Latest / Breaking Absurdity — Today's Top Headlines That Can't Be Unheard. Brought to you by @ItsNotSatire. / Special Privileges of Trump’s Inner Circle: Natalie Harp and RFK Jr. | Breaking Absurdity Ep. 34

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Special Privileges of Trump’s Inner Circle: Natalie Harp and RFK Jr. | Breaking Absurdity Ep. 34 · Breaking Absurdity — Today's Top Headlines That Can't Be Unheard. Brought to you by @ItsNotSatire.

• 0:00
  New questions about Nathalie Harp's extraordinary
• 0:02
  proximity to Donald Trump have emerged, not just
• 0:05
  about how Trump was reportedly patting Nathalie,
• 0:07
  but where he was allegedly patting her. There
• 0:10
  are new details about her extraordinary access
• 0:12
  to Trump, the unusual perks she reportedly received,
• 0:15
  and the bizarre affect her relationship with
• 0:17
  the president apparently had on the rest of his
• 0:19
  staff. Because according to Michael Wolff, the
• 0:22
  staff didn't just notice how submissive Nathalie
• 0:24
  was to Trump, they started competing to out -submit
• 0:27
  each other. The Supreme Court has ruled that
• 0:29
  Donald Trump can continue building his $400 million
• 0:31
  White House ballroom, finding that the National
• 0:33
  Trust for Historic Preservation lacks standing
• 0:35
  to challenge the project. Which is an interesting
• 0:38
  position for the Supreme Court to take, as the
• 0:40
  trust was literally established by Congress to
• 0:43
  preserve historic buildings. But apparently,
• 0:45
  if the president knocks down the most famous
• 0:47
  historic building in America, you still need
• 0:49
  to prove that you've been personally harmed to
• 0:51
  complain about it. Even Chief Justice John Roberts
• 0:54
  disagreed, saying the construction is likely
• 0:57
  unlawful. But the majority basically said, sounds
• 1:00
  like a you problem. A MAGA influencer also went
• 1:03
  viral for all the wrong reasons. During an appearance
• 1:06
  on Fox News, Cam Higbee appeared to throw up
• 1:08
  in his mouth while delivering MAGA talking points.
• 1:11
  So apparently, not even MAGA can stomach its
• 1:14
  own messaging anymore. And while Higbee was having
• 1:17
  a gastrointestinal disagreement with the Republican
• 1:19
  party, there was another power struggle happening
• 1:21
  inside the Trump administration. At a White House
• 1:24
  healthcare announcement, RFK Jr. tried to move
• 1:26
  back into position behind Trump. Dr. Oz physically
• 1:30
  stopped him, not once, twice. So the Trump White
• 1:34
  House is now operating on a very simple principle.
• 1:36
  Everyone wants to be Trump's right -hand man.
• 1:39
  And if that means physically moving another cabinet
• 1:41
  secretary out of the way, so be it. It's time
• 1:44
  for Breaking Absurdity. Everything you didn't
• 1:48
  know you needed to know today, but wish you hadn't.
• 1:51
  Ads help keep the lights on here at It's Not
• 1:53
  Satire. But if ads give you the ick, let me help
• 1:56
  you with that. If you want all the absurdity
• 1:58
  without the ads, subscribe to my sub stack and
• 2:00
  look for the ad -free podcast option. The link
• 2:02
  is in the show notes. Now let's get into the
• 2:05
  absurdity. Michael Wolf revealed some new details
• 2:09
  about what may be happening with Natalie Harp,
• 2:11
  Trump's assistant everyone is talking about.
• 2:13
  In a recent report, Wolf says Trump staffers
• 2:16
  regularly joked about Natalie getting patted.
• 2:19
  And we're not talking about a head tap. In fact,
• 2:21
  Wolf says staffers were frequently asking, has
• 2:24
  the boss been spanking Natalie again? The jokes
• 2:27
  arose from the staff's awareness of the unusual
• 2:30
  relationship between Trump and Harp, the closeness.
• 2:33
  and apparently the submissiveness was very palpable.
• 2:37
  According to Wolf, Natalie was submissive to
• 2:38
  the point that the other staffers found it strange,
• 2:41
  but apparently this created an internal competition,
• 2:44
  with staffers essentially trying to copy her
• 2:46
  and eventually out submit each other. And Natalie's
• 2:49
  extreme submissiveness apparently got her some
• 2:51
  perks that few others had, including access to
• 2:54
  a legendary aspect of Mar -a -Lago that many
• 2:57
  envy, the buffet table. According to Wolf, Natalie
• 3:00
  was the only staffer to get access to the Herald
• 3:02
  did buffet table, creating yet another hierarchy
• 3:05
  among Trump's staff. So apparently in Trump's
• 3:08
  White House, there are multiple ways to get ahead.
• 3:10
  You can be competent, you can be loyal, or you
• 3:12
  can out submit everyone else to get the buffet.
• 3:15
  And if I were to speculate, maybe one of those
• 3:18
  envious and jealous staffers is the one leaking
• 3:20
  this information to the press. Leading off today,
• 3:24
  the Supreme Court has given Donald Trump another
• 3:26
  green light to continue construction on his $400
• 3:28
  million White House ballroom. And the way it
• 3:31
  happened is almost as interesting as the ballroom
• 3:33
  itself. The National Trust for Historic Preservation
• 3:36
  sued to stop the project, arguing that the administration
• 3:39
  did not have the legal authority to demolish
• 3:41
  the East Wing and proceed with the construction
• 3:43
  without congressional approval. The Supreme Court's
• 3:46
  conservative majority allowed construction to
• 3:49
  continue, but the ruling was primarily about
• 3:51
  whether the national Trust had the legal standing
• 3:53
  to bring the challenge. And Chief Justice John
• 3:56
  Roberts was not impressed. Roberts, joined by
• 3:59
  three liberal justices, argued that the project
• 4:01
  is likely unlawful and that Congress has authority
• 4:04
  over federal property. So the Supreme Court has
• 4:07
  essentially said, we're not saying that you can
• 4:09
  legally build a ballroom, we're just saying this
• 4:11
  particular organization isn't the one that gets
• 4:14
  to stop you right now. Which is an extremely
• 4:16
  Supreme Court way of saying, construction may
• 4:19
  continue while everyone figures out whether construction
• 4:21
  construction was legal. And there's something
• 4:23
  particularly absurd about the plaintiff here.
• 4:26
  This isn't the National Association of People
• 4:29
  Who Don't Like Gold. It's the National Trust
• 4:31
  for Historic Preservation. Preserving historic
• 4:34
  buildings is literally the assignment. It's like
• 4:37
  the National Association of People Who Don't
• 4:39
  Like Wildfires showing up to complain about a
• 4:42
  wildfire and being told I'm sorry, but how has
• 4:44
  this wildfire personally injured you? Meanwhile,
• 4:47
  the White House ballroom keeps going up, and
• 4:50
  if you're wondering whether Trump is concerned
• 4:51
  about the controversy, don't worry. He has a
• 4:54
  ballroom to build, and apparently nothing stands
• 4:57
  between Donald Trump and a building project quite
• 4:59
  like a court order. Speaking of things that are
• 5:02
  difficult to digest, MAGA talking points have
• 5:05
  apparently become so hard to stomach that they
• 5:07
  are now causing gastrointestinal emergencies
• 5:09
  on live TV. Cam Higby, a MAGA influencer and
• 5:13
  PragerU producer, appeared on Fox News to discuss
• 5:16
  Israel -Gaza and the spread of pro -Palestinian
• 5:20
  propaganda on TikTok. And then his stomach apparently
• 5:23
  decided it wanted editorial independence. Maggot
• 5:27
  talking points these days have been really hard
• 5:29
  to stomach. Sorry guys. And apparently they're
• 5:32
  getting so unpalatable that Maggot influencers
• 5:34
  are now having gastrointestinal emergencies on
• 5:37
  live TV. Case in point, Cam Higbee went live
• 5:40
  on Fox News to explain how pro -Palestinian propaganda
• 5:43
  is spreading on TikTok. And then his stomach
• 5:45
  apparently decided it wanted editorial independence.
• 5:49
  As Higbee says, Spread this propaganda throughout
• 5:52
  the internet by using... He nearly loses his
• 6:03
  lunch and Laurie Igram just says, get it together.
• 6:06
  You'd think he would have run to the toilet at
• 6:08
  that point, but no, he keeps going. I think his
• 6:17
  body couldn't stomach any more MAGA talking points.
• 6:20
  And while Kam Higbee's gastrointestinal system
• 6:23
  was establishing its own political independence,
• 6:26
  there was a much more physical struggle for power
• 6:29
  happening inside the White House. At a healthcare
• 6:31
  announcement, RFK Jr. and Dr. Mehmet Oz appeared
• 6:34
  to get into a very brief but literal dispute
• 6:37
  over who gets to stand where behind Donald Trump.
• 6:40
  RFK Jr. was speaking and then attempted to return
• 6:42
  to his position behind the president. There was
• 6:45
  just one problem. Dr. Oz was in his way. Trump's
• 6:48
  cabinet is starting to look less like a government
• 6:50
  and more like a barnyard. At today's healthcare
• 6:52
  announcement, R .F .K. Jr. tried to get back
• 6:54
  to his position directly behind Trump. There's
• 6:57
  just one problem. Dr. Oz was standing in the
• 6:59
  way and apparently Oz wasn't ready to surrender
• 7:01
  pole position. R .F .K. tries once and Oz blocks
• 7:10
  and R .F .K. tries again. This time Oz uses both
• 7:13
  hands. R .F .K. finally gives up and stands there
• 7:16
  looking like someone just stole his favorite
• 7:17
  pecking order spot. Apparently in the Trump administration
• 7:20
  even standing behind the president is a competitive
• 7:22
  sport. So at first this just looks like a bizarre
• 7:25
  bit of White House choreography, but then we
• 7:28
  get another clip from the same event that might
• 7:30
  explain why everyone seems so interested in maintaining
• 7:33
  their position. Earlier, R .F .K. Jr. had been
• 7:36
  talking about the administration's drug pricing
• 7:38
  efforts when he said, and made it very clear
• 7:47
  that our jobs were dependent on this getting
• 7:49
  through. Nothing says teamwork like, get this
• 7:54
  done or you both get fired. And then Trump himself
• 7:57
  jumps in. I didn't want to fire a candidate.
• 8:00
  I couldn't. The thought of firing this guy. I
• 8:03
  wasn't going to do that. Go ahead, Bob. Which
• 8:06
  is somehow both reassuring and deeply threatening.
• 8:09
  Don't worry, Bobby, I wasn't going to fire you.
• 8:11
  You can practically hear RFK thinking, thank
• 8:14
  you Mr. President, may I please return to my
• 8:16
  designated position now? And apparently, yes,
• 8:19
  eventually Bobby is allowed back behind the president.
• 8:22
  But then something else happens. Dr. Oz is talking
• 8:25
  about how getting Americans to work for one additional
• 8:28
  year could generate another trillion dollars
• 8:30
  in GDP. And Trump suddenly turns to RFK. I've
• 8:41
  spoken to Bobby about it. He understands it may
• 8:43
  be better than anybody and he feels the same
• 8:45
  way. Which makes you wonder what Bobby was thinking.
• 8:48
  He didn't chime in or add anything. Trump just
• 8:51
  spoke for him. So either Trump was hoping Bobby
• 8:53
  was going to speak, or he just decided what Bobby
• 8:55
  thought and wanted us all to know in real time.
• 8:58
  Because apparently the most important qualification
• 9:00
  for a cabinet secretary isn't just understanding
• 9:03
  your portfolio, it's the ability to let Trump
• 9:06
  fill in the blanks when you don't say anything.
• 9:08
  And while all of this was happening, there was
• 9:10
  another member of the administration demonstrating
• 9:12
  his own commitment to the cause, Commerce Secretary
• 9:15
  Howard Lutnick was explaining how pharmaceutical
• 9:18
  companies would lower drug prices. And in the
• 9:28
  middle of this magnificent celebration of pharmaceutical
• 9:31
  savings, the president appears to briefly nod
• 9:34
  off. So you've got RFK and Dr. Oz fighting over
• 9:37
  physical position, RFK talking about losing his
• 9:40
  job, Trump reassuring him that he doesn't want
• 9:43
  to fire him. Trump calling on Bobby for support,
• 9:46
  Howard Lutnick explaining the pharmaceutical
• 9:48
  revolution, and Trump appears to be asleep. Which
• 9:52
  means the entire administration may have been
• 9:54
  competing for the attention of a man who wasn't
• 9:56
  currently paying attention. That's not a cabinet
• 9:59
  meeting. It's a room full of people trying to
• 10:01
  put the president down for a nap. And there you
• 10:05
  have it. Another day of breaking absurdity, your
• 10:08
  daily reminder that this is not normal. Be sure
• 10:11
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• 10:13
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• 10:17
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• 10:18
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• 10:21
  click on the link in the show notes and look
• 10:23
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• 10:25
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