TOI Correspondent from Washington: The oldest man to win the US Presidency will have the youngest press secretary in White House history.
MAGA supremo and President-elect Donald Trump on Friday named Karoline Leavitt, 27, as the White House press secretary, one of the most visible jobs in the world, continuing his rapid staffing of an administration that still has two months to go befoe assuming office.
Leavitt, mother of a three-month old infant, worked most recently as his campaign press secretary after serving in his first term as an assistant to four White House press secretaries he cycled through. A former Fox News intern, she is known for her combative style and disdain for the mainstream liberal media she shares with Trump.
“Karoline is smart, tough, and has proven to be a highly effective communicator,” Trump said in a statement announcing her promotion. “I have the utmost confidence she will excel at the podium, and help deliver our message to the American People as we, Make America Great Again.”
Leavitt trumped other prospects like Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba and his confidante Laura Loomer for the high-profile job that involves daily appearance — if Trump wishes so — on the White House press room lectern. During Trump’s first term, weeks passed without a daily briefing as the MAGA supremo himself, never short of words, often took charge of the podium.
Leavitt, a 2019 B.A graduate, ran for Congress in New Hampshire in 2022 and lost, adopting positions so far right that she was reportedly dubbed KKKaroline in the state’s political circles. One MAGA fans described her “everything the left hates, young, straight, blonde, Christian, beauty, brains and a mother!”
Her nomination is in line with Trump’s picks so far of MAGA loyalists regardless of age, experience, or qualifications, in an effort to break the stranglehold of the old school Washington establishment.
Some of the nominees have already generated a backlash even within the Republican Party even as Democrats are apoplectic over what they see as an impending “kakistocracy” — an administration staffed by the country’s least suitable or competent citizens. Trump’s picks for Defense Secretary and Attorney General have both been rocked by allegations of sexual misdemeanors, with doubts about whether they can pass a confirmation process.
On Friday, reports surfaced that Pete Hegseth, Trump’s choice to lead the Defense Department, faced police investigation into allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman in a California hotel in 2017 after a Republican conference. The incident did not result in criminal charges. Trump’s AG nominee Matt Gaetz faces even more lurid charges of underaged sex trafficking.
The reports have alarmed Republican Senate grandees who would typically be tasked with confirming the nominees, but Trump has indicated he would simply work around the process with recess appointments, even as MAGA loyalists are ready to rubberstamp the appointments because they believe the President-elect has the mandate to do as he likes.