Video summary
The video discusses Caroline Leavitt's departure from her role as White House Press Secretary under Donald Trump, framing her exit not merely as a personal choice but as a significant loss for an administration that relied heavily on her unique media strategy. Although she was celebrated by President Trump and his base for her ability to defend the presidency against criticism, Leavitt recently announced she would be stepping down at the end of the month to spend more time with her two young children after returning from maternity leave. The narrative suggests that while this decision is bittersweet, it marks a shift away from an era where press secretaries were expected to act as shields for controversial policies rather than traditional communicators seeking favorable coverage.
Leavitt's tenure was defined by what the transcript describes as her "gun machine lips" and her skill in turning media interactions into staged confrontations that aligned with Trump's specific political needs, which differed vastly from historical norms. Instead of trying to win over mainstream journalists or secure positive stories, Leavitt excelled at cornering reporters into hostile exchanges that made Trump appear like a victim of an unfair establishment while simultaneously allowing corporate interests and unpopular policies—such as tariffs, wars in Iran, and cuts to welfare—to continue unchecked. This approach involved selectively inviting pro-MAGA influencers into the press pool and generating viral clips where she would aggressively dismiss questions about issues ranging from Jeffrey Epstein to civilian casualties in airstrikes, effectively using emotional theater to satisfy Trump's ego and his voters' desire for a fight against elite powers without actually challenging those power structures materially.
The analysis concludes that Leavitt was particularly valuable because she understood the choreographed dance between Trump and the media better than any predecessor could have managed, knowing exactly how much hostility he needed from journalists to maintain his celebrity status while dismantling social safety nets. The video contrasts this dynamic with figures like Zachary Palmer, who also uses negative press coverage but pivots toward substantive policy solutions for the many rather than using attacks as pure theater to cover a lack of material achievements; whereas Trump's relationship with the media is described as an ego-driven performance that undermines his own promises, Leavitt mastered the art of making those performances look like genuine battles against corruption while ensuring capital flows remained undisturbed. Ultimately, the piece suggests that while we may not see another press secretary quite like her who so perfectly embodied this specific brand of adversarial theater, it is common for such figures to transition into political commentary roles after resigning due to family reasons or career evolution.
Read the full video transcript
Washington DC has just lost a true star
in the satanic firmament that is the
Donald Trump administration. Caroline
Levit, beloved by the president for her
quote machine gun lips, has announced
she'll be stepping down from the role at
the end of this month. Asia 27 when she
got the job, she was the first member of
Gen Zed to hold the position, quickly
proving that yes, that generation can be
evil, too. Levit, who recently had a
second child, posted this on Twitter.
The truth is, since returning to the
White House after the birth of my
daughter, I have felt in my heart that I
cannot be the best mom my two young
children deserve while devoting the
constant time, energy, and attention
required of the White House press
secretary. And that is why I have
ultimately made the bittersweet decision
to depart the White House and embark on
a new chapter in my life. Known for her
bullying manner and impressive
elasticity with the truth, Lever was
beloved by Trump's MAGA base as she used
her podium to justify illegal war,
curbside street murders of American
citizens by armed militias, and global
tariffs that threatened to sink the
United States economy. Clips of her
attacks on the American press regularly
went viral, as did her skillful dodges
of questions related to Jeffrey Epstein.
But what mattered most was that Trump
loved her, declaring that no president
had ever had a better press secretary
than Caroline. Let's have a look at some
of those hits. Have you ever paid a
tariff? Because I have.
>> They don't get charged on foreign
companies. They get charged on the
importers.
>> And ultimately, when we have fair and
balanced trade, which the American
people have not seen in decades, as I
said at the beginning, uh revenues will
stay here, wages will go up, and our
country will be made wealthy again. And
I think think it's insulting that you
are trying to test my knowledge of
economics uh and the the decisions that
this president has made. I'm now regret
giving a question to the Associated
Press. Did the president ever spend
hours at Jeffrey Epstein's house with a
victim?
>> Uh, these emails prove absolutely
nothing other than the fact that
President Trump did nothing wrong. Why
was uh Renee Good unfortunately and
tragically killed?
>> Are you asking me my opinion? Because an
ICE agent acted recklessly and killed an
unjustified
>> Oh, okay. So, you're a biased reporter
with a leftwing opinion.
>> What do you want me to do?
>> Yeah, because you're a left-wing hack.
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
and you and the people in the media who
have such biases but fake like you're a
journalist. You shouldn't even be
sitting in that seat.
>> Did the United States air strike a
girl's elementary school and kill 175
people?
>> Uh not that we know of Sean and the
Department of War is investigating this
matter and I would just tell you very
strongly the United States of America
does not target civilians unlike the
rogue Iranian regime. With respect to
the ongoing major combat operations in
Iran, Operation Epic Fury is moving
ahead successfully and according to
plan. Besides wrangling with the
traditional press, Levit also opened up
the White House press pool, reserving a
seat in the briefing room for a series
of new media journalists and
influencers. Sounds like an innovation
except all were handpicked for their MAC
supporting perspective in a move the
normally conservative Atlantic magazine
described as straight from North Korea.
Now, if you're worried that this is the
last your CF Caroline, stay calm.
Posting on truth. Social Trump appeared
to suggest she'd be back before long,
writing this. Caroline will now be one
of my topest outside advisers and an
influential voice within the Republican
party as we work to defy history and
conclusively win the midterm elections.
Caroline has been a real leader in the
White House and has done a phenomenal
job fighting for justice, liberty, and
freedom since 2018, including our
historic reelection campaign of 2024.
Dalia, what do you make of the the
career, the life and times of Caroline
Levit? Do you think we'll find such an
enigmatic press secretary again?
>> I always assumed that her surname was
pronounced leave it. And so whenever I
heard the word Caroline, leave it, my
internal like worm brain would be like,
"Leave it. She ain't worth it."
>> Leave it cuz leave it. Leave it.
>> But actually, no, she is worth it. Um,
she is very much worth it to to Trump.
Not because she's some kind of sort of
legendary comm's operator by traditional
standards. She's worth it because she
and the reason Trump loved her is
because she really understood the dance
that Trump plays with the media. And she
was really good at cornering the media
into playing along or leaving them with
kind of no other option um other than
than to play along because Trump's sort
of relationship uh with the press is not
like his predecessors. You know,
traditionally
um presidents broadly try to keep the
press on side. Um you know, mainstream
approval through the press is something
that you caught that previous presidents
have courted. Um, you know, the whole
job of a press secretary historically
has been to get reporters to write
favorable things about you. Um, with
Trump, it's the opposite. with Trump,
the media actually is there to look like
an adversary um like the enemy because
Trump's contract, you know, the
political contract is not to actually
dismantle um elite powers that, you
know, have made the lives of most people
in in the US worse. Um but it's to look
and feel like something that is
dismantling that power. to look and feel
like a brick that people can throw into
the sort of glass house of the
establishment. Al all whilst making sure
that all those vested interests are m
allowed to kind of know corporate
corruption is able to continue that
fundamentally sort of the flow of
capital is not really um disturbed. So
even though it kind of looks hostile and
broken it's actually working quite well.
the hostility is sort of part of the
performance of of Trumpism and it need
it's a performance that needs the media
to kind of show up and and play its
part. That's why, you know, Trump would
never cancel those press briefings um
even though he constantly threatens to
or he constantly threatens to ban
journalists from it or ban media outlets
from it. He'll kind of ban them for a
couple and then always bring them back
in because they're actually really
important. Um because those kind of
staged fights um keep a signal like is
how he keeps signaling you know I'm on
your side um against them um all whilst
you know cutting welfare allowing
corporate corruption to to run rampant
um dragging the US into more wars um
doing things that are generally actually
quite unpopular
um so Caroline Levit um not Leit was was
really good um at playing playing that
role. you know, she was really good at
generating these clips of herself, you
know, um telling reporters off and and
clapping back and and being rude and and
seeming really bullish and on like a
purely kind of like emotional like
libidonal level. That felt really good
to watch for a lot of people and it was
really important to Trump's emotional
contract um with his with his voters.
And I guess it kind of always put those
of us who have a kind of long-standing
sensible critique of the media in a
really odd spot because obviously, you
know, we don't Trump's critique of the
press is not our critique. Our ours
comes from wanting the media to actually
interrogate um power and to for wanting
a media industry that um is not
incentivized to kind of pal around with
the people that it's supposed to be
holding to account. Whereas Trump's
approach was to not see the media as
something that needs to be made more
critical. I mean, presidents rarely do
want that. Um, but to see the media as a
kind of an instrument and one that he
really uh knew how to play because what
we forget about Trump is that before
he's a businessman, before he's a
politician, he is first and foremost a
celebrity. Um, you know, that's his kind
of grift. Um, and so it puts us in a
difficult position because we find
ourselves sort of defending, you know,
these these press outlets that in most
contexts we would be heavily critical
of, but it's because the argument is not
the press shouldn't be allowed to ask
questions or if the press asks
questions, it should just be responded
to with this kind of theater. um our you
know our argument was that the press
should be more a should ask more
questions and should not have its
existence predicated on access which
always includes a kind of quid proquo.
Um so that is what Caroline Levit was
was really really good um good at doing.
It's why Trump really loved her. It's
what the next one is probably going to
do. Um, but as for whether or not we're
going to see more of her, when people
say, "I'm resigning from this because I
want to spend more time from my family,"
we rarely see them actually spend more
time with their family. More often than
not, it's to open a new chapter of their
their career. And I'm sure that Levit
will will go on to do what many um press
secretaries in recent history have done,
which is go on to have sort of their own
um career as a political commentator um
of some of some kind. It's an
interesting point that you made about
the kind of the choreographed dance
between the media and Trump to be able
to raise his profile, raise his
celebrity. What's interesting is I think
I can tell a politician who's done a
similar kind of political strategy, and
it's Zach Palansky. So, I don't know if
you've seen this, but Zack Palansky does
this very frequently. He'll find
negative articles about him from the
media more broadly. Will post it on
social media to his followers and just
go like, "This is what the media is
saying about me. They're not engaging in
good faith. the media are trying to
smear me. If you really want the
politics of phobe, you can join the
Green Party, for example. And it's a
symbiotic relationship because the more
that these articles have their profile
raised, I'm presume it leads to more
hits for whatever website or whichever
newspaper has published this particular
article and the more that it allows them
to justify more articles smearing Zack
Palansky and the more it gives Zach more
ammunition to go to his followers and
say, "Look, establishment media still
doesn't like me very much and they keep
posting it and people lap it up." I
think it's a really interesting dynamic
there.
>> Yeah. Yeah. And I think the difference
between Trump and Palansky is that when
Trump feels like there's, you know, that
a particular outlet hasn't been fair to
him, he'll just kind of go on a rampage
and just be like, "Oh, the failing New
York Times, their ratings are low, their
sales are low, they're just a bunch of
losers." And Zack Clansky will call them
a loser as well. But more often than
not, he'll pivot it towards this is
actually the issue that you should be
caring about and this is actually the
solution that we have to that issue and
is actually able to to present an
offering that actually makes sense.
Whereas with Trump, it it's just
theater. um you know it's it's you yes
it's that same kind of using the weight
of the press against you but in his case
it is pure theater to cover for the fact
that his actual politics don't fulfill
any of the material promises that he's
made to his base whereas I would hope
that you know if if Palansky was was
prime minister um that would not be the
case
>> well exactly yeah like Palansky is being
attacked because he provides policies
that are unhelpful to the establishment
that they oppose like taxing the rich
and more public investment, more
nationalization in dealing with the
climate crisis. Whereas Trump is
promising basically very little. He is
hurt by the press because it undermines
his own sense of self. It undermines his
ego. Whereas Palansky doesn't like the
press because it's undermining a
political prospectus to help the many,
not the few.