Fox’s Tarlov: Trump allegedly using N-word is ‘baked in’ to perception of him

Fox News political analyst Jessica Tarlov argued Tuesday that President Trump’s alleged use of the N-word is already “baked in” to voter perception of him and won’t move “the needle at all come Election Day.”

She said that previous revelations of lewd comments Trump made about grabbing women on a 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape mean that people “made their decision about him” already, regardless of what may or may not come out about other language he’s used in the past.

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The commentary comes as Trump’s former protégé Omarosa Manigault Newman has dominated cable news discussion in recent days regarding allegations made in her book released Tuesday, “Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House,” that includes several unsubstantiated charges against Trump. According to Manigault Newman, a tape exists where Trump used the N-word while starring on the NBC reality show “The Apprentice.”

“Whether she is going to be prosecuted or not, that’s obviously a huge violation here,” Tarlov said as a co-host on “Outnumbered,” regarding Manigault Newman’s secret recordings of White House conversations including in the Situation Room.

“But the use of the N-word, or whatever it is, that’s baked in,” she added.

“Once people heard the ‘Access Hollywood’ tape, they made their decision about this person [Trump],” Tarlov concluded. “And I don’t think a recording of him using a racial slur post-Charlottesville moves the needle at all come Election Day.”

A behind-the-scenes “Access Hollywood” tape was leaked to The Washington Post two days before Trump’s second presidential debate against Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Trump apologized for the tape and dismissed his comments as “locker room talk.”

“I said it, I was wrong and I apologize,” Trump said on Oct. 8. He would go on to win the presidency four weeks later.

In August 2017, deadly protests in Charlottesville, Va., over a Confederate statue resulted in the death of one woman, Heather Heyer, who was run over and killed by a man with neo-Nazi ties. Afterward, the president said there was “blame on both sides” for the violence. The comment lead to criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike.

“I think there’s blame on both sides. And I have no doubt about it, and you don’t have any doubt about it either,” Trump said on Aug. 16. “But you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides. You had people in that group that were there to protest the taking down of, to them, a very, very important statue and the renaming of a park from Robert E. Lee to another name.”

Manigault Newman said in her book she never heard the president use the N-word on tape, but appeared to contradict herself when she told NPR last week when she claimed she did hear the president use the slur.

Several others have disputed Manigault Newman’s claims.

Pollster Frank Luntz said Friday that Manigault Newman’s claim that he was present for confirmation that Trump used the term was “flat-out false.”

“I’m in [Omarosa’s] book on page 149,” Luntz tweeted. “She claims to have heard from someone who heard from me that I heard Trump use the N-word. Not only is this flat-out false (I’ve never heard such a thing), but Omarosa didn’t even make an effort to call or email me to verify. Very shoddy work.”

I’m in @Omarosa’s book on page 149. She claims to have heard from someone who heard from me that I heard Trump use the N-word.

Not only is this flat-out false (I’ve never heard such a thing), but Omarosa didn’t even make an effort to call or email me to verify. Very shoddy work.

— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) August 10, 2018