Donald Trump has never been a huge fan of journalists—unless they say nice things about him, that is. His relationship with the press was probably much better in the days when the only threat he posed to the country was in the form of a brain-cell-killing reality show. Since becoming president, however, the media has been increasingly hard on Trump, and Trump, in turn, has been increasingly hard on the media. Since taking office for a second term, the billionaire has aggressively sought to chip away at the traditional access that legacy media institutions have typically enjoyed. In place of real journalists, Trump has sought the company of people like Tim Pool: infotainment podcasters who often have a surplus of opinions and a deficit of information.
This week, the White House sank to a new low on that front, holding a first-of-its-kind “New Media Press Briefing.” While inviting journalists from smaller, less established outlets to the White House is ostensibly a good idea, that’s not what the administration did. Indeed, instead of inviting actual journalists to the event, the White House populated it with a slew of friendly influencers who were all too happy to kiss the president’s ass and ask White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt the softest of softball questions. It was bullshit questions and bullshit answers all the way down.
Leavitt kicked the briefing off by bragging about the administration’s various “accomplishments” over the past 100 years, er sorry, I meant days. “As I promised at my first briefing as press secretary back in January, the Trump White House will speak to all media outlets and personalities—not just the legacy media who traditionally has covered this institution,” Leavitt said.
Leavitt threw one of the first questions to a MAGA influencer, Arynne Wexler, who kicked things off in an appropriately MAGA fashion: “Thanks so much, Karoline—both for having us and for granting me the first question here,” Wexler said. “And I can attest to the deportations in Florida. My Uber drivers finally speak English again, so thank you for that.”
Also in attendance was the Ghost of White House Press Secretary’s Past, Sean Spicer. For whatever reason, Spicer was invited to be a part of the new media “press pool,” and took the opportunity to suck up to his former boss. “You’ve done a phenomenal job opening up the briefing room, bringing in new voices,” said Spicer, who, in 2017, briefly held Leavitt’s position before being firmly booted from the White House. “The president’s commitment during the campaign to do long-form podcasts was, I think, extremely helpful to this new media environment that we live in. But a lot of conservatives will ask me, ‘Why does he sit down with people like Terry Moran of ABC or Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic?’ What is the rationale behind that rewarding people who have very vehemently expressed disdain for him personally?”
Leavitt replied: “The president is unafraid, and he is inspired by competition.”
The government also recently set up something called “Podcast Row,” a new forum that lets “creators” ask questions of government officials while streaming their shows live from the White House. The personalities included in the first event, which is set to be a regular occurrence, reportedly included Natalie Winters from Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast and Breanna Morello, an independent journalist who previously worked for Newsmax.
Also, this guy was there. The internet quickly dubbed him “MAGA Draco Malfoy.”
a MAGA influencer in today’s White House briefing suggests joe Biden was responsible for rising suicide rates pic.twitter.com/bNZQ8LiNXU
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 29, 2025
