Political pundits have weighed in on Trump’s new White House press secretary hire following her first official press debut on Tuesday.
Karoline Leavitt, a 27-year-old mother of one, and the youngest press secretary to take up the role in White House history made her first official statements to the media Tuesday, giving the rundown on everything from Trump’s staunch immigration policies to Biden’s presidency.
The press conference saw “new media” – Tiktokers, podcasters, and independent journalists – in the room with a representative of that group even promised the first question at each White House briefing henceforth.
But this Gen Z Republican from New Hampshire, who formerly launched a bid for Congress, before interning at Fox News, is now facing both praise and criticism from all sides – prompting questions as to whether she will will thrive in the world of MAGA or buckle under the scrutiny of the left.
Speaking about Leavitt in a Fox News Tuesday night segment, broadcaster Brittney Hopper said: “I just love her. I think she was born for this job – she did such a great job today.”
The former CBS News journalist praised the expansion of press briefings to the “new media” citing her belief that former administrations only granted “the left narratives questions” before calling the new age of TikTok politics “real journalism.”
However, those on the left made a clear signal that Leavitt was not one to be trusted branding her worse than Trump’s former press secretary and Dancing with the Stars contestant Sean Spicer.
The 27-year-old told the press that the new Trump 2.0 era would welcome questions from the “new media” allowing TikToker’s the right to probe the Trump administration (Copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved)
Spicer made headlines in 2017 when he berated the press and refused to take questions during a White House press conference, accusing them of “incorrectly” reporting on Trump’s 2017 inauguration and the crowd size being smaller than former President Barack Obama’s in 2009.
In his Tuesday late show diatribe, Jimmy Kimmel fired out at Leavitt for peddling Trump’s false claim that he solved the Southern California wildfire crisis after “deploying” the US military.
California water officials debunked the President’s claims Tuesday in a statement published on X that read: “The military did not enter California. The federal government restarted federal water pumps after they were offline for maintenance for three days.
“State water supplies in Southern California remain plentiful.”
Citing the bleak truth of the matter as per a statement on behalf of Governor Newsom, Kimmel, told his audience, “but don’t say any of that to Trump’s new press secretary” before rolling a clip from Leavitt’s conference.
When asked to clarify the military’s role, where the water came from, and how the water was transported to the fires, Leavitt told the press that the military had been “on the ground to respond” and stressed that the water was only “turned on” because Trump had made an official visit there.
Karoline Leavitt at a shooting range in 2022, where her video was captioned: ‘take it @joebiden’ (@karolineleavitt/Instagram)
Stunned by her response, Kimmel, said: “This might be worse than when he made Sean Spicer say he had the biggest inauguration crowd in history.
“Whether or not the U.S. military entered California and turned the water on is not a matter of debate – this is not liberal versus conservative. It didn’t happen OK.”
After a stint working for Rep. Elise Marie Stefanik’s office, Leavitt was branded one of the many “bright rising Republican stars” for serving as a prominent voice in rallying against Democratic Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the sexual harassment scandal he was embroiled in, according to a 2021 New York Post article.
She is the fifth press secretary to join Trump’s White House after purging four of them during his first tenure, namely: Sean Spicer, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Stephanie Grisham, and Kayleigh McEnany.
Leavitt’s journey to the White House is less than most starting almost eight years ago when she was a college student at the conservative Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire.
Despite the onslaught of commentary, she appears to have the full support of the man set to keep her on her toes as he orchestrates divisive policies in his second term, “Karoline is smart, tough, and has proven to be a highly effective communicator,” Trump previously stated.
