You’ve got to love it when the so-called “journalists” at the Associated Press try to play “Gotcha!” with a Trump administration official—only to end up embarrassing themselves. That’s exactly what happened when White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt took the podium and dismantled an AP reporter who thought he could trip her up with some smug economic questions. He failed miserably.
The reporter, with that typical media arrogance, tried to suggest that President Trump’s tariffs were actually “tax hikes,” conveniently ignoring the fact that these tariffs are designed to hold foreign countries accountable for years of unfair trade practices. But Leavitt wasn’t having it.
AP Reporter: “Um, if we could just step back for a second. When President Trump last addressed the BRT when he was on the campaign trail, his big push was on tax cuts. He’s going there today as he’s proposing tax hikes in the form of tariffs, and I’m curious why he’s prioritizing that over the tax cuts.
White House Press Briefing, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt: “He’s actually not implementing tax hikes,” she fired back, calmly and confidently. Tariffs are a tax hike on foreign countries that, again, have been ripping us off. Tariffs are a tax cut for the American people, and the president is a staunch advocate of tax cuts. As you know, he campaigned on no taxes on tips, no taxes on overtime, no taxes on Social Security benefits. He is committed to all three of those things, and he expects Congress to pass them later this year.”
Boom. Simple. Direct. True.
But instead of cutting his losses, the AP reporter doubled down, snidely asking Leavitt, “I’m sorry, have you ever paid a tariff? Because I have. They don’t get charged on foreign companies; they get charged on the importers.”
VISIT OUR YOUTUBE CHANNELWell, congratulations, buddy. I’m sure that makes you a top-tier economist in the D.C. press corps.
Leavitt, in true Trump-era fashion, didn’t let him get away with that nonsense. She laid out the reality: “And ultimately, when we have fair and balanced trade, which the American people have not seen in decades, as I said at the beginning, revenues will stay here, wages will go up, and our country will be made wealthy again. And I think it’s insulting that you are trying to test my knowledge of economics and the decisions that this president has made.”
She smiled, looked around the room to see who she wanted to choose for the next question, ending the AP reporter’s time by letting him know exactly how unimpressed she was, saying, “I now regret giving a question to the Associated Press. Mary, go ahead.”
WATCH:
Ouch. That’s how you shut down a bad-faith journalist who thinks he’s the smartest guy in the room. He did a disservice to consumers of news by asking gotcha questions.
This press briefing was a masterclass in handling media bias, and Karoline Leavitt just proved she’s more than ready to take on the left-wing spin machine. The Trump administration isn’t here to play defense—it’s here to win.
And the libnuts kept saying Trump doesn’t have strong women around him. That’s the only kind of women he has in his orbit, and it’s refreshing to see. MAGA
#mediabiasexposed #trumppressbriefing #karolineleavitt
