Trump’s press chief shows she’s more than capable of going full North Korea
Trump’s press chief shows she’s more than capable of going full North Korea
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Karoline Leavitt’s debut press briefing was standing room only – and she was slick, pugnacious, and loyal to her boss. “Clear a path!” shouted the big shots of TV news as they tried to squeeze their way through reporters packed like sardines into the White House briefing room to get to their front row seats. Tempers frayed, foreheads perspired and necks strained similar to passengers itching to get off a plane.
![[David Smith]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2023/05/25/David_Smith.png?width=75&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
The first press briefing of a new administration is always a standing-room-only event. This time it was the second Donald Trump administration and the debut of Karoline Leavitt, who pointed out that she is the youngest person to serve as White House press secretary. The 27-year-old beats the record of Ronald Ziegler, who was 29 when he was Richard Nixon’s spokesman.
![[Reporters with hands in the air]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/c653bb3ffe25a02c9dfd545722734679ee100156/0_0_7997_5331/master/7997.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
If you’re loyal enough, you’re old enough. On Tuesday Leavitt showed the media hordes and TV viewers that she is more than capable of going full North Korea. Smoothly, serenely and pugnacious-enough-but-not-too-much, she defended her boss’s federal funding freeze and draconian immigration crackdown. She also talked him up as a sort of Renaissance man and Goat (greatest of all time) rolled into one.
In Leavitt’s telling, Trump is “the most transparent and accessible president in American history” and there has never been a president who communicates “as openly and authentically”. He is “the hardest working man in politics” and “there is no negotiator better”. His policies are “wildly popular” and he is responsible for a new “golden age”.
