An award-winning author says the mystery surrounding Trump aide Natalie Harp gives her all the makings of a compelling fictional character.
Journalist and author Kurt Andersen made a chilling argument on The Daily Beast Podcast as to why he believes works of fiction may help Americans make sense of their political landscape more than any piece of history ever could—especially regarding Harp.
“She is a rich fictional character only because the whole nature of her motives and intentions are unclear,” Andersen told host Joanna Coles. “Except for like, whoa, she’s like a stalker who got the job.”
Harp, 35, has been thrust into the spotlight amid swirling questions over her role as 80-year-old Donald Trump’s closest aide. On Friday, the Daily Beast published Harp’s intimate letters to Trump, in which she gushed over the now-president, declaring that he was “all that matters to me” and that she is “unworthy of him.”
“I think she’s different,” Andersen said. “I think she is more in a certain way unwell than the rest of them.”
The author then likened Harp, a former conservative news anchor, to a fictional character from a Charles Dickens novel.
“Although Dickens never did her or a person like her because all of his many innocent, you know, idealistic people were rescued,” he said, drawing another comparison between Harp and Dickens characters: “They weren’t really evil. They were true believers.”
Harp’s $150,000-a-year role as special assistant and executive assistant to the president entails trailing Trump and presenting him with positive news coverage, a role that New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman has likened to being a “human binkie.”
Her habit of carrying a portable printer to reel off nice tweets for Trump to read also earned her the nickname “human printer” among other aides. A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to reporting in Haberman and Jonathon Swan’s Regime Change, Trump has told allies that Harp is the only aide who loves him as much as his wife and kids do.
During the podcast, Andersen went even further with his musings, likening Harp to Barnaby Rudge, a simple, well-intentioned Dickens character who joins an angry mob of rioters.
“ [Rudge is] a simple, idealistic character who just doesn’t understand the world and gets caught up in political battles that he doesn’t understand, led by a demagogue, ” Andersen said.
The author also likened Harp to a character created by George Orwell, the storied writer who penned the artful dystopian and political novels Animal Farm and 1984.
“In Animal Farm: there’s a horse, a hardworking cart horse and a boxer,” he said. “[Also], this tyrannical pig who runs the show and is incredibly loyal.”
Still, Harp’s unwavering devotion appears to have paid off. The assistant was one of the few people who accompanied Trump when he fled Air Force One in a catering truck in Turkey, leaving behind Secretary of State Marco Rubio, staff, and journalists as flying decoys, while he flew in a secret plane to avoid an apparent Iranian plot to target Air Force One.
