There was quite a bit of discussion last week about Donald Trump’s decision to secretly exit Air Force One and travel on a separate jet at a recent NATO summit in Turkey, and for good reason. But also of interest was who joined the president on the other airplane, and who didn’t.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, for example, remained behind on Air Force One, which Trump apparently abandoned in response to a security threat. The president did, however, travel with three White House aides — Natalie Harp, Walt Nauta and Dan Scavino — as well as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
With this in mind, Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, in the midst of a competitive re-election campaign in Georgia, took a moment on Sunday to refer to the president’s “travel with Natalie.”
“While the sailors on the [USS Abraham Lincoln] fight his war, while he fruitlessly drains our munitions and oil reserves, the president sleeps through his meetings,” the senator told a crowd at a campaign rally. “He golfs and trades stocks. 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.”
To put it mildly, the comments touched a nerve at the White House.
Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, published an item on social media that read, “Jon Jackoff has to be the biggest cuck loser in politics. Instead of denigrating hard working people serving their country, Jon should look deep into his soul and ask himself why he’s a miserable person who hates this country. It’s because he’s a radical, extremist Dumocrat.”
Around the same time, David Ingle, a White House spokesperson, similarly wrote online, “Jon Ossoff is a cringeworthy, feminine theatre kid cosplaying as Barack Obama. Nobody gives a s––– what this lightweight loser says.”
Putting aside how astonishing it is to see White House officials communicate publicly in such vulgar and classless ways, Ingle’s missive was self-defeating: Clearly, a whole lot of folks, including much of the West Wing, care quite a bit what Ossoff says. That includes the president, who took a rhetorical shot of his own at the senator the day after Ossoff’s “travel with Natalie” comments.
For those unfamiliar with Harp, The New York Times published a memorable report on her a few weeks after Election Day 2024, describing her as a young “former far-right cable host” who is “nearly always at Mr. Trump’s side.” The article noted that Harp “has written him a series of devotional letters, including one that said, ‘You are all that matters to me.’” In a separate letter, she also told Trump he’s her “guardian and protector in this life.”
For those concerned about Trump living in a bubble, only receiving information that makes him happy, the Times’ report was jarring. “Once, when Mr. Trump was playing golf in Scotland,” the article noted, “[Harp] ran behind his cart to keep him up to date with positive stories and social media posts.”
Making matters worse was the fact that Harp reportedly relied on fringe and conspiratorial websites for pro-Trump content to share with Trump, prompting the Times to note that Harp has been accused of serving as “an instant enabler” of the president’s “impulses.”
As for Ossoff’s reaction to the White House’s offensive against him, the Georgian spoke to MS NOW’s Jen Psaki on Monday night and elaborated on his perspective on the dysfunctional White House.
Pressed on why he brought up Harp, Ossoff explained, “Well, I’ve heard this particular aide referred to as his ‘security blanket.’ And I think we could say that about any number of the senior aides in the White House. They’re not telling him what he needs to hear; they’re telling him what he wants to hear. And the nation is at war, and we cannot afford that. We need a team in the White House — we need folks at the State Department, at the Defense Department, in the United States Congress who take their jobs seriously.
“Those sailors out on the Lincoln, they do their jobs with excellence and dedication every single day. They didn’t sign up for luxury. They signed up to defend the country. And the president, surrounded by enablers in the West Wing, is playing golf, is trading stock and is decorating his ballroom. It’s a disgrace.”
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