As my title indicates, I am writing about Ms. Harp reluctantly. Very reluctantly.
There are several reasons that I’d rather not write about Ms. Harp. First, I don’t want to think about someone adoring Donald Trump to the extent that she seems to adore him. Nor do I want to think about someone adoring Donald Trump in the way she seems to adore him. That’s just icky and gross.
In addition, I view the media obsession with Ms. Harp as a huge distraction from way more important and troubling things about this President and his Administration. There are so many people in this Administration who are much more reprehensible than Ms. Harp. And there are so many more horrible things that this Administration in general, and Trump in particular, are doing than what Ms. Harp is doing by printing out articles for Mr. Trump and helping him with his increasingly crazy Truth Social Posts (and anything she else she is doing for and with him in the hours when a normal person would be asleep).
But here I am, about to write about this odd person. So am I a hypocrite? Well, yes, of course, but this post is a reaction to a particular provocation, and I’ll keep it short.
Here’s the provocation: The Atlantic’s Facebook page featured an article by Jonathan Lemire entitled “The White House Freak-Out Over Natalie Harp.” The article is described in the following words, “If the White House’s goal was to shut down talk about the Donald Trump aide Natalie Harp, it backfired spectacularly, Jonathan Lemire argues.”
In all candor, I haven’t read the article. For all I know, Mr. Lemire may have said the same thing I am about to say, but I’ll say it even if Mr. Lemire or people who’ve commented on the article have also said it, since it’s been several days since I gave my free subscribers something to read. And, as I’ve admitted, I don’t know what Mr. Lemire or commenters have said. So here goes:
Why would anyone assume that this Administration wants to “shut down talk about . . . Natalie Harp”? Isn’t it just as likely that the Administration is trying to encourage talk–endless talk–about Ms. Harp and whatever she is or isn’t doing as Trump’s assistant? After all, to the extent that the media is covering Ms. Harp, it is not keeping the focus on the failures of Trump’s war-of-choice with Iran, his destruction of the post-WW II world order, his surrender of US leadership in the world, his economic failures, his pandering to tech billionaires and the fossil fuels industry, his opening up of federal lands for resource extraction, his shredding of the social safety net, his endless (and very successful) efforts to turn the Presidency into a cash cow for him and his family, his reflecting pool debacle, his destruction of democratic norms, his potentially catastrophic destruction of faith in and funding for science, his undermining of public health, his weaponization of the Department of Justice for use against political enemies, his immigration enforcement abuses, and a host of other misdeeds. Oh, and the Epstein files. So, as I said above, Ms. Harp is a distraction, and the Administration loves distractions. We shouldn’t play along.
In addition–and this is going to get kind of gross–the Harp story gratifies Trump’s ego, and almost certainly pleases a not-insignificant portion of his followers. As for Trump’s ego, we know he’s a huge consumer of news. Now, every time he checks whatever sources of media he uses, he sees stories about how a young female aide worships him, and he sees insinuations that he–a smelly, obviously decrepit and failing 80-year-old man–may be having a thing with a 30-something aide.
As for his followers, the Harp story may perversely make them feel better about Trump at a time when things seem to be crumbling. After all, Trump’s MAGA base can now revel in the notion that the smelly, flatulent, possibly incontinent old goat has still got it. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.
Well, I see that I’ve gone on too long about someone whom I’d rather not have talked about at all. I am sure that there are people who think the Harp-Trump thing is important and should be written about; she is, after all, being paid by our taxpayer dollars and she is helping him with his awful social media posts. But I think we’d all be better off if we just moved on.
So I’ll close by giving the last word to Melania Trump–or rather her infamous jacket: “I really don’t care, do u?” I hope not.