Making Trump Look Honest and Good Is Impossible Job for New Press Secretary
Pity Karoline Leavitt but if the past is any sign, Leavitt will not have the impossible job of making trump look honest, good and intelligent for very long.
Leavitt, 27, the youngest trump press secretary, is faced with the unattainable goal of making trump look presidential. She is the latest in a long line of Republican presidential apologists and truth stretchers that would fit in perfectly in George Orwell’s Ministry of Truth.
Trump went through four press secretaries during his first term, Sean Spicer, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Stephanie Grisham, and Kayleigh McEnany. Barack Obama had three over his eight years in the White House and Joe Biden had two press secretaries.
As the first trump press secretary Spicer was quickly thrown into the lion’s pit, after trump’s January 20, 2017, inauguration, Spicer had to repeat and support trump’s claims that the turnout was the largest in inauguration history.
It wasn’t and it was left up to Spicer to set the record straight, but he stuck to his guns, explaining to reporters why photos and news footage of the inauguration was wrong. Trump had estimated 1.5 million attended the inauguration while Spicer backed off a bit, claiming attendance was around 720,000. It was still far less than the 1.8 million people who attended Obama’s 2009 inaugural, leaving trump steaming and Spicer squirming.
Spicer lasted 182 days as press spokesman, leaving the job on July 21, 2017.
Other press secretaries had equally daunting assignments, but the worst was Kayleigh McEnany, trump’s final mouthpiece. She was press secretary from 2019 to 2020 and then was a trump senior advisor from October 2020 to January 2021.
She was a loyal sycophant to a fault and to be fair, nobody could have made trump shine while he was denying that the COVID-19 virus would become a big issue while he trumpeted phony cures for the virus.
Just as daunting, in the 2020 election, McEnany put on her best “I will not lie” face as she parroted trump’s claims that he was robbed of reelection by non-existent, massive voter fraud.
McEnany also defended Jared Kushner’s role in the COVID-19 pandemic response and railed against the treatment of Michael Flynn, a former top trump advisor who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador. Trump later pardoned Flynn.
Politifact, the nonprofit fact-checking website, said McEnany’s statements as press secretary were either “mostly false,” “false” and false accompanied by a “ridiculous claim” about 56 percent of the time.
McEnany’s fealty wasn’t enough to stop trump from insulting her after she left her post to take a job with Fox News. In a Truth Social post, trump called her Kayleigh “Milktoast” McEnany after he claimed that she had given out the wrong poll numbers on Fox News.
“I am 34 points up on DeSanctimonious, not 25 up. While 25 is great, it’s not 34,” trump said, using one of his nicknames for his principal GOP primary rival.
As avowed truth-tellers go, Sarah Hickabee Sanders was at the top of her game as press secretary. She was trump’s press secretary from 2017 to 2019 and has since been elected governor of Arkansas.
When interviewed by investigators as part of the Mueller probe into Russian influence in the 2016 election, Sanders admitted to lying in her role as press secretary. Sanders hosted fewer press conferences than any of the 13 previous White House press secretaries.
Karoline Leavitt
Like her predecessors, Leavitt promised to be honest. In past days, her honesty has come into question in several situations. In one, Leavitt said that Musk, the world’s richest man, will police himself on conflicts of interest in his post as director of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
At a news conference, Leavitt was asked about the steps taken by the trump administration to address conflicts of interest involving Musk, who donated more than $100 million to trump’s election campaign.
“The president was already asked and answered this question this week, and he said if Elon Musk comes across a conflict of interest with the contracts and the funding that DOGE is overseeing, then Elon will excuse himself from those contracts,” said Leavitt. “And he has again abided by all applicable laws.
Trump said that “Elon can’t do and won’t do anything without our approval, and we’ll give him the approval where appropriate; where not appropriate, we won’t. But he does have a good natural instinct.”
Leavitt also responded to questions about trump’s announcement that the U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip and relocate several million Palestinians to neighboring Arab nations. The Arab world has reacted negatively to trump’s plan, which has been described as ethnic cleansing by many.
Leavitt said that trump had a “humanitarian heart” when he proposed taking over the Gaza Strip and relocating Palestinians.
She also was asked if trump planned to send troops to Gaza in contradicting a campaign promise of not getting the U.S. involved in foreign wars.
“The President has not committed to putting boots on the ground in Gaza. He has also said that the United States is not going to pay for the rebuilding of Gaza,” Leavitt said.
Leavitt, however, refused to rule out the use of U.S. troops.
“This is an uninhabitable place for human beings,” she said. “Do you really think that families can live their dream in a region that looks like this, with no running water, no electricity? And the president made this decision with a humanitarian heart for all people in the region.”
Trump also said the U.S. is “going to take over that piece, develop it and create thousands and thousands of jobs, and it will be something the entire Middle East can be proud of. I envision the world people living there, the world’s people. You’ll make that into an international unbelievable place. I think the potential in the Gaza Strip is unbelievable.”
He said the Gaza Strip could be “the Riviera of the Middle East.”
Like her predecessors, fledgling press secretary Levitt promised to be honest and like her forerunners. She quickly fell into line as another lying trump mouthpieces when she recently claimed that the Biden administration spent millions on condoms for Gaza.
Levitt brought up the fake story about the condoms to draw support for trump’s plans to purge the government of thousands of disloyal employees and to cancel billions of dollars in foreign aid designated for what trump considers to be far left social programs.
Trump also has claimed that the State Department has squandered millions of dollars in taxpayers' money by funding a variety of programs that support the transgender community around the world.
Leavitt has gone full bore into trump’s claims that federal funds have been wasted on programs for the transgendered community and diversity, equity and inclusion programs
Levitt took to the news conference dais to support trump’s claims that public funds have been wasted on social programs. But first, in her opening comments, Leavitt promised never to lie and vowed to “tell the unvarnished truth, that is, not to lie, not to obfuscate to the American people.”
That lasted a brief moment before she launched into claims of wasteful funding that allegedly included the Biden administration’s approval to provide $50 million for condoms to be sent to Gaza. Neither Leavitt nor trump has provided any evidence to support the claim and the contractor identified by the State Department said it has not used U.S. aid “to procure or distribute condoms” but that it provides hospital services in Gaza.
Leavitt said the unofficial, Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, led by billionaire trump backer Elon Musk and the Office of Management and Budget “found that there was about to be 50 million taxpayer dollars that went out the door to fund condoms in Gaza. That is a preposterous waste of taxpayer money. So, that’s what this pause is focused on: being good stewards of tax dollars.”
In three previous years under Biden, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) reported that it spent no money on condoms in the entire Middle East in the 2021, 2022 and 2023 fiscal years.
Leavitt said her source for the false condom report was a Fox News story which quoted an unnamed White House official who said the State Department had “halted several million dollars going to condoms in Gaza this past weekend,” but not $50 million.
The day after the press conference trump enhanced the claim that the Hamas was using the condoms to make bombs.
“We identified and stopped $50 million being sent to Gaza to buy condoms for Hamas,” trump said.
The contractor was the International Medical Corps (IMC) in Gaza. A spokesman for the Los Angeles-based non-profit said that it responds to emergency medical needs around the world. The organization has received more than $68 million from USAID to support IMC’s medical operations in Gaza since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, 2023, the statement said. The funding has supported the operation of two field hospitals that treat about 33,000 patients each month.
Trump’s pause in aid would stop IMC’s work in Gaza’s hospitals, including delivering babies and caring for vulnerable newborns, assistance to malnourished children, surgeries and emergency room services, a statement also said.
A USAID report said that the total worldwide condom spending for fiscal year 2023 was about $7.1 million for male condoms and about $1.1 million worth of female condoms, overwhelmingly to countries in Africa.
Leavitt also criticized the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for providing a $47,000 grant to fund performance of “As One,” an opera performed in 2022 in Colombia. The opera tells the story of the evolution of a transgender artist.
Laura Kaminsky’s “As One” enjoyed several runs in the Colombian capital that year. It was adapted by the city’s prestigious private University of the Andes after it won a 2021 award for opera, zarzuela and operetta presented by the Philharmonic Orchestra of Bogota. Shortly after its premiere, the U.S. Embassy in Colombia awarded the show the resources necessary to put it on at the Teatro Libre. Later, it was screened at the city’s Opera in the Park initiative.
Leavitt said another example of what she termed wasteful spending was a $1.5 million grant for a three-year period from October 2022 to September 30, 2025, to promote DEI in Serbia.
The grant noted, “This activity aims to advance diversity, equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities, by promoting economic employment of and opportunity for LGBTQI+ people in Serbia.”
The grant was made to GRUPA IZADJI, a non-governmental organization in Serbia. Grupa Izadji focuses on promoting the human rights of LGBTI+ individuals with a goal of reducing discrimination, violence, and hate speech. The organization works on various initiatives, including providing support services, organizing educational programs, and advocating for policy changes to ensure equality and protection for LGBTI+ people.
Another State Department grant under fire from Leavitt was $70,000 for the production of a DEI musical in Ireland. The grant awarded in September 2022 to Ceiliuradh Company Limited By Guarantee.
The grant was awarded through the U.S. government’s Public Diplomacy Programs, which aims to “support the achievement of U.S. foreign policy goals and objectives, advance national interests, and enhance national security by informing and influencing foreign publics and by expanding and strengthening the relationship between the people and government of the United States and citizens of the rest of the world.”
The grant’s description, is to “Deliver a live musical event to promote the U.S. and Irish shared values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.”
Leavitt also commented on a $32,000 for a transgender comic strip in Peru. The grant was made “to cover expenses to produce a tailored-made comic, featuring an LGBTQ+ hero to address social and mental health issues.”
The purpose of this grant was “to support the achievement of U.S. foreign policy goals and objectives, advance national interests, and enhance national security by informing and influencing foreign publics and by expanding and strengthening the relationship between the people and government of the United States and citizens of the rest of the world.”
The grant was issued in 2022 and was completed in 2023.
Leavitt said the programs were identified through the efforts of Elon Musk, who is head of the newly-established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“I don’t know about you, but I don’t want my taxes to go to this garbage, and I don’t think neither do Americans. That’s what the president asked Elon Musk to do: to detect and eliminate this fraud from federal government spending,” Leavitt said.