Forensic psychologist and body language expert John Paul Garrison flagged a telling moment between President Donald Trump and his assistant Natalie Harp on Monday, one he argued demonstrated the president’s emotional reliance on his 35-year-old female aide.
The moment between Trump and Harp was captured on camera during the president’s visit to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Texas last week, during which Trump appeared to shoot repeated glances at his assistant.
In the footage, Trump could be seen speaking by phone with the crew of the International Space Station before turning around in the direction of Harp, who could be seen some distance behind the president, smiling. Trump did not appear to look directly at Harp, but as noted by Garrison, the president appeared to notice her presence before looking back seven seconds later.
“As you can see, he actually turns to look at her that time because I do think that he gets security from looking at her; I do think that she truly is a source of comfort for him,” Garrison said. “But what he doesn't show is any sort of emotional reaction to her because to him, to President Trump, people like this are objects; they are to be used.”
Garrison further noted that throughout the extended footage, Harp was constantly smiling and nodding in agreement with Trump's remarks, and that her smile got noticeably "bigger" when the president cracked a joke.
Trump would look back in Harp’s direction a third time, which Garrison suspected to be due to her "presence" being “regulating in some sense” and “reassuring" to the president.
“So why is it that President Trump would need somebody that is constantly smiling? Primarily, because he's looking for constant admiration, he's looking for immediate feedback to say, 'you're doing great, everything you do is great,' and keeping a facial expression like this all the time helps him do that,” Garrison said.
“He doesn't care about authenticity; he doesn't want genuineness — what he wants is unusual amounts of loyalty. He wants devotion, he wants admiration, and so having somebody that keeps this look all the time is going to help feed that for him.”