In a somewhat surprising move, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Wednesday that she would be leaving her role at the end of August in order to spend more time with her two young children. The long, grueling hours of keeping up with President Trump, a political Energizer Bunny, have to make life difficult when you're also trying to balance the needs of your littles.
It's the right call, no doubt. Leavitt is only 28, and she has a long career in politics ahead of her if she wants it. She leaves the White House with a sterling reputation in and out of Republican circles, and she now has a résumé that most people twice her age would envy.
She'll be a hot commodity for many years to come.
But, it must be said, she'll be missed, not only for her deft way of dealing with the frothing press, but also for her efforts to give conservative and new media the same kind of access to the White House that traditional media had enjoyed for years. New media, at which the right excels, helped upend the legacy media apple cart a while back, but it took years for DC to accept that (and many still haven't).
The Biden White House pulled 442 press credentials back in 2023, many of them belonging to right-leaning outlets. They only wanted to talk – and very, very rarely at that – to their friendlies. So much for transparency.
Karoline Leavitt, however, understood the assignment and flung the door to the briefing room wide open. The playing field was officially leveled.
She set the tone from day one, saying at her first official White House briefing on January 29, 2025, that "the Trump White House will speak to all media outlets and personalities" and noted that the legacy media was unpopular with the American public and did a poor job of reaching young people.
And in keeping with this revolutionary media approach that President Trump deployed during the campaign, the Trump White House will speak to all media outlets and personalities, not just the legacy media who are seated in this room, because apporting — according to recent polling from Gallup, Americans’ trust in mass media has fallen to a record low. Millions of Americans, especially young people, have turned from traditional television outlets and newspapers to consume their news from podcasts, blogs, social media, and other independent outlets.
Leavitt promised to "adapt this White House to the new media landscape" by "opening up this briefing room to new media voices who produce news-related content and whose outlet is not already represented by one of the seats in this room."
"We welcome independent journalists, podcasters, social media influencers, and content creators to apply for credentials to cover this White House," said Leavitt. "And you can apply now on our new website, WhiteHouse.gov/NewMedia."
Everyone who could pass the Secret Service background check was now eligible to cover the White House, giving conservative media a voice it never had before.
A special new media seat was also created, and the occupier of it (it rotates between outlets) sits at the front and gets to ask the first question at briefings. The days of Helen Thomas are long gone.
I've never had the privilege of reporting from the White House, but that doesn't matter a bit. It's enough to know that the door isn't slammed shut to me. Or to RedState. Or to Townhall (whose own Cameron Arcand is now a regular at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue). Or to any number of outlets across the political spectrum that regularly score more clicks and views than the tired old media.
Karoline's performance behind the podium was masterful, and I particularly enjoyed how she batted down insipid questions from CNN's perma-scowled Kaitlan Collins like they were annoying gnats. That kind of reckoning was a long time coming and so very enjoyable to watch.
It took an old guy like Donald Trump to fling open the doors of the White House and harness the energy of conservative new media.
It took a young woman like Karoline Leavitt to make sure the people who walked through those doors would never again look quite the same.
We wish her all the best and thank her for what she did for us.
