U.S. President Donald Trump's executive assistant Natalie Harp disembarks Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S., August 16, 2026. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno
Guardian columnist Arwa Mahdawi declared a miracle this week as a whole party of bitter, pro-male malcontents suddenly discovered sexism and chauvinism in the wake of recent attacks on President Donald Trump’s embattled “human binkie” and “diaper nurse” Natalie Harp.
“Jon Ossoff is quite the miracle worker,” said Mahdawi, a weekly columnist and creator of the satirical website Rent-a-Minority. “Perhaps the Democratic senator can’t turn water into wine, but he has managed to turn whining conservatives into impassioned feminists.”
Harp got thrust into the spotlight when it was reported that the 35-year-old was one of a handful of people Trump that took a different plane via a catering truck and left reporters and other staffers in a “bait plane” to draw Iranian fire. Then intrigue took off when it was acknowledged that Melania Trump had vanished from the public for weeks at the time. Mahdawi noted that the First Lady “magically reappeared on Thursday,” a few days after the Georgia senator mocked Harp’s fawning relationship with the president.
Suddenly, said Mahdawi, “it’s hilarious to watch the right discover misogyny and decry the remarks as sexist. Suddenly, everyone from Fox News to prominent conservatives are very worried about a professional woman not being taken seriously.”
Former House speaker Newt Gingrich, a philanderer who took a young staffer as his third wife after an affair, said on Twitter/X that Harp’s critics owe her an apology. “If a conservative Republican had attacked a liberal Democrat working professional woman [like] … Natalie Harp there would be cries to kick them off the ticket and reject this kind of misogynistic language diminishing and smearing someone who is simply doing their job.”
Conservative commentator Scott Jennings, called comments against Harp “so vile against a young Republican woman working in politics that every woman in this country, no matter your ideology, ought to listen carefully and never forget it,” Jennings said.
“Meghan McCain also clutched her pearls” at the comments, said Mahdawi.
“The egregious sexist attacks on Natalie Harp are absolutely insane – and they’re coming from prestigious journalists,” McCain posted on X. “What is wrong with everyone?! Every president has close aides and sometimes they are females. Like what year is this?!”
However, Harp’s little love notes that “You are all that matters to me,” and “I want to bring you joy, to feel like we can get through a day without ever having to talk ‘work’” are “deeply weird things to say to your boss,” said Mahdawi.
Harp may claim to be a cancer survivor who believes Trump saved her life by signing legislation that gave her access to experimental bone cancer treatment, but while that might make her obsession with Trump more understandable, it “does not make her conduct any more professional,” said Mahdawi.
“So spare me all the lectures from the right about sexism, please. If you’re worried about how women in politics are treated, you should probably focus your attention on the adjudicated sexual abuser who is president,” said Mahdawi, citing Trump’s latest “object of ire,” CNN reporter Kristen Holmes, who asked the president about Harp’s relationship and got called a “loud boisterous person” by the president — who then instructed her to be “quiet.”
“Meanwhile, the White House’s social media account posted about Holmes multiple times,” said Mahdawi. “In one post they wrote: ‘Someday, your children will come across your disgusting and inhumane question. They will be sickened and embarrassed to have a parent be so callous and vindictive.’”