President Donald Trump's saga with his devoted aide Natalie Harp may come to a perilous end, one ex-GOP strategist predicted on Sunday.
Rick Wilson, founder of the anti-Trump organization The Lincoln Project, argued in a new episode of "The Lincoln Project Podcast" that Trump's relationship with Harp, whom some have described as his "human binkie" and his "printer," is reminiscent of another world leader's escapades with a staff member. That relationship, Wilson said, signaled the end of the leader's reign, just as Harp's arrival on the scene does for the Trump administration.
"Folks, Harp is a symptom of the dictator in decline," Wilson said. "Not the Eva Braun, but more the Traudl Junge," referring to Adolf Hitler's personal secretary.
"She is the last seeming true believer standing next to him," Wilson said. "She's earned her place in the Trump pantheon by being the absolute unconditional 'Yes, I love you, Mr. President.' The doe eyes, the adoring stare, the maniacal need to be in his presence."
Junge was hired in the final years of Hitler's reign, and typed his final political statements and legal will before his death. She wrote about those experiences in her memoirs, claiming that she felt guilty for playing a part in the Third Reich, even though she had previously claimed to be unaware of the horrors the Reich was committing.
Wilson said he sees a similar situation between Trump and Harp.
"I do think the relationship is so intertwined with the failure of Trump, with the collapse of his popularity, with the depths to which he is now sinking in the minds of the American people, that he needs to concentrate the love he once felt from the MAGA horde into one person," Wilson said.
He added that the relationship should "really bother" people, especially after the contents of some of Harp's personal letters to Trump surfaced in the media.
"All this cuckoo town stuff," Wilson said.
