Photo: Curtis Means-Pool/Getty Images

In 2018, we were shocked and delighted to learn that Trump received printouts of his Twitter mentions and wrote up his jumbled responses in Sharpie for a 24-year-old social media manager to post. This week, we gained new insight into how the president-elect’s crazy social media activity has evolved. According to the New York newspaper TimesNatalie Harp – a 33-year-old assistant who has been dubbed his “human printer” by her colleagues – allegedly feeds him an unfiltered stream of conspiracy theories and posts his Truth Social diktats without a second thought.

Harp and Trump first crossed paths in 2019 when she appeared on Fox News to thank him for saving her life by signing the right-to-try bill, which she said gave her access to experimental treatments for bone cancer. (It’s unclear what those treatments were, and some experts have argued that Harp received treatments that were authorized long before Trump’s Right to Trial Act.) She then spoke at the 2020 Republican National Convention. The next two years spent she continued pushing conspiracy theories about the theft of the election as an anchor for the far-right cable news network One America News before joining his staff in 2022, and she has apparently been a fixture at his side ever since.

According to the Timesthat spoke to half a dozen anonymous insiders, Harp’s main responsibility is feeding unvetted, overwhelmingly flattering news to Trump, much of it from Gateway Pundit, a far-right website known for spreading conspiracy theories and hoaxes. During his campaign, she apparently gave him paper copies of these articles by following him around with a portable printer and a battery pack – hence her humble nickname. Also apparently part of Harp’s unofficial job description: enabling Trump’s most impulsive social media habits by taking dictation for his Truth Social rants. She is said to have helped him pull the trigger after angry texts to donors, chaotic retweets and other classically Trumpian decisions that sent his lawyers into a panic.

But Harp’s greatest strength in Trumpworld seems to be an alarming level of devotion to her boss. During one of Trump’s golf outings, she apparently once jogged behind his cart to keep him informed of positive news and social media posts. In return, he apparently calls her “sweetheart” and treats her like a daughter (new, especially considering the way Trump talks about his real daughters). Over the years, their relationship has only gotten stranger – last year, the Times claims she sent Trump a series of letters in which she called him her “Guardian and Protector in this life” and wrote, “You are the only thing that matters to me” and “I never want to let you down.”

Trump’s transition team refused to make Harp available to the US Times for an interview of course. Anonymous sources close to him expect that, assuming she follows him to the White House, she will continue to deliver a “largely uncontrolled flow of information” while enabling his most chaotic impulses. Sounds like a very stable workplace scenario that will certainly result in good, clear solutions for everyone. I hope some Lifetime screenwriters are watching!