Strong reactions
He went on to link her confidence on television to the administration’s policies.
“She’s got no fear… because we have the right policy,” Trump said.
Trump continued: “We don’t have men in women’s sports… we don’t have to sell transgender to everybody, we don’t have to sell open borders where the world is allowed to come into our country from prisons and everywhere else – so she’s got a little bit [of an] easier job.”
A lot of people reacted strongly to Trump’s comments about Leavitt, and many were far from pleased.
@CalltoActivism tweeted: “🚨BREAKING: Trump points out Karoline Leavitt’s beautiful face and her lips ‘that don’t stop pappaap paapaaap paaap like a machine gun.’ Trump is a disgusting fool.”
“Who says *** like this about a female that works for him? It’s beyond creepy and gross,” one X user wrote.
Others shared similar outrage.
”Disgusting. Who talks like that? She should feel cheap and disrespected. Gross,” another person wrote.
One person added: “Trump reducing a woman to her looks and the sound of her lips is grotesque, juvenile, and horrifyingly predictable.” Another added, “Gross. I’d be mortified if my boss spoke about me like that.” A further comment noted, “He certainly doesn’t hide what he thinks of females. Any age.”
Not the first time
It’s not the first time Trump, 79, has commented on his 28-year-old press secretary’s appearance—or faced backlash on social media for doing so.
Back in October, the president similarly gushed about Leavitt’s lips during a press gaggle aboard Air Force One. He was speaking with reporters following his victory lap trip to Israel and Egypt, after signing his peace deal alongside Western and Arab leaders.
Despite discussing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Trump abruptly shifted the conversation to his press secretary’s looks.
“How’s Karoline doing? Is she doing good?” Trump asked reporters, seemingly unprompted. “Should Karoline be replaced?” he added.
When a reporter responded, “That’s up to you, sir,” Trump remarked, “It’ll never happen. That face…and those lips. They move like a machine gun, right?”
In August, Trump had made a similar comment about Leavitt’s facial features during an interview with Newsmax: “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.”
Leavitt herself has not directly responded to Trump’s remarks but appears unfazed, sharing multiple posts about Tuesday’s event on Twitter. Recently, she has spoken about her age-gap relationship and the difficulty of finding a man “her own age.” Her husband is 32 years older than she is.
On Pod Force One with Miranda Devine, she was asked, “Could you not find boys your own age who were as mature?”
Leavitt replied, “Honestly, no, if you want to know the truth.”