Karoline Leavitt, age 28, is the youngest White House press secretary in history. Love her or hate her, it is objectively evident that she is quite ambitious; making it to the White House at such a young age is no simple feat. During her public appearances and press debriefings, Karoline speaks with a viscous sense of confidence — biting and scathing. However, it is this ferocity that rouses this question: Who exactly is Ms. Leavitt fighting for? Is she driven by a passion for justice and adoration for democracy? Or perhaps she is driven by the American promise that anyone who comes here and works hard enough can make their wildest dreams come true. The answers to these questions are not exactly black and white, and Karoline, despite her media persona, is not fighting for the average working American.
What defines a good politician? According to the U.S. Office of Justice Programs, it’s “courage, […] the ability to communicate effectively, knowledge, judgement, integrity, and interpersonal skills.” These qualities, several of which Ms. Leavitt lacks, are the hallmarks of strong leaders. Although at first glance it may seem Ms. Leavitt possesses these qualities, after close examination of her career, upbringing, and her values, it quickly becomes apparent that this is not the case. Karoline conceals her deluded nonsense with a carefully constructed mask. Her polished press conference aesthetic and seemingly intelligent disposition are a facade, a blanket of lies camouflaging the sinister reality behind her mask. A reality that it is time the American people reckon with — Karoline is neither a good person nor a good politician. Instead, she utilizes showmanship and deflection to distract from her inadequacy as a political leader and the heinous actions committed by the Trump administration.
So then, what defines a good person? The definition of a “good person” is subjective and will shift depending upon the moral framework under which one operates. However, because the U.S. is a secular nation with a separation of church and state, it would be perfectly reasonable to classify “goodness” based on a standard of human decency, which remains outside the realm of religion but instead centers on objective reality. That said, a quick Google search reveals endless sources defining what it means to be a “good person.” What these sources have in common is that the generally accepted definition of a good person is one who possesses qualities such as kindness, integrity, empathy, and a willingness to treat others with dignity. In other words, “goodness” is in opposition to suffering; it does not inflict suffering. Rather, goodness is rooted in the idea of humanity — the state of acting in a humane manner. And it is humanity and human decency which characterizes a good person — respect for all human life and respect for individual freedoms (meaning true freedom, which is a balance of freedom TO and freedom FROM).
To be a good person is to be humane, and “goodness” does not belong to one political party or faith. Too often, we conflate basic human rights with partisanship, humanness, and goodness are often defined within the context of religion, and unfortunately, despite this country’s founding being based on religious freedoms, we define and subject others to our faith-based definitions of what it means to be “good.” This is antithetical to the basis for forming this nation, and it is this type of “goodness” that deems this school of thought inherently (and ironically) anti-American and unpatriotic. It is this exclusionary, narrow definition of “good” and “bad” that US press secretary Karoline Leavitt stands for.
People like Leavitt, skilled in the art of spectacle rather than reason, often present their disinformation and misinformation-based ideas as fact, and it is this spectacle that MAGA utilizes to captivate its audience’s attention. Leavitt and political figures who mirror this behavior further the catastrophic political and interpersonal polarization we face as a nation. Aside from this, Leavitt incessantly lies to the public, and refuses to be fact-checked at her debriefings by deflecting queries and derailing the conversation without actually answering the question asked. Her sly techniques are not those of someone with a strong moral compass, nor a person who truly believes in justice; rather, her willingness to lie and deceive characterizes her as exactly the opposite: driven by personal interests and a willingness to become powerful — not to improve the condition of the everyday American, but to achieve personal goals. Furthermore, on both her social media and during press briefings, Leavitt attempts to illegitimize reputable media outlets that are considered “left-leaning” or that question her cruel and unprofessional behavior. She has even been known to resort to insults in lieu of a viable rebuttal or justification for MAGA’s actions. As was the case when she replied “your mom” to a genuine query regarding Trump’s decision for peace talks with Ukraine in the very city in which Russia pledged never to invade Ukraine again. It does not take a historian to understand why Trump’s decision was ill-founded, ironic, and insensitive, but rather than engage with these criticisms, Leavitt opts for the easier approach: act like a child and insult the journalist. These are the hallmarks of Karoline Leavitt, and these are qualities that define her as neither a humane politician nor an individual.
She is not a voice of reason nor the intellectual that Fox News portrays her to be. She replies quickly to queries and criticism with unwavering confidence, but this does not mean she is speaking the truth. In fact, her unshakable confidence, even while telling bold-faced lies, should raise red flags. It becomes remarkably evident, after examining news media from all isles of the political spectrum, that Karoline’s narrative is seen in a positive light by a select group of ill-informed (or ill-intentioned) people. People who have been tricked into believing that MAGA serves them, that MAGA’s ideology will provide for them some sort of upward mobility, but realistically, this, like Leavitt’s persona, is just a facet of MAGA’s web of lies.
As the famous quote goes, “One must first know the past in order to understand the present.” That said, it is important to examine Leavitt’s upbringing and early career to make sense of her — well, nonsense. She was brought up in Atkinson NH (which consists of a 97.8 percent white, conservative population) where she attended catholic grade school until she decided to go to a catholic college, Saint Anselm College (which consists of a 87.1 percent white, conservative population), in 2019, where she earned her bachelor’s degree before immediately interning with Fox News. That said, it is important to note that Leavitt has spent her entire life in an “echo chamber.” She grew up with Fox News playing in the background of her home. She was a teen during Trump’s 2016 presidency — she was literally raised by MAGA, it is almost as if Trumpism is all she has ever known.
A degree does not automatically deem one an intellectual; it may render one as “credentialed,” but being “credentialed” and being committed to the art of thought, the art of reason, are most definitely not one and the same. And Leavitt will fight to do anything but reason with people, an essential characteristic of effective politicking. That said, the context and environment under which Leavitt received her political education are imperative to this argument. Saint Anslem, being a sheltered think tank with virtually no diversity of thought, race, or religion, is a key factor in deciphering Leavitt’s mask. In fact, Karoline’s lack of exposure to differing ideas (and lack of critical engagement with those ideas) and experiences is arguably anti-factual in nature, as it neglects the fact that history has many perspectives, and to deny or neglect other perspectives is to evade truth. Karoline may appear to use “facts” to back up her claims, but after breaking down and fact-checking her arguments, it is clear that she utilizes pseudo-knowledge, betting on the fact that her audience would not dare do their own research or challenge their school of thought and worldview.
In this respect, Karoline capitalizes upon the growing wave of anti-intellectualism consuming the U.S. She takes advantage of people’s “not knowing” to propel herself and her career. She plays into culture wars and mass hysteria rather than appropriately engaging with information and recognizing the nuanced and complicated history of this country, which has resulted in the hardships that many working-class people face today. That said, Karoline is someone who, evidently, does not read or care about history; her views are based in fallacies and hatred, not an understanding of the nuance and our shared American history which has molded our present-day America. She is someone who actively chooses NOT to think objectively and critically, as anyone who possesses these skills should be able to see through MAGA’s deception — that the fear mongering and culture wars are a distraction from what actually matters to us as people of the United States. Freedom of press and assembly, justice, affordability, and access to knowledge and information are the things that make America great. Yet these are the ideals that this administration actively seeks to destroy.
Karoline Leavitt is not for the American people because she does not care what happens to us. The ability to pull oneself up by the bootstraps, the promise that anyone who works hard enough, or is educated enough, can live a comfortable life, is what the U.S prides itself on. However, this promise, the so-called “American dream,” is dead — if it ever existed. This dream has steadily become a fantasy rather than reality as families drown in student-loan debts and unpayable medical bills, as food prices and the cost of living skyrocket while wages remain stagnant. The wealth gap in America is rapidly widening, as the ultra-wealthy pay less and less in taxes while the rest of us are forced to work multiple jobs just to scrape by. Despite Trump’s fallacies about our “booming” economy and wonderful GDP (which is not an accurate account of how the majority on the ground are doing economically), the reality is, many Americans are starving, drowning in debt, and suffering. The ability to live a dignified life now feels like a luxury rather than an inalienable human right. And amidst all this, Leavitt lives a remarkably comfortable life with her 59-year-old husband whose net worth is self-reported to range between $6 million and $45 million (quite a big difference–but what else shall we expect from a SELF-report?). For reference, in 2025, a net worth of $2 million or more is considered to be in the top 10 percent. The bottom 25 percent of Americans’ net worth is less than $25,000, a number that does not even take into consideration that 31 percent of the wealth in this country is concentrated amongst the top one percent of households. That said, while Leavitt and her husband may not be billionaires, they are most definitely out of touch with the economic reality many Americans face right now.
If MAGA truly respected the American people, it would seek to dismantle our failing system rather than relying on the myth of nostalgia and preying on memories of a post-WWII economy when times were “simpler” and “easier” (that is, easier for white, cisgendered, heterosexual, Christian individuals). No, instead of this MAGA has ripped the already tattered bandaid off of our gushing capitalist wound — stripping Americans of social services and healthcare is not going to fix the our problems, instead this makes them worse as we, the 90 percent engage in petty in-fighting over DEI, welfare queens, who “deserves” to eat, and blaming the individual for requiring government assistance. While we remain distracted from the larger picture, it is us, the 90 percent, who continue to bleed out while the ruling class cashes their checks.
That said, Karoline is the antithesis of intellectualism — the face of pseudo-intellectualism as is tradition within the Fox News organization. She is someone who actively pushes to polarize this nation, someone who regurgitates and bastardizes progressive language and ideals with a far-right extremist flavor. She rebrands violent nationalism as innocent “Christian values”— behavior that anyone who cares about improving the American condition would denounce. These are behaviors that any seldom-decent person would denounce.
Aside from being a disgrace to humanity, Karoline is an objectively bad politician. She lacks grit and lacks integrity; she pushes for division and bigotry, she defends the president’s violent and criminal acts (i.e., sending in the national guard, violating habeas corpus, among many others) simply to push her agenda. Karoline is a master manipulator, utilizing tactics such as adding random asides to her speech to buy herself time and deflecting questions asked by reporters. If Karoline is approached by a reporter or network she does not like, she berates the person, calling them “fake reporters” and deems them a “disgrace” to the field of journalism. The funniest part of all of that is that Karoline is projecting — she is an awful person but she is not stupid, she knows she is a liar, she knows she is working for criminals, and she knows that, above all else, she must never admit defeat and never question the administration, as is custom for all the self-serving MAGA cronies in congress and the whitehouse.
In the age of misinformation and disinformation, it is becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate between objective truth and the fear-mongering filth spewed by politicians who, ultimately, are more concerned with their wealth than YOUR well-being. Media networks (on both the left and right) owned by various corporations are more concerned with lining their pockets than delivering objective news and portraying objective reality. And no network does this better than the MAGA propaganda machine: Fox News, the same network that catapulted Karoline’s career and where she continues to make frequent appearances.
At the end of the day, everybody who is not exponentially wealthy will feel the ramifications of this administration at some point, even a large portion of MAGA voters will be stomped on by the ultra-wealthy (which just so happen to be some of MAGA’s largest donors and lobbyists). Hate and economic disparity are what this administration and Leavitt stand for; they stand for a deplorably rich ruling class, NOT the working class, and therefore, not the American people.
We argue with each other online and face-to-face regarding who is “worthy” of housing, food, and dignity. We scrape together our coins in hopes that we can one day own a home, or pay our medical bills, to feel superior to the people who could not “do it” because in America, we view poverty as a moral failing, as does Leavitt. She has made her views on the poor very clear since the deployment of our National Guard in DC and the war on homelessness;it is the fault of the individual for not working hard enough, pushing enough, being smart enough–that is why they are poor, not because our system is broken. Human decency is not a priority for MAGA, nor is it for Leavitt. MAGA and Leavitt’s priorities lie in an oligarchical society, one where there is no freedom or justice for anyone but the top one percent of earners in this country.
Karoline Leavitt does not believe in justice, she might say she does, but her actions prove otherwise. Though Leavitt did not pursue a master’s degree, she has most definitely mastered the art of blowing smoke in the face of the press and American people. Her entire media persona is a sick act, devoid of humanity and integrity; she masquerades with a cross around her neck whilst covering for and lying on behalf of our pedophile president. Karoline claims she adheres to Christian values, yet again, her actions prove that there is not an ounce of love in her heart for anyone who does not look or think like her. She has fallen to MAGA’s lies and, in turn, has become a liar and a cheater herself. She continues to cheat the American people every time she gets behind her podium and makes a conscious decision not to tell the truth.
Karoline is not for us because she is not one of us; she is a coward by definition — someone devoid of integrity, someone who lacks the courage to endure the uncomfortable (that is, judgment from MAGA and MAGA devotees), yet it is only from discomfort that we can learn, grow, and do better. Karoline Leavitt, like the rest of MAGA, has chosen to remain stagnant, to accept an unjust system for their personal gain. MAGA, which consists of people who, ultimately, swapped their white hoods for red hats, is rooted in cowardice, so perhaps Leavitt is a product of her environment. Regardless, it is important to remember that fear breeds hatred, and until MAGA confronts what exactly it is afraid of, America will never be Great. All of us will lose if we continue to live in fear.