Jimmy Stewart’s daughter slams RNC speaker’s Trump comparison

Actor Jimmy Stewart’s daughter, Kelly Stewart Harcourt, penned a letter to The New York Times ripping a Republican National Convention speaker for saying President Donald Trump was like George Bailey, Stewart’s ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ character.  

On Monday night, cancer survivor Natalie Harp used the premise of the 1947 classic to give Trump the ‘chance to see what the world would be like without’ him, suggesting had ‘crooked’ Hillary Clinton won, Trump’s ‘right to try’ medical experimentation bill wouldn’t become law – and Harp would be dead. 

‘Given that this beloved American classic is about decency, compassion, sacrifice and a fight against corruption, our family considers Ms. Harp’s analogy to be the height of hypocrisy and dishonesty,’ wrote Harcourt. 

In ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ Stewart’s character George Bailey is suicidal on Christmas Eve, after spending his life taking a step back in order to help others, including working alongside his uncle to keep open his late father’s business, the Bailey Brothers’ Building and Loan. 

Bailey missed out on traveling the world and instead finds himself still in his hometown and near financial ruin, after his uncle misplaced $8,000 of the Building and Loan’s cash. 

Henry Potter, the greedy real estate developer in the film, remarks to Bailey that he’s worth ‘more dead than alive’ and so Bailey jumps off a bridge only to be saved by his guardian angel, Clarence. 

Spoiler alert: Potter had the money the whole time. 

Clarence then guides Bailey through a reality that shows him what the world would be like if he had never been born. 

If Trump had never been born, according to Harp, ‘a “crooked” Mrs. Potter,’ would rule, the RNC speaker said, a clear reference to Clinton’s nickname given to her by the president when they were political rivals in 2016. 

‘I wouldn’t be alive today if it weren’t for you,’ Harp said, addressing the president.  

Harp explained that after a near-deadly medical error she was diagnosed with a rare and terminal bone cancer.          

‘The Democrats love to talk about healthcare being a human right. But a right to what? Well, I’ll tell you,’ Harp continued. ‘To them, it’s a right to marijuana, opioids, and the right-to-die with “dignity” – a politicallycorrect way of saying “give up,” at best, and at worst, assisted suicide.’ 

‘I was told I was a burden to my family and to my country – and that by choosing to die early, I’d actually be saving the lives of others by preserving resources for them rather than wasting them on a lost cause like myself,’ Harp said.   

Harp said that Trump signing the right to try bill in May 2018 allowed her access to the experimental treatments that saved her life. 

‘George Bailey’s father was right: “All you can take with you is that which you’ve given away,”‘ Harp said, continuing to quote, ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’ 

And she did again praising Trump as ‘the richest man in the world,’ which is what the townspeople called Bailey when they raised enough money together to make up for the $8,000 the Saving and Loan lost. 

‘It’s a wonderful life!’ Harp told Trump. ‘You made America great again.’