Aunt Dawn read the “Washingtonian” article in silence and then looked at Emily-Grace and slowly shook her head: “I can see why Trump keeps Natalie around – this stuff only feeds his ego. Have you tried to talk to her about these things?”
Emily-Grace: “I think it would destroy our friendship. Do you think that she has psychological problems?”
Aunt Dawn: "Yes, definitely! But it seems more than just a personal psychological issue. She is part of a cult. A bit like worshiping a God on earth.”
Emily-Grace: “What should I do?”
Aunt Dawn: “Same advice as before. Stay there. If you like her so much, she might need your help some time.”
Emily-Grace had no contact with Natalia the next day – no calls, no texts and no conversations in the corridor! She read Trump’s “Truth Social” posts and discussed them with her aunt each evening.
On the following day she received an urgent request: “I want to explain to the President how AI works. Could it be called superintelligence like some people are telling him?”
Emily-Grace then did some reading and watched a couple of videos before writing a summary of about 1000 words. But, even before she sent it to Natalie she saw that Trump was already using the term.
Natalie suggested that she and Emily-Grace have coffee together. Natalie looked and sounded very happy. Pete Hegseth’s wife had been sending her nice messages. Natalie was particularly excited that Hegseth had established a Pentagon Office of Religious Affairs. However, her mood darkened a little when Emily-Grace asked about any progress on her becoming Chief-of-Staff or Press Secretary. Natalie just said: “God and the President would eventually decide. I just need to be patient.”
Emily-Grace had been taken to a church every week when she was a child but now did not believe in a God, so she said nothing.
When Emily-Grace told Aunt Dawn about these conversations she said: “Hegseth is doing all he can to create a military loyal to him. But why? Does Hegseth have presidential ambitions?”
Emily-Grace laughed: “Maybe his wife thinks Natalie could be his running mate?”
Aunt Dawn: “You shouldn’t laugh. These people are mad!”
Emily-Grace: “I don’t think Natalie is mad. She is just in love with Trump -- Donny –and has impossible dreams.”
Aunt Dawn then tuned her head to look directly at Emily-Grace: “Have you ever been in-love?”
Emily-Grace: “Only when I was a teenager. Not recently.”
Aunt Dawn: “Then we must find you a man. But not someone who works in the White House. Leave it to me!”
Emily-Grace grimaced a little, but also wondered what her well-connected aunt could come up with.”
That evening, as usual, Aunt Dawn tried to encourage Emily-Grace to watch some of her favorite pod-casts about US politics, but Emily-Grace begged out saying that her White House and Natalie experiences were enough for each day. Just as she searched online for a pleasant movie to watch the door-bell rang. Aunt Dawn went to answer the door and the next thing Emily-Grace heard Natalie’s voice: “Is Emily-Grace here? Can I come in?”
Natalie was distressed: “I am sorry, but I needed to get away for a while. I am confused. He got really angry with me today and said that I am useless. Causing more problems than I am worth. I try so hard to help him. I do everything.”
Aunt Dawn decided that she would give them some privacy and left the room. Emily-Grace asked “what happened” and Natalie replied: “I don’t know. The pressure of all his responsibilities sometimes affects him. Even when I massage his neck he complains. This morning I had to help him out of bed.”
Emily-Grace then decided to ask a question that had often been on her mind: “Were you in bed together?”
Natalie seemed surprised by the question: “No. I just came from Melania’s room. He is very strong but he has some health problems.”
Natalie fell silent for a while and Emily-Grace perceived that she was trying to decide what to say next: “You may not approve, but we tried to have sex one time, but it was not successful. The pressure of being President takes all his energy.”
Emily-Grace was not sure what answer she had expected but was pleased with Natalie’s direct explanation. She could now stop wondering about this!
Unsure what to say next, Emily-Grace simply said: “I was about to watch this movie. Let’s do it together!”
Natalie simply nodded. Natalie had not brought her printer and seemed lost without it. In any case, Emily-Grace noted that her mood was better next morning. When her phone rang she answered with a simple “yes” and said: “I am coming.”
Emily-Grace had been at the White House almost every day that Natalie and Trump were in Washington and her Aunt Dawn was now insistent that Emily-Grace accompany her to a luncheon the next day. Emily-Grace explained the situation to Natalie and added – ruefully – that her aunt thought she needed to get out more to meet some nice young men. Natalie simply said “ok” without further comment. Emily-Grace then realized that Natalie had never asked anything about her life – romantic or otherwise. Her whole focus and life was focused on “Donny”!
As she left, Natalie kissed Emily-Grace on the cheek and thanked her for being a “true friend”. “I just hope I can avoid Howard Lutnick today. He always talks to me about the President but I can tell that he wants to ask me for something else. He just hangs around. And he always wants to sit next to me on the plane.”
On the way to the luncheon Aunt Dawn told Emily-Grace not to tell anyone that she worked at the White House or knew Natalie because everyone there would be a Trump haters. There were a couple of speeches by podcast hosts that Emily-Grace had never seen and heard of. She recalled that one was named Jennifer Welch. A particularly attractive looking man named Mark sitting on the same table as Emily-Grace paid a lot of attention to her and as they were all leaving asked for her phone number. Emily-Grace hesitated but Aunt Dawn intervened to ensure that she gave it to him. Aunt Dawn commented to Emily-Grace that some of the people at the luncheon were “as mad as Natalie” but “I wanted to exposure you to the other side”.
When Mark called and they met Emily-Grace sat at at table with a glass of wine in her hand thinking that Mark’s earnest conversation was boring until he made some very disparaging remarks about Natalie Harp. Emily-Grace decided that she would not react, but Mark’s comment that Natalie was “nothing but a slut” prompted an angry response: “I know Natalie. She is very nice and sincere”.
Mark laughed: “How do you know her?”
Emily-Grace: “She is my friend. I work with her!”
Mark was surprised: “At the White House? For Trump?”
Emily-Grace now regretted her anger and, after a moment, said: “I want to go home.”
Emily-Grace told Aunt Dawn what had happened. “Never mind”, said Dawn. “You cannot hide it forever.”
Natalie was very happy the next day when she and Emily-Grace had a quick coffee at the White House. Trump had called her to the stage at a rally to hand him a decree to sign and had said nice things about her. Natalie felt that her relationship with Trump “would last forever”.
A little later Emily-Grace received a call from a man who asked if he could “talk to Natalie Harp”.
Emily-Grace: “Who are you? How did you get my number?”
Man: “We have a mutual friend.”
Emily-Grace thought for a moment, before asking: “Mark? He gave you my number?”
The man did not answer her questions. He just said: “Tell Natalie bone-cancer John Doe called.”
Emily-Grace was unsure about what to do. She felt that she should tell Natalie about the call but this would mean that Natalie knew she had talked to people about her. She decided to talk to Aunt Dawn that evening.“
"John Doe?”, asked Dawn. “Is this a real name, or like a Jane Doe?”
Emily-Grace felt a little stupid: “I didn’t think of that!”
Dawn: “Check your phone. What does caller ID show?”
Emily-Grace opened her phone, scrolled for a while and then said: “It does not give the number.”
Dawn thought for a while before finally saying: “I think you should wait to see if he calls again. Try and get more information from him. Then think more about whether to tell Natalie.”
The next day Emily-Grace read that Pete Hegseth wanted to execute a man with by “firing squad” and live-stream it on television and other media.
“What does Natalie think?” asked Aunt Dawn with some disgust in her voice. “She is very friendly with Hegseth’s wife who runs his life!”
Emily-Grace detected anger in Dawn’s voice and, after an uncomfortable sleepless night, concluded that she could no longer defend Natalie – even to her aunt – by trying to invoke her dependent psychological state.”
But Emily-Grace’s conclusion turned out to be temporary when she read that Trump had picked Katie Zacharia to be his new Press Secretary. She was unsure how Natalie would take this. On the one hand Natalie would be disappointed that she would not be Press Secretary, but would it feed her delusions about replacing Susie Wiles as Chief-of-Staff?