Jon Ossoff Gives the Base What It Wants

H ow many words does it take to trigger MAGA world? Three, it turns out.

When Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia said at a rally on Sunday that President Trump wants to “travel with Natalie”—implying an untoward relationship between the 80-year-old grandfather and his 35-year-old special assistant, Natalie Harp—the outrage from Trump allies was as loud as it was predictable: Megyn Kelly, Newt Gingrich, and Laura Ingraham, among others, accused Ossoff of misogyny, despite having previously defended Trump’s own sexist comments. (The word hypocrisy feels inadequate here.) But as this debate over propriety unfolds, a dedicated swath of the Democratic base is delighted.

Since Trump’s reelection, these voters have been hankering to see their leaders show, well, a little more fight.

So far, most of that fight seems to have come from midterm candidates on the far left, who often target the Democratic Party itself or the so-called establishment.

To hear Ossoff, a more moderate Democrat in a reddish-purple state, direct a sharp—albeit petty—jab directly at the president thrilled such voters.

Some, in fact, found it almost cathartic.

“Someone finally said something,” a 52-year-old woman named Rebecca, who attended Ossoff’s Atlanta rally, told me, sounding delighted.

Bring on the “smoke,” Aaron Whitely, the chair of the Democratic Party of Chatham County, in Georgia, told me.

“The younger folks are looking for it.

The older folks are loving it.” Ossoff appears to know this.

It’s why viral clips of the senator, who is running for reelection, seem to pop up every few weeks like zinnias in summer.

It’s also why you can’t have a conversation about the 2028 presidential race without mentioning his name.

But just because the base loves the smoke doesn’t mean every other Georgia voter will.

T hroughout Ossoff’s reelection campaign , Democratic talking heads have credited the senator for succinctly calling out the Trump administration’s alleged self-dealing.