Danica Patrick’s one-word post on X celebrating the appointment of the youngest White House press secretary ever has progressives wondering what’s at the root of the former NASCAR driver’s enthusiasm for Donald Trump’s newest flack.
Patrick was resharing another post on X featuring a photo of the incoming White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, next to the current one, Karine Jean-Pierre. It’s captioned: “Best. Upgrade. Ever.” To which Patrick added another “Ever,” diluting the impact of the “Ever” that was already there.
But questionable grammar decisions are not what had the incredibly shrinking left-wing contingent on X questioning Patrick’s motives. Derided as NASCAR’s cover girl, who drove in 252 sanctioned races without scoring a win, Patrick has sought to reinvent herself as a right-leaning influencer and Trump supporter.
“What do you mean?” questioned one commenter. “Actually, Karine Jean-Pierre has a Master’s of Public Affairs from Columbia University. She had experience in legislative affairs. She was a political director for Senator John Edwards. She was also the Director of Former President Obama’s re-election campaign. So, other than her fealty to Trump, what is Karoline Leavitt’s experience?
“Your true colors are showing?” the post concluded.
Fealty to President-elect Trump certainly factored heavily into the 27-year-old Leavitt’s appointment. She is perhaps best known for getting cut off mid-interview on CNN, where she repeatedly complained about the network’s “biased coverage” against her boss.
That combativeness evokes memories of previous Trump press secretaries, Sean Spicer and Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who maintained an adversarial relationship with the press.
Leavitt, who served as Trump’s 2024 campaign press secretary, has never wavered in her support of the Republican standard-bearer, spreading false claims that he won the 2020 election. Leavitt worked in the White House press office during Trump’s first term and then became communications director for New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, whom Trump has nominated as his U.N. ambassador.
Before rejoining Trump’s team, Leavitt worked as a spokesperson for MAGA Inc., a super PAC supporting the once and future president.
She certainly sounds the part.
“President Trump knows what he wants to say, and he’s going to relay his vision to the American people to make this country strong, safe, secure and wealthy again,” Leavitt said in the ill-fated CNN interview. “He’s been doing that across this great nation to all corners of this country.”
Her looks appear to be the impetus for the post Patrick seconded. Leavitt is posed smiling in perfectly coiffed in her photo. Jean-Pierre has a dour expression in her picture, likely the result of another dumb question from the White House press corps.
“We went from a dirty mop to a viking princess. Yay!” wrote one commenter, summing up what seemed to be the intent of the post that Patrick signed off on.
Or was it something a little more black and white, as some speculated?
“Why does MAGA always view a change from black to white as an “upgrade”?” remarked one commenter on X.
To which another responded, “Better yet, why do liberals automatically assume it’s about race, gender, etc. when it might just be based on talent level?”
And you can guess where it went from there.
One big difference we will see between the two press secretaries is face time. You’re very unlikely to see as much of Leavitt as America has seen of Jean-Pierre. The Biden administration restored the daily press conference, a tradition that had been abandoned by Trump.
Asked whether the daily pressers would continue if he retook office, Trump was non-committal.
“Probably they’ll do something. If it’s not daily, it’s going to be a lot,” he said in August. “You’ll have more than you want.”
