Godsent Ogbebor
Karoline Leavitt, the face of a Trump-supporting Gen Z movement and the youngest White House press secretary in history, has made her highly anticipated debut at the podium. At 27 years old, Leavitt brings a polished presence, blending her life as a young working mother with clips from her Fox News appearances where she targets the “fake news” media.
Her debut in the James S. Brady briefing room comes more than a week into Donald Trump’s second term, a delay that highlights the challenges faced by Trump’s spokespeople in stepping out from the shadow of their outspoken boss, who has already had numerous long interactions with the media since his return to power.
“See you at the podium!” Leavitt wrote on X (formerly Twitter) ahead of the briefing. Trump had previously praised her appointment, calling her “smart, tough,” and someone who would “excel at the podium.”
Raised in New Hampshire, where her family owned an ice cream shop, Leavitt has long been a loyal supporter of Trump. In 2017, she wrote a letter to her university newspaper to protest a professor’s criticism of Trump in class.
Over the years, Leavitt’s rise through Trump’s circle has been rapid, bolstered by her aggressive defense of the president. She served in his first term’s press office and ran unsuccessfully for a Congressional seat in New Hampshire in 2022 on a pro-Trump, pro-gun platform.
In one Instagram post from her 2022 campaign, she showed herself firing a machine gun at a shooting range, captioning it: “@joebiden come and take it.”
