Donald Trump has raised eyebrows with what some are calling a “look of affected guilt” as he showered Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, with compliments, particularly focusing on her lips.
In recent times, Leavitt has been a staunch defender of the U.S. president, backing him on everything from his critical tweets about Taylor Swift to his controversial statements on “white genocide.”
During an interview on Friday, August 1, Trump lauded Leavitt for her steadfast support and contributions, remarking, “She’s become a star. It’s that face. It’s that brain. It’s those lips, the way they move. They move like she’s a machine gun.”
Trump praised her further, saying, “She’s a great person, actually. But she’s – I don’t think anybody has ever had a better press secretary than Karoline. She’s been amazing,” before oddly disclosing his reasons for likely not pardoning Diddy in the same puzzling interview. This follows after Leavitt was seen looking markedly different in an old photo amidst speculation of cosmetic surgery.
His comments have ignited a firestorm on social media, with one user stating, “If any man said this on the job about a fellow employee, they’d be fired instantly, and the company would sue.”, reports The Mirror US.
Commenting on the controversy, body language expert Judi James offered her take, starting with, “‘Those lips’ is probably not an assessment that Trump has ever made when discussing the merits of Vance or Hegseth, but it is the way he chooses to describe Leavitt when asked about her qualities as press secretary.
“The question sees Trump throw his eyes to a diagonal, downward position to suggest reflective thinking, although his raised brows suggest an intention to be humorous here,” she detailed.
“His lips purse with a display of his lower teeth as he describes her as a ‘star,’ although he seems to list her aesthetic qualities up there with her intellectual skills as he mentions her ‘face, brain…’ and ‘those lips.'”.
“He seems to want to qualify the lips reference by making them sound like weaponry, comparing them to ‘a machine gun’ and then we see a look of affected guilt as he asks ‘is she in the room’ despite the fact that it is barely relative as he has made the comments about her lips direct to camera,” Judi concluded.
Karoline Leavitt conducted her first media briefing for The White House on January 28.
At just 27 years old, the New Hampshire native has become the youngest individual ever to occupy the role in U.S. history.
Before her record-setting appointment, Ronald Ziegler was the youngest at age 29 when he started working for President Richard Nixon in 1969.
Her recent appointment has elicited mixed responses from the American public. Some label her as a member of Trump’s “all-star team of liars,” while others believe she embodies “living the American dream.”
Leavitt, armed with a wealth of experience from her time with Trump, steps into the role once held by Karine Jean-Pierre under former president Joe Biden. She’s no stranger to the Trump camp, having served as national press secretary for his 2024 presidential campaign, an assistant press secretary and presidential writer in his first term, and as a spokesperson for MAGA Inc.
Trump’s initial tenure in the White House was marked by a revolving door of press secretaries, including Sean Spicer, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Stephanie Grisham, and Kayleigh McEnany. Grisham’s tenure was particularly notable as she did not conduct a single briefing during her nine months in the role, setting her apart from her more visible counterparts.
This update follows a concerning disclosure from a Trump family member about the latest alarming sign of his cognitive decline, stating that he is “far gone”.