Who is Natalie Harp? Trump's "Favorite" Aide

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0:37Whether you're soaking up the sun, chasing your next adventure, or making the most of every summer moment, Spritz Vibe Summer Edition is ready to refresh your routine. Go find your Spritz Vibe before summer ends. Welcome to The Beat. I'm Ari Melba reporting on these new results and signals coming out of the primaries, including bruising losses for Trump-endorsed candidates, which shows that more GOP voters are already viewing Trump as an ignorable lame duck. It's another primary night in America, folks. Byron Donalds just clinched the Republican nomination. Keep Florida red. Jolly decisively pulling off this Democratic nomination.

1:19We are celebrating more than just a primary victory. We are celebrating the return of a resiliency, the renewal of a hope, The belief in each other once again. A big upset. The Democratic Socialists, Angie Nixon, won her party's nomination. This is a major victory for the progressive movement. They look at this movement and they call us extreme. They call us radical. But I think people see from that. I won't let them define me. And I know you will always know where I stand. You heard those references to upsets. you know, primaries can often come down to just the party faithful and they have often lower turnouts.

2:01But this year, we're actually seeing two key trends across several of these primaries, higher turnout and interest, which Democrats say could build towards a blue wave in November, and voters in both parties rebelling against establishment picks, especially those that are trying to be offered out of Washington. Now, think about this. The political media often covers that point I just referenced and that trend by focusing on leftists and democratic socialists who are winning some primaries. And they are bucking more establishment candidates, including last night. That's happening. But interestingly, we see a similar trend right now in the GOP primaries, where Trump is now an unpopular establishment figure like a Biden or a Bush when their approvals waned.

2:45And voters are starting to reject his endorsed candidates as well. That's what voters did just yesterday. One report noting the GOP spurned Trump's endorsement in two House races, even in Florida, of course, home to Mar-a-Lago. It's where Trump now calls home when he's not at the White House. And that's six Trump candidates losing just this month alone. It shows the limits of his influence with sagging approval, even among Republicans, the Hill reports. While Democrats backed a progressive for senator in Florida, a Democratic socialist who you just heard from there, Angie Nixon. which suggests that in some places Democratic voters are hungry for what they perceive to be new strong leaders.

3:26And this goes beyond just fighting Trump because, you know, I always try to keep it real with you. Let's just say few people outside of Florida have been tracking every single candidate in the primary there. But I will remind you or tell you that Nixon actually beat someone who was once the face of standing up to Trump, someone who did risk his career for it. She beat veteran and former star Trump impeachment witness Alexander Vindman. Now, he had the kind of resistance credentials that many Democrats have coveted in past election cycles. But it wasn't enough yesterday. The Post headlining that loss of a key witness from the Trump impeachment days.

4:09Other outlets declaring that this sort of era of anti-Trump resistance heroes is over. Mind you, the grassroots interest in fighting Trump is high among Democrats. But handing over the keys just to someone who stood up and was sort of a resistance hero, that might be ending. At least that's how one article notice put it. Meanwhile, former Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was run out of Congress by his party's right flank, warning Republicans today. The midterms right now, I'm worried because the generic ballots over six. So that's advantage to the Democrats. I'm worried that I'm not seeing the clear message from Republicans.

4:51What is the plan of why you should stay in the majority? What is your economic plan going forward? What are you touting as the successes that you've had already? I'm worried about certain states. You know, he was a speaker of the House at one point, but he could just as easily have been a diplomat because everything he was just saying was basically Trump failed, Trump sucks, and Republicans who are trying to avoid that have a problem. I'm just translating it for you. Maybe I'm Kevin McCarthy's Trump anger translator, although it's not a job I'm applying for. But he said it, of course, without trying to further antagonize Trump and the right flank that ran him out of office.

5:27But he did say it on Fox News. Presumably, he sees the problem and the failure, and so do a lot of Republican primary voters who I just showed you are often now just rejecting to Trump-endorsed candidates. Now we're going to turn to our midterms outlook to start the show tonight with two guests who know this terrain very well. Politics Nation host Reverend Sharpton has actually been hosting top Democrats at his National Action Network convention, really chopping it up and learning where people stand. And two-term New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who squared off against Trump and worked with then-President Obama on police reform.

6:04This is not a problem. simply of Ferguson, Missouri. This is a problem that is national. The president referred to what each of us feels that gives us a sense of urgency. You see the two of them there together at the White House. Both men have also run in the Democratic primary for president looking slightly different in their younger days. Rev looks better and it's great to see you. Yeah, thank you. Very diplomatic. You handled that beautifully. Well, diplomacy seems to be a theme. Mayor, we showed you working at that level because you have been in it. What do you see in both the warning signs for Republicans and what I mentioned that I think might be different than some of the D.C.

6:50narrative, which is both parties are actually sick of business as usual. There's no question. First of all, I want to just tell you, Ari, I have been waiting my entire life looking at those Florida results. I've been waiting my entire life to vote for a candidate named Nixon. Okay. So I'm happy to say I hope she does great. No, look, I think your thesis is right. I think the reality in Florida, that idea of the resistance hero being yesterday's news. Yes. And people don't want to hear anti-Trump. They want to hear how are you going to fix our reality at the kitchen table? What are you going to do?

7:27Bring down the price of gas, of health care, raise wages? You know, Angie Nixon spoke to those issues. A lot of the progressives have been just extraordinarily disciplined about staying on affordability. I think Mom Donnie did a great job last year setting that tone. So the Democratic establishment in Washington has been trailing behind that reality, finally starting to catch up with the progressives. I think that is a reality. At the same time, there's no question that Trump is losing his own party, not only because folks have felt the effects, right? Republicans and Trump voters have seen their gas prices gone up.

8:02But also that air of inevitability is gone. A year ago today, if we were talking about Trump, we'd be talking about how much power he had in his own party and he's on a roll with his executive orders. he doesn't have a vision anymore, especially starting with the war. And I think his voters see it too. And they realize this trip is over. I definitely feel that that is correct, because you should not underestimate the fact that Nixon was a state legislator, was working on the ground talking about the issues, and even said, I may disagree with some of the DSA stuff, but I agree with others. Running against a guy who basically had no campaign and basically was playing as a celebrity who stood up to Trump, and he should be giving credit for that.

8:47But do you put him in the Senate for that? And I think that's what the candidates were saying. The other thing I think that the Nixon win is good for is it's time for the socialists and the progressives to come to terms with pulling the Black community and interest in, because affordability is also race-based and a lot of the issues. And I think her winning and being there is a good thing. We're having a big march on Washington on August 28th. All the civil rights leaders are joining Martin Luther King III. We've invited Bernie Sanders and AOC to come and speak, because if you merge the progressive movement and the civil rights movement and the deportation movement together, you can't lose anywhere.

9:36They need to separate us. And we need to say we may not agree on three things, but we agree on seven. And we need to take the win. And I think that's the kind of campaign that Nixon ran and she won. Well, and you're referring to the legacy that, of course, you've devoted your career to, which is figuring out how what they broadly call the left and the civil rights community works within electoral politics. Otherwise, you're always on the outside. You don't win anything. You know, people at one point criticized you of going to the inside. I know I've talked to you before. So you say you do both.

10:10MLK, at the end of his career, and a life cut short, was working on union organizing. That was after he went into being anti-war and people said, hey, you got enough problems just being a widely sometimes reviled black civil rights leader. Why get into the war? And he said, well, they're linked. And we have a war today that a lot of folks on the left, center, and right opposed. And yet on the electoral piece, I'll go to first you, Reverend, back to the mayor. At least the prognosticators are saying, actually, with Nixon being the nominee, they think, and Florida's been read, it now becomes, quote, Crystal Ball from Sabato says, Florida Senate race now safely Republican.

10:47Your reaction to that too soon? I think it's too soon. I think that we need to see what kinds of coalitions they bring together. And I think that the fact that you're going to have Trump dominating that race, because if there's one that plays the chief disciple of Donald Trump, it's the gubernatorial candidate, Byron Daniels. And he's going to out-Trump Trump. And I think that may help drive a vote out. If I were the Democratic Party in Florida, I would get Byron on every show they can. I would get him on everything you can because he's going to sing Trump. He's going to have Trump aware on. Well, he's been on this show.

11:32I don't know if he'll come back and cycle. He came on my show. I don't think he wants a rematch, but he's welcome because I just want him to talk. And the more he talks, the more they have a chance. And for the mayor, let me show you a little bit of last night. the Democratic nominee, who some of our viewers will recognize, full disclosure, was he's now independent, but previously was a contributor on this channel, as well as he's got a background. Let's take a look at this exchange. Is this a state, Florida, that can elect you as governor, but also elect progressive Angie Nixon for the U.S. Senate at the same time?

12:08Well, we're going to find out. We're going to find out. Look, I reject the DSA. I reject socialism. I'm a capitalist, and I think capitalism provides the greatest amount of economic mobility. I have been with Angie on the trail, and I'll tell you this, she's a fighter. She leaves it all on the field. She goes in every room talking about what I talk about. This is going to be fascinating. I don't think we have a scenario like this previously. Jolly former Republican Democrats, he should have some real appeal to moderates and even Republicans who are fed up with Trump. And we now see that's a substantial and growing part of the Republican Party.

12:43uh, Angie Nixon should be able to reach deeply young voters, progressive voters, African American voters. That combination could add up to something really interesting. They might help each other in some powerful ways. By the way, does that work? Because as I mentioned, I mean, our viewers remember Jolly was on here as a former Republican who said, well, you know, the party left me for Trump. Right. Um, and we've got other Republicans, Michael Steele's like that. Now he's saying, okay, he went all the way in to becoming a Democratic nominee in his state. Yeah. That's a hard move to pull off. Do you think that helps him, though, for the reasons you said that there are basically.

13:19Indy and centrist Republicans who are done with Trump in Florida. He is a great candidate, I think, for those voters. But I think he would have alone struggled with these other pieces of Democratic coalition that we need. Well, Democrats, look at 2024, Ari. We did not, in many parts of the country, where we needed a strong black vote, it wasn't there. People were not excited. They were upset to see the Democratic Party not speaking to their issues enough. We certainly saw a big number of young voters stay home over Gaza and other issues. you've got to get it for our party to win. You really have to have strong allegiance from black voters, progressive voters, young voters.

13:59There's no reason that can't correlate to a candidate or other messages like affordability that also have a lot of appeal to more moderate voters. I'd love it. It was one candidate all the time. But in Florida, we may achieve some of that. You're talking about the coalition. Yeah. Rev, I want to ask you, and this may sound like a leading question, but whether if you are a NEPO Republican candidate with no real basis or foundation, does it work to say at a debate, I just don't know anything about that? Is that good enough in these midterms? I'm going to show the clip and get Rev's answer when we're back in 90 seconds.

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16:33We're back with our Power Midterms panel. And as promised, I was going to cue this up for Rev Sharpton. This is Lindsey Graham's sister who was sort of pushed in by the party on family name to run for the Senate. Here she was in this kind of debate oops moment. I'm just going to be honest here. I'm not on national security. I'm not that informed on national security. But I do support the military. My brother was in the Air Force for 33 years. So I will do everything I can to support the military. My dad was in the army. I'm not a polished politician up here. National security is not my thing, not my area of expertise, but I do support the military.

17:20Rev, is that good enough? If you want to be a United States senator, vote on the war. We got this going on in Iran. It's great that her family has this history. I think that's great for her family. But is that good enough today? No, I don't think it is. When you're dealing with the fact that not only are we in a war that we shouldn't be in, we're paying for it. You've got people right there in South Carolina that are paying exorbitant prices for gas. And you're saying, I don't even know about the root of the problem, which is a foreign policy. It also shows a lack of real political acumen because an average politician would have known how to pivot to something else.

18:00I mean, I ran for president, he ran for president. And you get in debates. There are going to be things you may not be as clear as. I never was. I didn't have some idea what you're talking about. But you know how to take your strong point and move on. She did not do that. Yeah, she said, let me read it to you. She said with a yellow pad, which was really. I've never been at a debate that they let me bring the notes. I got my notes here, but I'm not running for office. But yeah, she looked a little disjointed. I just want to read it back to you. She said, quote, national security is not my thing.

18:31Right. And therefore, a lot of voters could say, so the U.S. Senate is not your thing. I mean, if national security is not your thing, how are you running for the U.S. Senate? Now, to be fair, a quote like that that's even worse was Donald Trump when he said, I don't care about inflation. Right. Right. So, I mean, this is troubling to see a candidate for U.S. Senate look that out of place. But I just want to note, you've got the president of the United States saying with bravado, he doesn't care about the number one issue that people are dealing with. And this is what I think the Republican Party just does not have a way out of this trap when their leader, who is their entire brand, does not even want to talk about the cost living, let alone offer a substantial plan for addressing it, doubles down on war.

19:19It can't find a way out of the war. The war is making the prices go higher. And then admits that lack of concern openly. How many times is that going to be played in the fall election? Right. I mean, they are in an extraordinarily troubled state and they don't have a way out and they don't even know how to challenge their own leader when he's wrong. Right. And if the if the out of touch dodging, it's not my thing, answer has become normalized. It's not clear that everyone else is going to get away with it the way Trump used to, and certainly not in this economy. Well, I don't know that Trump's getting away with it now.

19:50Anymore, yeah. Because there was a lot of pushback on that. And so he comes back the other night in a rally and tries to say that you've got to pay a little bit more because we've got to keep the atomic bomb out of their hand. He tried to play that fear. And that was him trying to step back a little bit from what you can't take back. I agree with Bill. it's going to be on everybody's commercial in November, unless they are malpractice people in terms of... He said it. I mean, he gave you one right up the middle. He said it jauntily. Yeah, happily. My thanks to both of you on our midterm power panel.

20:26Next, we turn to the harp story that is getting Washington talking. And somebody said she's here. Are you here, Natalie? Where's Natalie? Will you come up here, please?

20:48The president sleeps through his meetings. He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar.

21:01Democratic Senator John Ossoff name-checked Trump aide Natalie Harp in that campaign speech, which attacked Trump on several fronts. But what you heard there, that brief reference, clearly upset Trump the most. It set off tons of coverage in serious outlets from the Times to the Journal, big headlines. Now, is this kind of a media frenzy in a summer lull? Or did President Trump break his own PR rules by clearly overreacting to an attack which lets opponents define the topic for once? Or is there something odd and potentially substantively revealing here? Well, we do know some facts. Harp is a trusted aide with a somewhat vague portfolio.

21:42She has the access of top Trump advisors like Stephen Miller. And she is involved with Trump's online posts, really acting more as an amplifier than any kind of filter. And that could be part of her close tie to the president, because he certainly posts a lot online. But of course, there are other aides who hold titles that are higher than that in that portfolio, like running digital and social media. So the Harp-Trump relationship has gotten more attention lately. You can see them interacting behind the scenes in this film. How many people are watching? Can we tell how many, Dan? How many people are watching?

22:23She's talking about how great San Francisco was before she destroyed it. The things of which she complains. Things of which she... That's sort of them kind of doing political work. and she's part of typing up what he wants to tweet or post. Another film from Fox presents one moment when he called her up on stage. And somebody said she's here. Are you here, Natalie? Where's Natalie? Will you come up here, please?

22:56It is rare to be called up on stage and get that kind of shout-out when you are a staff member. Nowadays, we know Harp spends more time with Trump than basically any other aide, and she reports exclusively to the president and no one else. That's an unusual reporting structure, the journal notes. She sits on key meetings, including in the National Security Situation Room. Now, some White House aides bristle at her access, and you could say that's just a normal kind of political competition. Others are downright mystified by the warmth of the professional relationship they have and how that has spilled into public view.

23:33Harp wrote to Trump in a letter, you're all that matters to me the Times reports and Trump tells people about her affection and quote love for him that Harp is the only one who loves him as much as his wife and children he recounted according to the Times his other staff will go off and make money Trump would say but quote Ms. Harp will never leave him in another one of those letters she wrote I want things to always be right between us I also know I've been distracted all week forgetting to eat throughout the days, even forgetting to sleep, and only catching a couple hours at a time, she explained to her boss, signing it with all my heart, Natalie.

24:14If Trump is taking any of the varied criticism he faces very personally these days, it appears to be on this topic. Mr. President, yesterday, John Ossoff said you'd rather travel with your aide, Natalie Harp, and build the ballroom than do your job as president. What is your response, John Ossoff? You mean Pee Wee Herman? Pee Wee Herman lookalike? Trump and his allies have seized on that nickname That was not off the top of his brain That's something they've tried to roll out To brand Ossoff with a kind of negative visual comparison To the controversial TV personality Well, I'll tell you, we will skip any pics of Pee Wee Herman tonight But here is one of the talking chairs from his show If you want to think about where the president's mind is But those attacks have only added fuel to this story and driven headlines, which is a dynamic that Trump knows.

25:09The U.S. is facing major problems while Trump's approval has crashed to an all-time low. And every other president usually makes a public point of focusing on domestic problems. The Harp Saga does also fit a wider pattern where Trump puts his personal needs, ego, fixations, political revenge, and often questionable and corrupt profiteering above even a pretense of publicly governing this nation facing all these problems. And when you look at the few cabinet meetings Trump has held, which are, of course, a rare vital time to coordinate every federal agency together and set the agenda and do governing, many have devolved into bizarre efforts at praising Trump rather than doing any work.