Who cares what the Daily Beast wrote today? Karoline Leavitt does, apparently.
The White House press secretary fired off a random, throwaway insult at the Daily Beast during her appearance at a Turning Point USA event in Minneapolis on Thursday, suggesting that our coverage has gotten under her skin.
“When you go home to a beautiful baby and children who are just happy to see you no matter what, it is the most refreshing, beautiful thing, and it gives you the best perspective on life,” Leavitt, 28, said during her conversation with TPUSA CEO Erika Kirk.
“Nothing else matters except for that,” she added. “Who cares what the Daily Beast wrote today? Who cares what the headlines are?”
Seven minutes after the Daily Beast requested comment on Leavitt’s remarks, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told the Daily Beast: “The Daily Beast is a laughingstock that employs glue-sniffing interns and other lightweight Democrat activists masquerading as journalists.”
Ingle, 31, is a communications graduate of Florida’s Southeastern University, where his father, Kent Ingle, is president. SEU boasts that more than two-thirds of its students attend online or through extension courses at 200 “partner sites,” which do not have to be accredited.
Leavitt, a failed congressional candidate, has made a number of questionable PR decisions throughout her tenure as press secretary, including her attribution of the geriatric president’s bruised hands to his “frequent handshaking,” her targeted beef with CNN correspondent Kaitlan Collins, whom she once stuck up for, and her unceremonious labeling of a journalist asking about the death of Renee Good as a “left-wing hack.”
“Why do you think Renee Good was unfortunately and tragically killed?” she asked The Hill columnist Niall Stanage in January, who replied that the ICE agent, Jonathan Ross, acted recklessly.
“OK, so you’re a biased reporter with a left-wing opinion,” Leavitt raged. “You’re not a reporter, you’re posing in this room as a journalist, and it’s so clear by the premise of your question.”
On Tuesday, the Press Secretary offered a puzzling non-answer to a question asked about the president’s threat to target civilian infrastructure in Iran, which would be classified as a possible war crime.
“Look, the president has made it quite clear to the Iranian regime, at this moment in time, as evidenced by the statement you just read, that their best move is to make a deal, or else the United States Armed Forces has capabilities beyond their wildest imagination, and the president is not afraid to use them,” she said.
“Of course, the United States Armed Forces will always act within the confines of the law,” she continued, ignoring a direct question about potential war crimes. “But with respect to achieving the full objectives of Operation Epic Fury, President Trump is going to move forward unabated, and he expects the Iranian regime to make a deal with the administration.”
President Donald Trump, 79, even called out his top publicist while speaking with reporters at the Oval Office later on Tuesday.
“I got 93 percent bad publicity,” he told reporters. “Some people say 97, but between 93 and 97. A person that gets 97 percent—maybe Karoline’s doing a poor job, I don’t know," he added, pointing off-camera at his press secretary.
“You’re doing a terrible job,” he joked, before condemning the critical coverage he receives from reporters as “fake press, all fake.”
Trump’s top spin doctor has certainly had her work cut out for her defending his rollercoaster of a second term.
After Thursday’s firing of Attorney General Pam Bondi and last month’s axing of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, the president has proved he’s not afraid to clean house among his Cabinet—particularly, the powerful women in his inner circle.
As the president’s popularity continues to plummet while his war on Iran rages, the price of living skyrockets, and the Epstein files continue to be ignored, it’s unclear who’s next on Trump’s hit list.
