Dysfunctional relationships rarely end well. Which brings us to the unhappy couple, Donald Trump and Omarosa Manigault.

Why in the world, reasonable people ask every time she shows up on MSNBC with a new secret tape, did Donald Trump hire such a loathsome woman in the first place? Didn’t he know how duplicitous she was? How untrustworthy?

Well, there’s no need for speculating. The president – in what some might consider a rare moment of honesty — has told us.

In a tweet after she started her slimy book tour, President Trump said “When Gen. Kelly came on board he told me she was a loser & nothing but problems. I told him to try working it out, if possible, because she only said GREAT things about me – until she got fired!”

There you have it: Flattery will get you everywhere with Donald Trump; it can even get you a job in the White House.

But what if she’s a loser and nothing but problems? No big deal. She said GREAT things about the president. And note that he put the word “GREAT” in capital letters — just to make sure everyone knows how GREAT he is.

If Omarosa gives tawdry a bad name, Mr. Trump does the same for narcissism. Praise is the air he breathes. He craves adoration. He’s sooooo needy!

Which is why he loves those political rallies, where the cheering crowd, with every ovation, is telling him how GREAT he is.

But as I’ve noted before, what he gains in support at those rallies comes at a very high price. While he solidifies his hard-core base, the things he says alienates more moderate Republican voters and independents who might support the GOP if it weren’t for the president’s demeanor.

They like his policies; they just don’t like him.

When he calls the press the “enemy of the people,” when he humiliates political opponents, when he brags about how wonderful he is, he revs up his most passionate supporters — but he also energizes Democrats to vote.

Keep an eye on white, college educated Republicans in the suburbs, especially women. If they sit home on Election Day, turned off by what they see as the president’s cringe-worthy personality, it will be Democrats doing the cheering on Election Night.

And all the GREAT things Mr. Trump’s acolytes say about him won’t stem stop a blue wave. On the bright side, it’s still August.

Stay tuned.