… Wild new revelations in the Natalie Harp saga as Daily Beast published a few of the letters she sent Trump during their trip to Scotland. DB: Natalie Harp’s intimate letters to Trump are being revealed in full for the first time—showing her spilling her heart, and saying she is “unworthy” of him. “You are all that matters to me. I don’t want to ever let you down.”
… “The Daily Beast is publishing them amid swirling questions over the national security implications of 35-year-old Harp’s status as 80-year-old Trump’s most significant gatekeeper, even being used as a conduit to the president by foreign leaders.
… The extraordinary letters were written in 2023, either during or after Harp accompanied Trump on a trip to Scotland and Ireland. They reveal Harp’s utter devotion to Trump. She even tells him she is envious of women “whose only job seems to be to talk with you and look pretty.”
… “I want that job!!” she writes in the letter, saying she missed the days when he would call “and we’d talk about everything and nothing. We shouldn’t have to talk about work all the time!!” she tells Trump.
… Author Michael Wolff said that the letters were “discovered by members of the staff” in the piles of printouts which Harp would deliver to Trump. They were photographed, and those images were in circulation among the campaign staff. Wolff said that there was “a revolt” among staff at the time he was passed the letters. “The aides around Trump knew that he was spending too much time with Harp, that her influence was growing.”
… Excerpts from her letters:
“We could be out on the Course, with no machines, and even forget what time it was! I didn’t have to be ‘Human Printer.’ I could take time to enjoy good conversation, and still get all my work done at the end of the day. In fact, I even had time to take long morning and evening walks to enjoy each Sunrise and Sunset (though I did forget to eat and sleep!).”
“I’ve always felt like an in-betweener, somewhere between Staff and those you enjoy talking to on the Plane or at Dinner, because that’s who I used to be to you when I was a ‘Talkshow Host’. I wish I could hear every conversation, because that’s when you’re having a good time, getting away from it all, at least for a few moments.”
“And please, when I fail, will you tell me?” she writes. “You have the absolute right to cuss me out, if need be, when I deserve it, because no one knows or cares about me more.”
… Jonathan Lemire in The Atlantic: “One new word stood out: Natalie. The line got a knowing laugh from a handful of observers in the room, and it electrified a subset of political obsessives on social media, who took to their favorite platforms and group chats with some version of ‘Oh, he went there!’”
(I feel seen).
… But although Jon Ossoff’s aside resonated with the junkies, the majority of Americans likely had no idea who this Natalie woman was, and might never have given it another thought. But then the West Wing lost its mind. And Trump did too. Their pushback was so overwhelming, so obviously coordinated, so ugly and personal that it became a story.”
… “The WH inadvertently created news, as well as a permission structure for even the most cautious, fact-based media organizations to take on the topic. Which is why the name Natalie Harp is now everywhere. If the goal was to shut down talk about Harp, it backfired spectacularly. Suddenly, media outlets that had ignored her felt the need to write about her.”
… “Questions about her security clearance came up, along with this one: When was the last time Melania Trump was seen in public anyway? (July 19, at the World Cup final.) And as more stories were written, West Wing aides got angrier, taking their cues from a furious president, two outside allies and a senior staffer told me. ‘It’s rare to see them this worked up about anything,’ one told me.”
… “That furor, in a way, underlines Harp’s importance in Trump’s world. She is the president’s constant companion on Marine One, at Mar-a-Lago, and at summits across the world, those familiar with her position told me. They added that the president has described her to them as ‘my Natalie.’”
… As I predicted, Melania made a surprise cameo appearance at the WH as Trump brought her out after the Harp story exploded. Daily Mail: “Melania Trump made her first public appearance with her husband Donald in more than a month. It marked a rare public outing for the presidential couple after the two have not been spotted together since the July 19 FIFA World Cup final in NJ.”
… “Melania has only been spotted publicly 38 times this year, while she was seen 140 times in the first 18 months of her husband’s first term. Harp, meanwhile, is constantly seen in the Oval Office, boarding Air Force One, spending weekends with the President at his eponymous clubs and at his speaking engagements.”
… Melania posted a photo today with her official car for Trump’s Freedom 250 IndyCar race in DC this weekend.
… The Atlantic columnist Elaine Godfrey: “How many words does it take to trigger MAGA world? Three, it turns out. When Sen. Jon Ossoff said at a rally on Sunday that Trump wants to ‘travel with Natalie’. The outrage from Trump allies was as loud as it was predictable: Megyn Kelly, Newt Gingrich, and Laura Ingraham, among others, accused Ossoff of misogyny, despite having previously defended Trump’s own sexist comments. (The word hypocrisy feels inadequate here.)”
… “But as this debate over propriety unfolds, a dedicated swath of the Democratic base is delighted. Since Trump’s reelection, these voters have been hankering to see their leaders show, well, a little more fight. So far, most of that fight seems to have come from midterm candidates on the far left, who often target the Democratic Party itself or the so-called establishment. To hear Ossoff, a more moderate Democrat in a reddish-purple state, direct a sharp—albeit petty—jab directly at the president thrilled such voters.”
… Some, in fact, found it almost cathartic. “Someone finally said something,” a 52-year-old woman named Rebecca, who attended Ossoff’s Atlanta rally, told me, sounding delighted. Bring on the “smoke,” Aaron Whitely, the chair of the Democratic Party of Chatham County, in GA, told me. “The younger folks are looking for it. The older folks are loving it.”
… “Ossoff appears to know this. It’s why viral clips of the senator, who is running for reelection, seem to pop up every few weeks like zinnias in summer. It’s also why you can’t have a conversation about the 2028 presidential race without mentioning his name.”
… CNN: “The US Navy is working to rename an aircraft carrier under construction that was set to honor a Black sailor hailed for his heroic actions during the attack on Pearl Harbor. During Trump’s first term, the Navy announced that the Ford-class carrier would be called the USS Doris Miller, recognizing an enlisted sailor who helped defend US forces from Japan’s attack.”
… “It’s unclear what the Navy is seeking to change the name of the carrier to, though two sources said there have been internal conversations about renaming it to honor Trump. It would be an unprecedented move to name an aircraft carrier after a sitting president. The Navy directed questions from CNN to Pete Hegseth’s office. A DOD spokesperson said they had nothing to announce at this time.”
… “Doris “Dorie” Miller, from Waco, TX, enlisted in the US Navy in 1939. On the day of Japan’s attack, Miller - a Mess Attendant Third Class at the time - was retrieving laundry when bombs began falling on the US fleet. Mess attendant was one of the only jobs in the Navy open to Black men, according to the VA. Damage by Japan’s attack kept him from returning to his assigned battle station.”
… “Miller proceeded to aid his wounded commanding officer, and then, despite having received no training on the system, took control of an anti-aircraft gun and opened fire on the Japanese aircraft.”
… VA website: “Although untrained, he laid down effective fire and stopped firing when he ran out of ammunition and the ship began to sink. Even then, he persisted in helping his fellow sailors to safety until he finally made his way to shore.” Miller was famously portrayed by Cuba Gooding Jr. in the 2001 film “Pearl Harbor.”
… "In 1942, Admiral Chester Nimitz presented Miller with the Navy Cross, and he was then sent out on a War Bond tour with several white service members, “making him the first African American allowed on the speaking tour,” according to the VA. Roughly a year later, Miller was killed during the Battle of Makin when his ship was hit by a Japanese submarine’s torpedo.”
… Now Hegseth wants to name it after the Draft Dodger in Chief.
… Former Trump Dep. Press Secretary Sarah Matthews on CNN: “He knows that no one will build monuments to him when he leaves office, so he has to do it himself.”
… Trump took questions from reporters today and when asked about Scott Bessent’s failed intervention to prop up the bond market, addled Trump (who probably has no idea Bessent is even doing that and wouldn’t understand it if he did) answered it as if the question was about economic sanctions on Iran:
Q - Bond yields have come back up since then. Have you talked to Bessent about another type of intervention? Trump: The ultimate intervention is our military. And if we have to use that, we will.”
Iran would love to make a deal. But they’re not ready to make the right deal.”
On the Strait of Hormuz: “We have total control, as you know, of the border. We have total control of that entire region - and that means well into it, the land areas.”
On Karoline Leavitt’s possible replacement: “Scott Jennings is good. Margo Martin is good. I tell you what, I have never had so many applications. Everyone wants that job.”
Q: “On the beef deal, which countries did you make the deal with? Trump: I don’t want to say.”
… The peasants aren’t allowed to know where their foreign beef comes from.
… Gas market expert Patrick DeHaan: “The national average price of gasoline slowly inching up, $4.11/gal this Friday morning, while diesel is now $5.57/gal, or 25 cents from matching its all-time record or $5.82/gal.”
… CNN: “The average cost of packing a school lunch has risen by almost 11%. That’s a significant increase from last year. It’s going to cost you almost $4,000 a year to feed your kids for school lunch. Sandwich bread is up 22%. Juice boxes up 20%. Oranges up 17%. Crackers up 15%.”
… Abdul El-Sayed on MS NOW:
Q - “Why do you think Mike Rogers is so far refusing to agree to a date for this debate? El-Sayed: I hate to say it, he’s a coward. Rogers the Dodger does not want to actually debate because he knows that he’s an empty suit with no new ideas and a terrible record that he’s going to have to contend with. And then he’s going to be asked to defend Trump’s hideous record on everything from the economy to foreign policy to the drapes in the ballroom.”
“He doesn’t want to have a debate. He’d rather just not face questions and instead make AI ads that go after me because of the color of my skin or how I pray. We’ve got to have a conversation about how we actually address the inflation crisis, how we get people health care, how we take on so many of the challenges that Trump is creating. I’m eager to have that conversation. He is welcome to do that, or he can continue to dodge or go back to his McMansion in FL.”
“Rogers gets asked by a really smart, enterprising local reporter about his position on data centers. And the man clearly hasn’t actually thought about his position on data centers because he does whatever Trump or the corporations tell him to do. And he’s like, ‘I think we should take a pause’. Then his team tries to make up for the fact that he just made policy from the hip because he hasn’t taken the time to think about it, and issues a press release calling for a statewide moratorium.”
“But guess what? He’s running for US Senate, meaning he can’t actually do anything at the state level. These aren’t serious people. These are corporate shills who are bought off by the companies who stand to benefit at our loss. And he stuck again between what the voters actually want and what Trump and the corporations who control him want.”
… James Talarico on MS NOW: “Ken Paxton is anti-puppy, and I wish I was joking when I said that. But reports just came out revealing that, as AG, Ken Paxton protected a research lab that was notorious for torturing and killing hundreds of puppies. Paxton never misses an opportunity to do the wrong thing. And he won’t fight for the little guy, even when the little guy is literally a puppy.”
Reminder there is no Bulletin tomorrow because I’m off Saturdays. I will be back on Sunday night with the Weekend Bulletin. If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, you can find it here.
We are heading out for a mountain hike in western Maine tomorrow with some cool waterfalls and gorges along the way to the summit. It is about 20 minutes from where Tucker Carlson lives. Hopefully he won’t be there.
Thank you to everyone who reads, shares and subscribes!
… Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) on MS NOW:
“Flipping Texas is on the map, and the pollsters are just starting to catch up on this news. We know that we like to do everything bigger in Texas. There’s going to be a blue wave across the country. But we’re working on a blue tsunami in Texas.”
“As Democrats, we need to own patriotism. We need to own taking care of our service members. And the best way to take care of our service members and our
