Backlash Against Ossoff Continues to Grow After Trump Aide Remarks, Collins Increases in Poll

Democrat strategist David Axelrod on Wednesday chastised Sen. Jon Ossoff for his comments on Natalie Harp, adding a left-wing voice to the growing backlash against the Georgia senator.

In a post on X, Axelrod said, “The paragraph from his weekend speech that has gotten so much attention was a brutal takedown. But two words in it, ‘with Natalie’ seemed gratuitous and unnecessary.”

Axelrod’s post follows disparaging comments Ossoff unleashed on President Donald Trump’s aide this past week during the senator’s campaign rally in Atlanta.

Speaking from the stage, Ossoff said, “He [Trump] doesn’t want to do the job. He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the emir of Qatar.”

Since then, the statement has gone viral. Google searches for Harp rose by 5,000%, and a CNN article titled “Who is Natalie Harp” was the news outlet’s most read story on Tuesday, according to CNN’s Brian Stelter.

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In an appearance on MS NOW, host Jen Psaki, the former White House press secretary under President Joe Biden, asked Ossoff why he decided to mention Harp in his attacks on Trump.

He replied, “We’re in wartime. The commander-in-chief has mired us in this geopolitical disaster. … He [Trump] retreats into this bubble of West Wing aides who are his security blanket to make him feel good about himself.”

In a different episode on MS Now, speaking to host Lawrence O’Donnell, Ossoff further commented, saying, “Whether it’s Natalie Harp printing out Donald Trump’s daily dose of delusion and flattery … no one cares about their feelings. … [He] retreats into this circle of sycophantic aides who tell him every day what he wants to hear.”

While Ossoff has sought to backtrack slightly on his statements, others have pushed back on the senator, even accusing him of being sexist. “That selective targeting of a woman is the definition of a sexist cheap shot,” Georgia Republican Party Chairman Josh McKoon told the Daily Signal earlier this week. 

Former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that “Natalie Harp is one of the most loyal and hardest working aides on President Trump’s team,” Forbes reported.

Former Fox News star Megyn Kelly this week accused Ossoff of insinuating that Trump and Harp are having an affair.

On Tuesday’s airing of “The Megyn Kelly Show,” she said, “I think … this is despicable because, why would you attack a 35-year-old cancer survivor as a possible affair partner to the president of the United States when you have absolutely nothing to back that up?”

The Ossoff campaign did not respond to the Daily Signal’s request for comment.

Mike Collins Gains 6 Points on Ossoff

While the media boomerang effect keeps growing, Rep. Mike Collins, who is challenging Ossoff for U.S. Senate, has gained significant ground, according to polling.

Since last month, Collins has increased by six points, according to a recent InsiderAdvantage poll.

According to a press release from the Collins campaign, Ossoff’s challenger has increased his advertising spending this month, from $1.4 million on ads in July to $9.2 million this month. Over the past six months, three surveys have shown that Collins increased by six points, the Collins campaign claims.

Josh Siegel, Collins’ campaign manager, commented on the candidate’s increase in favorability.

“Jon Ossoff can spend all the money in the world trying to reinvent himself, but you can’t buy a new voting record. Georgians are starting to get a good look at the one he has, and they don’t like what they see,” he said.