# Karoline Leavitt (and her successors) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [May 9, 2025, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karoline-leavitt-and-her-successors/1018138 "2025-05-09T06:40:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 16
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karoline-leavitt-and-her-successors/1018138/301 "2026-10-16T04:54:42Z")
> [@robby](#): > > either her hairdresser or dog walker? You know this vile pile wouldn’t suffer a doggo! And if she did, it would run away. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karoline-leavitt-and-her-successors/1018138/302 "2026-10-16T06:42:17Z")
She was on Hannity tonight and had another disastrous interview. And Hannity did not do her any favors. She has now become the story. This is not going well for her. I wouldn’t be surprised if Trump decides he just doesn’t need a press secretary since no one has ever dealt with the press better than he has. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/xxjXm_ioWzM/maxresdefault.jpg "Katie Zacharia RESPONDS to critics questioning her legal background") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxjXm_ioWzM1) ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karoline-leavitt-and-her-successors/1018138/303 "2026-10-16T06:56:17Z")
Sean Hannity is doing _actual journalism_? We have indeed lived to see manmade horrors beyond our comprehension. You really have to watch the video to see how _terrible_ she is at this. She emotes and talks like a robot that’s about to start sparking and then break down because its logic circuits are overloaded. They _literally_ have the band play her off as if she were taking too long giving her speech at the Golden Globes. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Greenjeans](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.greenjeans/32/551_2.png) [@Mr.Greenjeans](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Greenjeans)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karoline-leavitt-and-her-successors/1018138/304 "2026-10-16T12:38:29Z")
> [@robby](#): > > How long until she reveals that person is either her hairdresser or dog walker? > > …and that the answer from the hairdresser was actually, “You can call yourself whatever you want, honey!” 😋 “Does she or doesn’t she? Only her hairdresser knows for sure.” Nah, I’m just kidding. Everybody knows! ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karoline-leavitt-and-her-successors/1018138/305 "2026-10-16T12:39:57Z")
Donald Trump to Katie Zacharia: “Honey, wait for me in the catering truck.” ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karoline-leavitt-and-her-successors/1018138/306 "2026-10-16T12:48:41Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > She emotes and talks like a robot that’s about to start sparking and then break down because its logic circuits are overloaded. What’s with the very odd toothy grin when she isn’t talking? Robot indeed. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karoline-leavitt-and-her-successors/1018138/307 "2026-10-16T13:40:53Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > What’s with the very odd toothy grin when she isn’t talking She’s been taught that she must smile at every possible moment. She is female, after all. Both she and the assholes who taught her that think that baring teeth is a smile. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karoline-leavitt-and-her-successors/1018138/308 "2026-10-16T13:47:39Z")
AI parody. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/9INh4gsMCks/maxresdefault.jpg "Meet the new WH Press Secretary (parody)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9INh4gsMCks) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karoline-leavitt-and-her-successors/1018138/309 "2026-10-16T13:52:27Z")
More Fun with Katie’s Resume: > In an attempt to determine what, exactly, Zacharia was doing from 2013 to 2023—which is kind of a lengthy gap on a resume, fake lawyer or not—WIRED also learned that she spent part of that time working for a company called Beachbody. > > Beachbody was a multilevel-marketing scheme that sold something called “Shakeology,” which was supposedly some sort of “superfood nutrition shake.” The company is now apparently known as BODi, which sounds hella dumb. > > Zacharia appears to have tried to wipe all traces of her time at Beachbody from the internet, and honestly I would too. It does not sound like this company was what you would call a good corporate citizen. > > WIRED found that regulators accused the company of false advertising about an anti-aging treatment and making false promises to contractors. In 2017, the company settled a consumer protection lawsuit for false and misleading claims about Shakeology. In 2023, the people who worked as “coaches,” which seems to just mean “cogs in this fake sales hamster wheel,” filed a class action lawsuit saying they had been scammed. > > Wait. Why is it a big deal to say that your random shake cures cancer or whatever? Honestly, this sounds pretty MAHA. Maybe Zacharia was just ahead of her time? > But here’s where things get hilarious. > > When asked about this, Zacharia cheerfully told WIRED that her time at Beachbody was “sort of a pyramid scheme.” > > Oh, Katie. > > While there isn’t really any real daylight between MLMs and pyramid schemes, there is legal daylight between them—as in the former is legal, and the latter is very much not. > > The Federal Trade Commission has some dense, chewy **[guidance](https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/3.15.24%20Letter%28003%29.pdf)** on how it determines whether something is an MLM or a pyramid scheme. Certainly Zacharia wouldn’t have needed to absorb something like that, or learn the **[technicalities](https://legalclarity.org/amway-70-rule-retail-sales-requirement-for-mlm-distributors/)** of the 70% rule on how much inventory must be consumed before offering bonuses, yadda yadda. > > However, she should have absorbed the basic premise, some time during her stint at Pepperdine Law, that pyramid schemes are illegal. > By that, I’m not intending to imply that Beachbody in particular was an illegal pyramid scheme versus an MLM because I have no idea. Rather, it’s that Zacharia seems entirely unbothered about having worked for what she perceives as a pyramid scheme. > **[America needed a laugh. Enter Trump’s new press secretary.](https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/10/16/800113047/whitehouse/america-needed-a-laugh-enter-trumps-new-press-secretary/)** > > Trump’s brand-new press secretary Katie Zacharia is a lot. Here’s the Wired article > **[White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia Was an Affiliate Marketer for a...](https://www.wired.com/story/white-house-press-secretary-katie-zacharia-was-an-affiliate-marketer-for-a-fitness-mlm/)** > > Trump’s newly installed press secretary tells WIRED that in the early 2010s, she promoted a product for a company then called Beachbody, which she described as “sort of a pyramid scheme.” ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karoline-leavitt-and-her-successors/1018138/310 "2026-10-16T14:09:20Z")
The linked video wouldn’t play for me. But I found it here: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/xxjXm_ioWzM/maxresdefault.jpg "Katie Zacharia RESPONDS to critics questioning her legal background") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxjXm_ioWzM) It’s worth watching, IMHO. Hannity actually does ask some pointed questions. I assume he knows she is done for and already circling the drain. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karoline-leavitt-and-her-successors/1018138/311 "2026-10-16T14:24:22Z")
In that interview, she shows none of the qualities required of a good Trump press secretary (other than looks). She actually answers the questions asked rather than going on the attack (“is that really what you think the American people are interested in?? You’re talking about the difference between a lawyer and an attorney while [whatever talking point Trump wants to push]??”). And her answers aren’t good ones, they all sound incredibly weaselly. Then she gets fixated on a really stupid point and repeats it over and over. “I’m the first press secretary ever to release breaking news on staff changes.” WTF? ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karoline-leavitt-and-her-successors/1018138/312 "2026-10-16T14:39:54Z")
> [@robby](#): > > It’s worth watching, IMHO. Hannity actually does ask some pointed questions. I assume he knows she is done for and already circling the drain. Or possibly he was asked by the White House to stick a knife in her back. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karoline-leavitt-and-her-successors/1018138/313 "2026-10-16T14:44:18Z")
That’s a good read, both of you. Hannity doesn’t shiv someone on Team Trump unless he’s been ordered to. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karoline-leavitt-and-her-successors/1018138/314 "2026-10-16T17:42:53Z")
So not even a Scaramucci? ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karoline-leavitt-and-her-successors/1018138/315 "2026-10-16T17:46:56Z")
Likely not. A fraction of one. [https://apnews.com/live/trump-midterm-elections-news-updates-10-16-2026?utm\_source=copy&utm\_medium=share](https://apnews.com/live/trump-midterm-elections-news-updates-10-16-2026?utm_source=copy&utm_medium=share) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karoline-leavitt-and-her-successors/1018138/316 "2026-10-16T17:48:43Z")
Well, half a scaramucci. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karoline-leavitt-and-her-successors/1018138/317 "2026-10-16T17:49:14Z")
Looks like Zacharia is out: > **[Trump fires Katie Zacharia as White House press secretary, advisers say | CNN...](https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/16/politics/katie-zacharia-press-secretary)** > > President Donald Trump has fired Katie Zacharia as press secretary, advisers to the president said, ending her turbulent week-long stint as the White House’s top spokesperson. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karoline-leavitt-and-her-successors/1018138/318 "2026-10-16T17:56:55Z")
Well, he hires only the best people Best at what? Your guess is as good as mine ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karoline-leavitt-and-her-successors/1018138/319 "2026-10-16T18:00:37Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > Best at what? Your guess is as good as mine Best at contorting themselves, and reality, to fit Dear Leader’s whims. Best at being thrown under the bus when Dear Leader has no further use for them. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karoline-leavitt-and-her-successors/1018138/320 "2026-10-16T18:01:30Z")
Wow, that was fast. And not at all surprising, considering that Trump evidently [has no problem with firing women in his administration](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/14/us/politics/trump-administration-kimberly-guilfoyle-women.html?unlocked_article_code=1.JFE.po8w.K7zd1lCV4zkg&smid=url-share). Gift link: [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/14/us/politics/trump-administration-kimberly-guilfoyle-women.html?unlocked\_article\_code=1.JFE.po8w.K7zd1lCV4zkg&smid=url-share](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/14/us/politics/trump-administration-kimberly-guilfoyle-women.html?unlocked_article_code=1.JFE.po8w.K7zd1lCV4zkg&smid=url-share) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karoline-leavitt-and-her-successors/1018138.md?page=15) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karoline-leavitt-and-her-successors/1018138.md?page=17)