Smart, Strong, Elegant Women Have Always Had Trump’s Ear
The effort to concoct a scandal around President Donald Trump’s executive assistant, Natalie Harp, ignores one of the peculiar, if underreported, facts about Trump.
For decades, the president has had an archetype of the person he trusts and heeds: strong, smart, elegant women.
Oh, I hear the cackles from half the country. They could drown out the Indy racers set to roar through the nation’s capital this weekend.
And there’s enough in Trump’s background to admit the cackles, if not earned, are at least understood.
However, look at the record and you will see the archetype follows Trump around the way the Easter Bunny followed Joe Biden.
Start with the president’s first wife, Ivana Trump.
It’s easy to remember Ivana as the colorful A-list celebrity and the tabloid fixture. Who can forget her line from “The First Wives Club,” coyly chirping with her thick Czech accent, “Don’t get mad, get everything,” before she walks away with some gentlemanly hunk?
Less remembered is how Ivana was Trump’s shrewd and trusted partner in building his real estate empire.
In “The Art of the Deal,” the billionaire developer brags about her smarts and skills almost as much as his own.
Speaking of Ivana, here’s a pro tip to the media and Democrats trying to smack Trump around with this Natalie Harp business: It won’t work. When you’ve had your first wife and mistress (and eventually second wife) get into a WWE-worthy altercation on a ski slope with paparazzi on hand, you’re not going to sweat cheap innuendo about an executive assistant.
Who Hired the First Woman to Oversee the Building of a New York Skyscraper?
Now for some trivia: Who built Trump Tower? Answer: A young woman named Barbara Res. Trump hired Res as the vice president in charge of its construction, making her the first woman to oversee the building of a major New York City skyscraper. She was only 31 years old.
Res went on to become the executive vice president overseeing construction and development for the Trump Organization, spending 18 years with the company.
She’d turn on Trump during the run-up to the 2020 election, becoming a darling of liberal media when she published a book slamming the president. However, in 2013, before Trump went into politics, she wrote “All Alone on the 68th Floor: How One Woman Changed the Face of Construction.” She wouldn’t have been on that floor but for Trump.
When Trump gave the media a tour of the construction going on in the White House earlier this week, you could just feel the passion and love he has for construction. I mean, he was speaking of the new helicopter pad the way Romeo spoke of Juliet. If he could replace “Hail to the Chief” with the sound of sledgehammers, he would.
And Trump had in charge of his beloved construction endeavors a young woman.
Res wasn’t the only female hotshot Trump had in a high position. Fans of “The Apprentice” may remember Carolyn Kepcher. This Trump archetype was his right-hand in the show’s famous boardroom. For the first five seasons, she was right there when Trump growled, “You’re fired!”
However, in real life, Kepcher was an executive vice president of the Trump Organization and COO and general manager of Trump National Golf Clubs.
We know Trump’s passion for golf. If he had his druthers, he’d turn Iran’s Kharg Island into a championship course. And yet he put his clubs in the capable hands of a woman.
Meanwhile, as she came of age, Ivanka, like her mother before her, took a key role in the Trump Organization. And Melania Trump? You couldn’t create a stronger, smarter, more elegant woman in a lab.
The Women of His Political World
Then Trump came down the escalator.
Who ran his campaign in 2016? Kellyanne Conway. Archetype.
Who were three of his most trusted aides that first term? Ivanka, Hope Hicks, and current Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. Even former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley fits the archetype.
Did you notice that even with all the smack Haley threw at him during the 2024 campaign Trump never really went after her?
Because the archetype can get away with telling Trump what he might not want to hear.
Who have been his successful press secretaries? Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Kayleigh McEnany, and Karoline Leavitt.
Look at Trump’s second-term Cabinet: Sure, former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem did herself in, former Attorney General Pam Bondi fell a little short, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard had to go help her husband whip cancer. But it’s crucial to note Trump put women of the archetype in three of the four top positions for protecting our country.
Even look at his chief of staff. During his first term, Trump went through chiefs of staff the way Spinal Tap goes through drummers. All men. Susie Wiles? In the 2024 campaign and thus far in his second term, Wiles has pulled off the feat of keeping Trump focused. As human endeavors go, I’d put that up with the moon landing.
Put it all together, what am I saying? Donald Trump makes for one heck of a terrible misogynist.
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AUTHOR
Al Perrotta
Al Perrotta is a contributing editor for the Daily Signal.
EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Signal column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.
