President Donald Trump is “paranoid” and trusts an increasingly small number of people that includes his so-called “work wives,” a top political analyst says.
David Rothkopf tells The Daily Beast Podcast that this is why Trump is so close to his 35-year-old personal assistant, Natalie Harp, and why he was so torn up by the departure of his 29-year-old press secretary, Karoline Leavitt.
“Trump doesn’t have a wife around him,” Rothkopf said. “He doesn’t have kids around him. I don’t think he likes his kids—he certainly didn’t go to Don Jr.’s wedding. People beyond, like, one degree of separation can’t be trusted. He’s paranoid.”
Harp, a former right-wing TV host who now makes $150,000 annually to be at Trump’s beck and call as his special assistant and executive assistant, was photographed with the president on 18 days between July 20 and Aug. 19—a period in which first lady Melania Trump was not photographed with the president once.
There has been intense scrutiny of the president’s relationship with Harp, which was sent into overdrive this month after the Daily Beast exclusively published a pair of fawning letters that Harp wrote him during or immediately after a visit to Scotland in 2023.
Rothkopf believes the president likes Harp because she constantly showers him with praise. Others described as Trump’s “work wives” include his communications aide Margo Martin, 31, this term, as well as former aide Hope Hicks, 37, during his first term.
“So how does he create the idea that life is pleasant, that he’s a human being?” Rothkopf said of the president. “He has these women that he has around him, particularly people like Natalie Harp, who’s a really egregious case, who are like, ‘You’re great boss. You’re a wonderful man. I love you. You fill my heart. Let’s pray.’”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Host Joanna Coles said the dynamic reminds her of Hollywood, where actors are known to have affairs while they are away doing intense work for extended periods in isolation.
“People are isolated from real life; they go on location somewhere, it’s all about the group of people that they are with,” she said of movie sets. “It’s why movie stars constantly have affairs with each other, because it’s an intense work process. You’re often shooting 15 hours a day...
“You create these relationships, which are sort of a substitute for real-life relationships, and then they fall apart the minute the project is over.”
Rothkopf, who worked in the Clinton administration, said the White House can have a similar dynamic, with top aides regularly putting in shifts of more than 16 hours.
He said aides cannot live normal lives outside of work because of the Washington media frenzy, so staffers only experience a sense of normalcy inside the West Wing. Rothkopf said this leads to close relationships among staff and possibly even the president.
“I worked in an administration, and you do get up at 5 in the morning, and you try to get to meetings early, and you do then work for 14 or 15 or 16 or 20 hours in the day,” he said. “And throughout that whole period of time, when you exit the white House, you are subject to scrutiny, potential attacks, grueling schedules, media commentary, and so forth.”
Rothkopf continued, “So there is a kind of an impulse to create something that’s akin to a normal life in the White House, that you have relationships with normal people and so forth.”
