Outgoing White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was a full-throated defender of President Donald Trump at the podium, but she typically served up the MAGA message with a smile.
That’s not to say the 28-year-old’s briefings weren’t combative, especially as she mixed it up with reporters from some of Trump’s least favorite media outlets, including one top CNN journalist whose visage is a frequent subject of presidential commentary.
But while Sarah Huckabee Sanders rode her tenure as a first-term Trump press secretary all the way to the Arkansas governor’s mansion, once inhabited by her father, she often didn’t look like she was having a good time in the briefings.
Trump’s first press secretary, Sean Spicer, was a seasoned Republican communications professional. He got off on the wrong foot with the White House press corps almost immediately over inaugural crowd sizes.
Kayleigh McEnany was an effective communicator, but she relied heavily on her briefing book and held the job during a particularly tough stretch of Trump’s first term. Reporters complained she lectured them.
Anthony Scaramucci gave just one press briefing during his famously brief tenure as White House communications director in the first Trump administration. Stephanie Grisham held none during her nine-month stint as press secretary during Trump 1.0.
Leavitt’s immediate predecessor, former President Joe Biden’s top spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre, did not appear to enjoy difficult exchanges with reporters at all. She frequently became flustered during tough briefings. When she published a book about her time in the White House after the Biden administration was over, many Democratic operatives retroactively, if usually anonymously, panned her performance.
Politico published a story calling Jean-Pierre’s 2025 book tour “non-stop cringe.” The outlet reported, “Jean-Pierre’s difficulty in media interviews, many noted, were reminiscent of her unsteady, muddled responses over 2.5 years at the briefing room lectern.”
Either way, Jean-Pierre rarely radiated joy while answering reporter questions. And while her predecessor, Jen Psaki, had the advantage of being press secretary while Biden was at the peak of his popularity in office, Leavitt remained a grinning presence as Trump’s job approval ratings slid below 40% and the country went to war with Iran.
The youngest press secretary ever didn’t spark any major controversies despite speaking for a controversial president. (The closest was probably calling some Gen Zers “lazy.”) When she was on maternity leave, the White House didn’t bother to audition any possible candidates to replace her, and they may not do so now that she is departing.
In Leavitt’s place at the podium were Cabinet officials, highlighted by Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. These are people who are talked about as future presidential candidates, not future press secretaries.
Leavitt’s tenure isn’t the only example of the Trump team laughing in the face of political danger weeks out from what figures to be a tough midterm election with narrow Republican congressional majorities on the line. Shortly before it was announced that Leavitt was leaving, onetime communications director to former Vice President Mike Pence, Katie Miller, dropped a podcast with Rubio and his wife. The interview, like most of her podcasts, was full of laughs. Their exchanges on Pop-Tarts and the Rubios’ disagreements about scheduling went viral.
Her husband, Stephen Miller, is a longtime Trump aide and the deputy White House chief of staff. He is also a leading messenger for the president, but his delivery and overall approach are quite a bit more intense, though he is probably having fun in his own way.
The Stephen Miller style has been common among Trump’s army of pugilists seeking to pummel what they perennially describe as “fake news.” Trump himself has been known to lose his temper with reporters, sometimes insulting them to their faces in harshly personal terms. MAGA is frequently described as an angry political movement.
Leavitt delivered Stephen Milleresque lines, but with a markedly lighter touch.
If Democrats win in November, presumably it won’t be all fun and games at the Trump White House. Aides and officials won’t be yukking it up as they are subpoenaed, dragged before congressional committees, investigated, and preparing for a third impeachment attempt. Eyes will inevitably turn toward 2028 and the future, even within the administration.
There has always been an us-vs.-them mentality within Trump’s orbit, Trumpworld against the world. But there has been less infighting within the team the second time around as even among prospective rivals, friendships have been forged by fire. Publicly, at least, Leavitt’s resignation was greeted by an outpouring of affection by virtually the whole Trump administration.
“I love my job and I thank God every morning when I walk through the front door of the West Wing for this blessing and opportunity,” she told Miranda Devine’s podcast last year. “And we have an amazing team. Most of us worked together on the campaign, which is unusual. I think we all sort of came into with a battle rhythm already of how to fight and message and win.”
TRUMP HAS HIS KAROLINE LEAVITT REPLACEMENT LINED UP AS HE RETOOLS WHITE HOUSE PRESS OPERATION
“It’s really been an amazing team with very little drama,” she added. “Which is very unusual if you ever watched the West Wing series.”
Now on to the next episode.