On Feb. 6, a video containing racist imagery of former president Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, was posted to Donald Trump’s Truth Social account. Do not fret, however, as Trump says that this video was posted mistakenly by a White House staffer who did not watch the whole video. Despite the video’s racist imagery, Trump says he is not at fault for the video being posted.
Or, supposedly, according to press secretary Karoline Leavitt, the video was not racist whatsoever and everything that comes from Trump’s Truth Social is “straight from the horse’s mouth,” and “when you see it on Truth Social, you know it’s directly from President Trump,” thereby contradicting everything Trump said on the matter.
Does this cadence sound familiar?
Every American president, and probably every world leader ever, has been faced with an unfortunate mishap or mistake at some point during their time in power. President Trump, for one reason or another, has been cursed with an unusually high number of mishaps recently. His administration has responded to these mishaps in a number of different ways, but nearly all follow a similar pattern: deny responsibility, and if the polls take a hit, deflect until they come back up.
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However, this strategy has been recently undermined by one thing, that is, Trump himself.
The White House press secretary acts as the primary spokesperson for the executive branch, providing information about the President’s administration to the media and White House press corps. So, when the Press Secretary contradicts the President of the United States, something deeply unusual is happening between the two. Let’s analyze some examples.
Shortly after Alex Pretti was fatally shot by an ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] agent in Minneapolis earlier this year, many White House officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, began pushing the claim that Pretti was a violent individual who was attempting to kill ICE agents. However, when asked about whether he thought Pretti was acting as an assassin, President Trump answered, “No,” backtracking on the crux of ICE’s justification for the use of lethal force.
Additionally, in early February, Trump floated the idea of nationalizing elections in the future. That would be a violation of the Constitution, but Karoline Leavitt assured the press that the President was simply referring to the SAVE Act, and Trump simply wanted to see voter ID implemented across the nation.
Not so, says Trump; “I don’t know why the federal government doesn’t do them anyway,” said Trump when asked about his comments on having elections run by the federal government. “If a state can’t run an election, I think the [congressional Republicans] should do something about it.”
What is the pattern between these many incidents?
There is something you might notice: the President makes a bold, problematic claim, or otherwise finds himself in the center of national controversy. His staff and press secretary try to ease the outrage by toning down his rhetoric or justifying the actions. The President then undoes all the de-escalation done by his administration up to that point and instead doubles down on the controversy.
The disconnect between the President and his press secretary is not a good look for either of them, but it’s especially bad for Leavitt; she is supposed to tell the media what the President really thinks, after all. So, there’s little good reason for Trump to throw his number one spokesperson under the bus for his bold rhetoric.
This detachment between the President and his administration may just be a matter of poor communication right now, but it is likely that it exhibits something much larger: that being a loss of control over public opinion, something crucial to what got him elected while he pushed his bold policies.
During the 2024 election, most Americans preferred what President Trump had to offer, and now, as he finds himself caught up in increasing controversies, he has seemingly abandoned attempts to turn down the heat of from the mishaps, even if it seems that his administration isn’t on the same page as him.
With Trump continually doubling down on his controversies, it has become clearer than ever to the public when press secretary Karoline Leavitt is trying to cover for him or wrongfully defuse his comments. The only reason that Leavitt would care to cover for him is because the White House staff know that Trump’s bold moves are not winning him popularity, whether Trump cares to preserve that or not.
