White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has already shown there’s just about nothing she won’t say in service of her boss. Everybody understands spin, but her latest pronouncement made social media take note of what appears to be Leavitt’s total lack of self-awareness.
Addressing the fatal shooting of two Israeli Embassy workers Wednesday in Washington, D.C., Leavitt proclaimed, “hatred has no place in the United States of America under President Donald Trump.”
Apparently, she doesn’t follow the president on Truth Social, where, just this week, he’s hated on entertainers Bruce Springsteen, Oprah Winfrey, Beyonce and Bono.
As one X follower replied to Leavitt, “Are MAGA and Trump aware of that?”
Although Trump rarely uses the word “hate,” there have been exceptions, as social media users reminded Leavitt by reposting this recent gem from the president, posting on Truth Social, in all caps:
“I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT,” Trump wrote. He followed up on that post last Friday, asking,
“Has anyone noticed that, since I said ‘I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT,’ she’s no longer ‘HOT?’”
Trump remains aggrieved that the pop star endorsed Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
He remains aggrieved about a lot of things: Federal judges overturning his executive orders; the 2020 election results; anyone questioning him about his claims of a “white genocide” in South Africa; “fake news.”
“Trump reignited the flames of hatred in the United States,” according to one never-Trump conservative on X. One only needs to recall his infamous remark—‘very fine people on both sides’—to understand how deeply he normalized division. His entire political strategy is rooted in vilifying one side while exalting his own. He stands as a symbol of hatred, bigotry, racism, and antisemitism, and his rhetoric continues to embolden those ideologies.”
Added a U.S. Army veteran and lifelong Democrat, “Hatred is the central theme. So basically, Leavitt is living in permanent Opposite Day.”
With Trump’s base, his grievances are their grievances, and vice versa. Trump hates who or what they hate, and MAGA eagerly reciprocates.
“Trump’s ENTIRE platform was built on HATE and division,” wrote another Trump critic on X. End product = The venomous, hostile, vulgar vitriol that defines #MAGA.”
This isn’t the first time Leavitt’s words got her in trouble. In March, she told France, America’s oldest ally, it should be “very grateful” to the United States that it isn’t speaking German right now.
“Such a shocking, insulting statement about an ally from anyone, let alone a senior White House official,” former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul posted on X at the time. “Who told her to say this? She obviously got in from somewhere. I hope our @PressSec knows that it’s only because of the French that we have an independent United States of America.”
Thursday was a long day for Leavitt, who displayed her trademark indignation when asked about the president’s controversial crypto gala, a dinner for monied investors who bought his Trump-themed meme coins. Critics have accused Trump of trading access for dollars.
Leavitt clutched her pearls and basically said the president hosted the gala on his own time.
“The American public believes it’s absurd to insinuate that this President is profiting off of the presidency,” she told reporters Thursday. “Not only has he lost wealth, but he almost lost his life. He sacrificed a lot to be here and to suggest otherwise is absurd.”
Leavitt was reminded that presidents don’t get “personal time.”
“He’s the ‘President’ of the United States,” wrote another critic on X. “He doesn’t punch a time card and magically stop having that job. If he’s meeting with Kim Jong Un or Kanye f’ng West, the American people have a right to know.”
