Michael Wolff, a longtime biographer of Donald Trump, recently published letters from White House aide Natalie Harp to the President in The Daily Beast.      

Among their revelations: 

“If there is anything else I have done to cause you trouble, please forgive me. I want things to always be right between us. I also know I’ve been distracted all week (forgetting to eat throughout the days, and even forgetting to sleep, and only catching a couple hours at a time).”  

And

“I never want to bring you anything but joy. I’m sorry I lost my focus. You are all that matters to me. I don’t want to ever let you down. Thank you for being my Guardian and Protector in this life.”

On August 16, Georgia’s Democratic United States Senator, Jon Ossoff, said at a campaign rally in Atlanta: 

“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.”

A clip of this remark was widely shared on social media. 

Jon Ossoff

Ossoff didn’t accuse Trump and Harp of tripping the light fantastic, but the White House immediately and viciously reacted as if he had: 

• White House Communications Director Steven Cheung: “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.” [“Denigrating” actually means “insulting.” The word Cheung meant was “praising.”]
• Trump spokesman Davis Ingle: “A cringeworthy, feminine theatre kid cosplaying as Barack Obama.”  
• Right-wing CNN pundit Scott Jennings: “A garbage human.” 
• When a CNN reporter asked Trump about Ossoff’s remarks, a White House-run X account attacked her as “a disgraceful, humiliating embarrassment to her alleged profession.” 

Even some Democrats feel that Ossoff went too far. One of these was David Axelrod, former advisor to President Barack Obama.

“No one has been more consistently eloquent or incisive in exposing @realDonaldTrump than @Ossoff. The paragraph from his weekend speech that has gotten so much attention was a brutal takedown. But two words in it, ‘with Natalie’ seemed gratuitous and unnecessary,” Axelrod wrote on X.

David Axelrod

This despite the fact that Trump has built his political career on countless brutal insults to both Republicans and Democrats.

The attacks on him haven’t fazed Ossoff: “It’s been amazing to watch this White House melt down over this all week,” he told MS NOW. “These White House staffers are adults, public officials paid by the taxpayer with immense power in positions of public trust.” 

Even if there is no affair between the President and his adoring aide, their relationship underscores a fundamental Trumpian dilemma:

On one hand, he craves not simply loyalty but constant adoration. He must be repeatedly told he’s the most handsome, brilliant, powerful, beloved man on the planet.

On the other hand, his flagrant greed, egotism and constant attacks on a seemingly endless number of people—politicians, journalists, celebrities, ordinary Americans—ensure that the hatred he spews is returned in kind. And this makes him all the more desperate to feel adored. 

Thus, enter Natalie Harp.

Ossoff’s comment has clearly touched a White House nerve. And it couldn’t have happened at a worse time for Trump.

He’s an 80-year-old, easily distracted man who repeatedly falls asleep in public events—such as during White House meetings or a World Cup game. He launched a losing war on Iran, predicted it would be over in four to six weeks, and has seen it spiral into six months with no end in sight.

Meanwhile,  Iran continues to control the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 million barrels of oil used to pass each day. That flow has been reduced to between two million and six million barrels each day.

Strait of Hormuz

This has created a worldwide spiral in oil prices—and fueled inflation in the United States and other nations. But as prices for housing, energy and food soar in the United States, Trump claims that “affordability” is a “Democratic hoax.”

Like Adolf Hitler contemplating architectural models while Nazi Germany neared destruction, Trump focuses on vanity projects like a 90,000 square foot White House ballroom and a towering “Victory Arch” overlooking Arlington Cemetery. 

Trump is haunted by the fear of a third impeachment action against him if Democrats retake the House of Representatives in the fast-approaching midterm elections scheduled for November 3. 

Speaking at a rally in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to support Senate candidate Darline Graham, sister of the late Senator Lindsey Graham, Trump warned: “If we lose the midterms, I am going to be impeached. They are going to impeach me. They have no idea why!” 

His Republican accomplices in Congress fully understand this as well. Most of them now hold their positions to his support—or by not daring to cross him in any way.

And they fear that his current unpopularity—at  33% to 39%—will upend their own chances for re-election.