Trump aide Natalie Harp played major role to ensure he was properly glorified in taxpayer-funded ads: report
Donald Trump’s always-present aide, Natalie Harp, helped him create taxpayer-funded ads that glorified the president, according to a report.
On August 7, Trump met with advisors and Republican strategists in the Oval Office to pressure him to spend money from his Political Action Committee to help candidates in the midterms.
However, Trump turned the meeting’s attention to himself and asked Harp to show videos and images that he favors, the New York Times reported.
She then showed a series of videos created by the White House digital team that glorified Trump, the report noted. One of the videos even included UFC president Dana White praising Trump – a quote that would later appear in the ads.
While Trump made it clear he planned to travel and support candidates, he wanted himself to be front and center in the commercials – something that has been met with extreme backlash.
Since September, Trump has been running ads during football games, on news networks, and on other outlets that are “paid for by the U.S. government.” The ads have glorified Trump and his policies. Some of them are even carbon copies of his campaign ads.
Taxpayers are funding the ads.
Outrage has grown over the ads and their political nature, even as the White House describes them as public service announcements.
The first ads began airing in early September in the Washington, D.C., market, to make sure Trump could see them, the Times noted. After that, they began airing across the country using $20 million from the Department of Homeland Security.
That included the infamous “Love me” ad that included Trump stating that America would never be a communist country.
Trump has defended the ads despite mounting criticism.
“If somebody said that that’s wrong, I’ll gladly pay the money,” he said last week. “But these are ads for the country,” he added. “You have to understand. I’m not promoting a candidate. I’m not promoting myself because I’m not running for office. I’m promoting the country.”
The White House has previously told The Independent: “These public service announcements are about reminding Americans to love their country and understand what makes it worth defending, at home, at our borders and abroad.”
The Independent has reached out to the White House about Harp’s role’s in creating the ads.
