164 Comments
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Rick Massimo's avatar

“Stop making insinuations,” say the people who say “Barack Hussein Obama” every chance they get.

It just underlines what a pathetic human being Donald Trump is that he needs this level of adoration every minute of every day (see his Cabinet meetings for another example). He just really doesn’t even understand the concept of why you’d want someone to tell you something you don’t want to hear.

Debbie's avatar

Ahhh remember the days of Monica Lewinsky and Clinton? Republicans had a field day with that one! Democrats were maligned as a group for continuing to support him and she was scape goated with screams of harlot etc.! But now republicans have been so neutered they can’t acknowledge any wrong, or perceived wrong, from their idol. Just because this young blond ( does Trump have a type or what?) , sycophant spends every moment massaging this world sized ego and is chosen to occupy the catering cabin while the rest of his entourage can fly the targeted jet….well really! Now republicans are backtracking on all that angst about Lewinsky and are claiming “ Democrats are so wrong about this blond young woman ( child?)”

Ohh hypocrisy, thy name is American republicans.

Blizzful's avatar

She is 35 ffs…

Debbie's avatar

He’s 80 ffs

Pam McCullough's avatar

And if what Jay has just said is true she acts like a teenager in love with her idol. So....

Judy Shaffer's avatar

The reason, IMO, that the White House reacted so viciously to Ossoff's remark is because they fear him. The GOP was notoriously nasty to Speaker Pelosi...why? Because they feared her. So, actually it's a big compliment to Jon Ossoff that he's been able to get under Trump's skin with such an innocuous remark about Harp. And yes....Harp bears a striking resemblance to Vanky.

Robert B. Hubbell's avatar

Really excellent reporting, Jay. Thanks for the hard work that went into this article!

Jay Kuo's avatar

Thanks Robert! It was a doozy

Wis's avatar

Yes, I echo your gratitude! Thanks, Jay!

Pam Birkenfeld's avatar

We all do, it’s the best and most thorough examination of the subject that I have seen yet!

Richard Friedman's avatar

Harp has no qualifications for her position other than being a complete suck up (metaphorically and perhaps literally). She makes me wax nostalgic for the days of Monica Lewinsky.

Maggie Meehan's avatar

She is also 14 years older than Ms Lewinsky was at the time. Hardly a young innocent

Pam McCullough's avatar

Nobody in his administration is qualified for their position other than being a complete suck up. This is why our country is in such shambles and why we are the laughing stock of the world.

Alan Neff's avatar

I infer from Ms. Harp's brother's comments that she might benefit from therapy. Her origin story seems full of fabrications about what Trump did for her. As is almost always the case with him, all he's done for her is give her a job doing what he requires for his own insecurity.

Susan Stone's avatar

Alan, from what Jay reported, I don't think she would benefit from therapy. Successful therapy requires you to want to be there, and to be willing to put in a lot of really hard work. To me, she seems to want nothing more than to be on the trump gravy train.

Celeste Myslewski's avatar

I can see her doing ANYTHING for him (as my stomach turns). She's a total floor-mop.

Susan Stone's avatar

Celeste, you've made me realize that she has zero self-respect. Seeing her doing anything for trump turns my stomach, too, especially the thought of using her as a fantasy Ivanka.

Celeste Myslewski's avatar

I've seen people plead her case on sm, saying don't be cruel. I have no pity. She's a grown woman and we all know what he's like. The Epstein girls, 13 or 14 years old, I understand--they had none of the good sense and caution that only experience brings. This one's just in it for fame and fortune to truly debase herself like this. Some day she may feel very dirty.

Susan Stone's avatar

I agree, but don't hold your breath…

DW's avatar

You all write about her as though she were a normal person. She isn't. She's extremely disturbed

Judy Shaffer's avatar

I just read a very interesting article in Mother Jones about Doug Wilson, who preaches iron discipline & male dominance in his cult church in Idaho whose members refer to themselves as "kikers." A kiker was a Scottish follower of Calvinism. Pete Hegseth (with his seven children & testosterone fetish) is a kiker. The kiker women are submissive to their husbands (& other men in their lives). I think the homeschooled Harp is a kiker.

Susan Stone's avatar

That is very interesting, and I'll bet you are right about her being a kiker. It makes her behavior make sense (in a way).

Judy Shaffer's avatar

Harp is no "kicker," she is a kiker. <grin> Hegseth attends an off-shoot church of Doug Wilson in Washington.

Susan Stone's avatar

It was auto-correct, which I didn't see. I originally typed kiker and have since corrected it.

Abby From Maine's avatar

As even her own brother asserts.

Denise Duellman's avatar

All Ossof did was mention her first name. MAGA filled in the blanks.

Wis's avatar

And quite beautifully, I might add! They drew attention to the non-issue, not Jon.

Janet Amaral's avatar

Yeah, it could have been Natalie Portman. Natalie Cole. Natalie Woods! (IYKYK)

Yamuna Ramachandran's avatar

She’s clearly infatuated with some heroic version of him, maybe she truly believes the Jesus memes she makes of him.

She also sounds batshit, like one of those stalkers on a Netflix show about crazy exes. Jumping into the trunk? Sleeping in a locker room? She knows what he eats, his routine, and way too much more. Frankly, if Trump ever “leaves” her, it’s her they should worry about.

Pasqualino's avatar

Why do turds suddenly appear?…

Every time, you are near…

Just like me…

They long to be…

Close to you…

Teresa G's avatar

Ossoff/talarico 2028

8647 entire regime ASAP

T L Mills's avatar

Let Talarico get a little elective governing experience before we put him in the majors. Not that I don't think he's a good candidate--he is!--but he needs >some< legislating experience!

Gerry Queenan's avatar

I believe he has legislative experience. Not sure how long

Wis's avatar

Excellent, concise, and says it all! Well put, Teresa! 👏👏👏

Charles Bastille's avatar

Jon should be nice to Natalie. She just turned him into a frontrunner for the 2028 ticket, if he wasn't there already.

Charles Bastille's avatar

Thanks. Can't correct on my phone.

Pam Birkenfeld's avatar

And Charles that came out more snarky than I meant it to! Because I don’t always check to make sure I have said everything just right or spelled it just right. But it is possible to go back and edit comments. Look in the upper right of your comment and you’ll see three little dots if you hit that it’ll give you an option to edit and you can change it and then it’ll go back as you corrected it. And all the likes will stay there once you do that!

Charles Bastille's avatar

No problem. But, no, that option isn't available on my version of it on Android. I'm sure Jon will neither see it, nor care if he did.

Pam Birkenfeld's avatar

I’m shocked that the three dots don’t appear in Substack comments on Android! Do others also have that issue? Many other commenters have talked about the ability to edit using those three dots. Do you ever look at it on a PC? I’m just curious really. If you don’t want to reply I’ll leave it alone!

Gerry Queenan's avatar

Just share,hide comment or report

Charles Bastille's avatar

The three dots appear. But not the “delete” option. That’s available on my Mac laptop. Just not on my Android version of the Substack app.

Pam Birkenfeld's avatar

I have an iPhone and I corrected often. If you’re dictating, just read it before you send it.

Gerry Queenan's avatar

Just share , hide or report. No edit

Pam Birkenfeld's avatar

Thanks, I believe Charles, but I found it amazing that the phone did not have that function available on it! Of course I rarely use that function on my iPhone, I’m on my iPad most of the time! At my age my eyesight appreciates that I don’t have to squint at a phone

Kandarohe's avatar

Jay: sure, Harp's an indefensible sycophant. But you just spent many hours researching her insignificant life and history, that you could have spent calling for the release of the Epstein files. The MAGA universe has successfully bought another week of Democratic inaction, while all our guys smirk and shake our heads about how stupid they are. Are they? Please let's focus. Please let's not get so easily distracted. Please let's light a fire under that *significant* ass, Todd Blanche, who is flouting the Epstein Transparency Act day by day by day. I think highlighting Trump's pedophilia--not just in one headline, but over months of detailed exposure--is our only hope of toppling him. Focus means not getting distracted.

Jay Kuo's avatar

I’ve written extensively and repeatedly about the Epstein files.

We need to be able to discuss other dangers to the rule of law and our democracy, too. Not everything is a distraction. Harp having control of what Trump sees and tweets is very very bad.

Kandarohe's avatar

I know you have. Point taken.

Kandarohe's avatar

I'm rethinking Natalie. At first, I was like, are you guys serious? But I read a lot of posts, news, and comments yesterday, and thought about Jay's comment above, and the picture that emerged for me, horrifying as it is, is that this very damaged young blonde is the person who has the most access of anyone on earth to the president of the United States. She controls who sees him, what he reads, what he texts, and what he does or does not do. She apparently has no security clearance. This is not safe. We are not safe. Jay was right to focus on her existence/role. I'd like to see an even more pointed column, Jay, about how this young blonde is one of the most powerful and *respected* (because power is respect to these people) members of the Trump regime, without a job description, without (?) security clearance, without oversight. No one has examined whether she has ties to foreign powers. Or what her personal agenda for the US might be, since she controls the president, single-handed and unsupervised. Her family considers her unhealthy and obsessed. What might that entail for the US?

Ann Rock's avatar

We can walk and chew gum at the same time! I appreciate your deep dive into Miss Natalie. Something is definitely weird there…

Teri C's avatar
1dEdited

I think we do need much more focus on her. How she got hired, financial connections, etc. I had a nightmare of Natalie as a blend of Serena Joy, Rasputin, The Boys (girls?) From Brazil, and Edith Wilson; and she was playing him like a puppet on a string, then there was someone I couldn’t see pulling her strings. I rarely have nightmares, so I take them pretty seriously. Also, I wonder who’s handing him his meds.

That she’s obsessed, or a gold digger doesn’t mean she’s not more. I’m sure there’s a lot of people very obsessed with being bigly mentioned in that last will and testament.

Linda Shindler's avatar

I disagree. I will share this to my Facebook page with the heading: Could she be the next Eva Braun? We've all heard, read, and shared about the saga of the "files" for ages but this weird tale may catch the attention of a MAGA or two and cause someone to rethink their loyalty. I can only hope. I read Joyce Vance's Civil Discourse and watch and read Heather Cox Richardson and have never heard of this woman. I was happy to read one additional article about his weirdness. 😆 🤣 😂 😹

JeanneFC's avatar

I first read about Harp in Regime Change. She appeared to be an exaggerated version of Hope Hicks in tRump’s first term. But further revelations make her sound like Glenn Close boiling the bunny. I wonder if she is one of the reason’s Melanoma stays in NYC?

Judy Shaffer's avatar

I noticed her a while ago & referred to her then as "the new Hopey." "Hopey" was Trump's affectionate nickname for Hope Hicks....who coincidentally was also a dead-ringer for Vanky.

T L Mills's avatar

Hope's hair was darker, but yeah. I notice Vanky seems to stay a healthy distance from dear ol Dad, these days.

Judy Shaffer's avatar

Indeed. Socialite wannabe prefers Palm Beach to the White House.

T L Mills's avatar

Melania probably sends Harp flowers and thank-you cards on a weekly basis!

Wis's avatar

She’s worse than Eva. As Jay notes, “Even Eva Braun was only Hitler’s personal photographer, not one of his chief propagandists.”

Isabel Rogerson's avatar

I read those people too and have heard of her for weeks.

Michele Dukinfield's avatar

It angers both il vecchio pazzo and those who protect him so very much that it is easier to defend pointing this out and continuing to anger them than not.

There are multiple points of attack on these mobsters that continue to move forward.

I’d be fine with Trump having the temper tantrum of a lifetime in a lifetime of temper tantrums, and blowing a gasket.

If smack talking this unhinged young woman accomplishes that, let’s go.

This house of cards will collapse when that happens.

Kandarohe's avatar

Don't forget the thick layer of younger men that underlie Trump. There's Miller and Bannon. There's Vance and Rubio, who are already running presidential trials for 2028. There's Vought and Blanche who are in control of our infrastructure and damaging it so much it will be really hard to repair, even if they are forced to loosen their grip. There's the frighteningly evil but plausible Tucker Carlson, who has an alternate-to-MAGA movement called America First that is running him for president in 2028 too. There are the voters who may support all or any of these in 2026 & 2028 if we can't get a healthier and more appealing message out there fast.

Kathy's avatar

Some good news…

“A federal court in Manhattan last week ordered the public release of the files from Giuffre’s defamation lawsuit against the accomplice and partner of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein following eight years of litigation from the Miami Herald, reported Julie Brown, the investigative journalist for the newspaper best known for uncovering Epstein’s crimes.”

https://newrepublic.com/post/214459/federal-judge-orders-release-virginia-giuffre-case-files-ghislaine-maxwell

Kandarohe's avatar

That is fabulous news. Add that to Katie Phang's ongoing suit against Blanche to release the portions of the Epstein files that supposedly detail Trump's raping and assaulting a 13-year-old girl; and the attorney general of New Mexico suing the DOJ to release the parts of the Epstein files that will enable NM to investigate goings-on at Zorro Ranch, including possible dead bodies. I feel that the more coverage we can get for what's in the Epstein files, the more likely we will be able to dislodge Trump. He's got a trillion other hateful and horrible things he does, but focusing on a trillion things will only entertain us while defusing a potentially deadly single-pointed issue we can use to persuade the many millions of people who still don't think he's *that* bad.

Felicia Tisdale's avatar

This isn't distraction, it's more information leading to one main vein...getting rid of the disaster AND his sycophantic, hypocritic, moronic administration.

Kay  C. Matthews's avatar

"Flouting" not "flaunting"

Kandarohe's avatar

Right you are, sorry.

US Blues's avatar

That’s a bit harsh. It’s possible and important to talk about all of the threats from this horrible regime.

Lance Khrome's avatar

Hitler and Eva Braun come immediately to mind.

Wis's avatar

Though as Jay points out, “Even Eva Braun was only Hitler’s personal photographer, not one of his chief propagandists.” Harp is extreme.

Dar's avatar

Our country is being governed by a bunch of playground bullies with the IQs of 6 yr olds who like reading dirty magazines in their attics. Sadly, tragically, these bullies can, and have, started wars…and can, and are, destroying our democracy.

Beth B's avatar

To quote Church Lady, "Isn't that special?" Another in the myriad sycophants in FOTUS' diminishing realm, but she's kind of a doozy.

Cecilia Pitas's avatar

So a current White House staffer is untruthful and weird? How unusual.