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Donald Trump is easily triggered. That’s hardly news.
He’s temperamental and emotional in a way that supposedly disqualifies women from serving in powerful political or corporate roles. He lashes out at critics, opponents, the media, even his own staff. Were it not so frightening, it would be Veep-level hysterical that the man atop the world’s most powerful government and military lacks the impulse control of a high schooler.
But the questions now swirling around Trump’s personal assistant Natalie Harp — and especially the way Sen. Jon Ossoff unleashed a media firestorm this week by invoking her name — offer a long overdue lesson for Democrats on how to successfully bait Trump and his MAGA cohorts for maximum effect.
Harp strikes a chord
Let’s start by unpacking what Ossoff actually said last Sunday, which was not nearly as salacious as the ensuing MAGA meltdown would have you believe.
“While the sailors on the Lincoln fight his war, while he fruitlessly drains our munitions and oil reserves, the president sleeps through his meetings. He golfs and trades stocks,” said Ossoff, of Trump. “See, he doesn’t want to do the job. He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar.”
In just four sentences, Ossoff’s carefully crafted language shattered Trump’s curated image as a tough, tireless, troop-loving, America First warrior. The Georgia senator indicted Trump’s military misadventures and octogenarian stamina. He highlighted Trump’s sloth and greed. Ossoff depicted Trump as a detached, spoiled, soft, and vainglorious brat who could make Charli XCX blush.
But the kicker was these three words: “travel with Natalie.”
Ossoff’s statement would have delivered the same critique of Trump as an entitled, lazy lout had he omitted any mention of Harp. But he dropped her name — and only her first name, plus the first-person plural “their” for emphasis — to pair them and suggest a degree of interpersonal intimacy.
Ossoff’s gambit worked perfectly. Americans immediately wanted to learn who Natalie Harp is. Answer: a “platinum blonde geyser of positivity, there to buck him up when the going gets rough,” as the New York Times described the young aide who serves as Trump’s personal, 24/7 “security blanket.”
Media journalist Brian Stelter reported that searches for “who is Natalie Harp?” surged an astounding 5,000 percent, and Fox News’ Jesse Watters had to admit on air that his program had not mentioned Ossoff in six years but now his network was talking about the young senator nonstop.
The White House and conservative pundits lost their marbles, crying foul about attacks on the young staffer and veiled implications of her and Trump having an affair.
More amusing and hypocritical is how conservative apologists rushed to Harp’s defense, depicting her as a child immune to attention or attacks, and the victim of sexist “dehumanization.” (In fact, Harp is 35 — an adult more than twice the age of the Central Park 5 Black youths when Trump called for their execution before they were even tried for a crime that, it turned out, they never committed.)
There’s more: Harp is apparently so obsessed with Trump she’s happy to serve as his emotional support companion.
In 2023, Harp twice dodged presidential security protocols and wary Trump staffers to get close to Trump — once, by securing a maid’s room at Trump’s Bedminster, New Jersey golf club, and then by sneaking into an SUV trunk in Trump’s motorcade. She behaves like a rock band groupie, not a presidential adviser.
Harp has also skirted security clearance checks, a fact that suggests Trump is willing to sacrifice national security to maintain his emotional “security blanket.” That’s the term Ossoff used to describe Harp when, instead of apologizing or backtracking as weak-willed Democrats often do when facing backlash, he doubled down on his Trump attack during a Monday television interview with MS NOW’s Jen Psaki.
Ossoff shows the way
But enough about poor Natalie — back to Ossoff.
The senator and his speechwriters clearly understand that powerful words do more than assert or indict: They create imagery.
Ossoff painted a picture of Trump flying in comfortable, Middle Eastern-supplied luxury, oblivious to the problems around him, his every need and indulgence fulfilled like some oleaginous sultan. That image contrast sharply with his MAGA cult supporters’ rally flags depicting Trump as a bandana-wearing Rambo delivering rough justice.
Depicting Trump as Ossoff skillfully did generated paroxysms from Republican politicians and conservative talking heads.
The right-wing media narrative is lousy with depictions of liberals and Democrats living better than — and therefore condescending to — their lessors: those humble, hardworking, heartland Americans. Ossoff delivered this same appraisal of Trump in fewer words than a median-length William Faulkner sentence. The senator’s quip was a Thomas Nast cartoon sketched with four sentences.
And therein lies the key lesson of this episode: Trump can be weakened by policy attacks, especially on the economy and his foolhardy war with Iran. But politicians in the new media age who want to gain traction — no less run for the White House — need to talk less in stentorian policy tones, like a Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren, and more like Jimmy Kimmel or Chelsea Handler.
The Georgia senator whom many believe to be a frontrunner for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination understands that Democrats need more than “affordability” policy messages to win in 2026 and beyond. They need to depict Trump as feeble, selfish, and tone-deaf.
By inserting Harp into the national political discourse, Ossoff inverted the national narrative about which side is politically soft and entitled. The 2028 presidential election is more than two years away, but this week Ossoff put his party and the punditry on notice that he will be a skilled and formidable contender.
A flustered Trump dismissed Ossoff as “Pee Wee Herman.” Weak tea.
Trump’s snide derogatories have lost their oomph. More to the point, like all bullies his feckless response proves he can throw a punch but can’t take one.
And the senator’s invocation of “Natalie” — leaving out her last name to imply some special intimacy between Harp and Trump — was the shiny frame that drew millions of eyes to the Trumpian imagery Ossoff so deftly painted.
Troll bridge to 2028
Conservative media routinely dismiss Trump’s opponents by attaching the “Trump Derangement Syndrome” label to those who dare to criticize their MAGA champion. But nobody is more troll-able and deranged than the thin-skinned, fragile male egoist who currently occupies the Oval Office.
Narcissists like Donald Trump cannot abide criticism, and no critique is more effective with insecure narcissists than mockery. Making fun of Trump as a lazy, unpatriotic, and ineffective president cuts to his bone. Trump commits ample policy and political errors without provocation, but he is far more prone to blunder when under attack and on the defensive. And so are his allies.
Trump’s supporters warn that if Democrats recapture the House this fall, they will immediately impeach Trump for a third time. His self-dealing corruption, which makes Watergate look like a parking ticket, alone warrants his removal. But to paraphrase a time-worn maxim, if you try to kill a wannabe king you better succeed. Even if Democrats flip the Senate, they will not have enough Republican support to convict Trump on any House impeachment article.
The better way to impeach Trump is to rattle his confidence and destroy his heavily-curated image as a tough and competent patriot. This week, Jon Ossoff separated himself from the pack by providing liberals and Democrats a perfect formula for how to do so.
That’s it for now
We’ll be back this afternoon with a new episode of the PN Pod, and a special Saturday edition of the newsletter will drop tomorrow.
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Thanks for reading, and for your support.
I sent Jon Ossof a donation after he questioned Blanche and Whiskey Pete at their hearings a few weeks ago. Seems like its time to send more.
https://electjon.com/
“The senator’s quip was a Thomas Nast cartoon sketched with four sentences.” Brilliant!