title. (“Unhinged.”) It has a healthy frisson of tension followed by a climactic reveal. (She taped her colleagues! In the White House Situation Room!) And it has just enough cliffhangers to keep viewers coming back for more. (She may or may not have heard a recording of President Trump using the n-word.)

To Trump, this should come as no surprise.

After all, Manigault Newman perfected her flair for the sensational, her cult of personality and her savvy use of media while apprenticing for the master himself: Donald J. Trump.

The Omarosa of popular imagination is in large part Trump’s creation, and that creation is wreaking havoc on the White House. Manigault Newman’s controversial allegations, some of which are not verified, have rattled the president and thrust his aides into damage-control mode.