Granted, Sean Spicer made it clear on Day One of Trump’s first term that you can’t believe a word his press secretaries say. After all, beyond displaying abject loyalty, the only real job requirement is a cult-like willingness to parrot the lies (big and small) Trump spews every time he opens his mouth.
That said, Saddam Hussein had Baghdad Bob. Trump has Karoline Leavitt.
The comparison isn’t hyperbole; it’s prophecy. Baghdad Bob was Saddam’s loyal mouthpiece who famously claimed there were no American troops in Iraq as US tanks rolled into Baghdad. Today, Leavitt dismissed a very public pissing match between Trump’s top trade adviser, Peter Navarro, and his DOGE guru, Elon Musk, with a smug, saccharine, “boys will be boys.”
MAGA loyalty trumps national policy
At first glance, her spin might seem inconsequential. But the gravity becomes clear once you realize Navarro and Musk are feuding over trade tariffs that could trigger a global depression straight out of the 1930s. Yet Trump’s twenty-something press secretary shrugs it off like it’s just frat-house banter. (Because, you know, most Gen Zers are too busy chasing memes to bother learning the lessons of history.)
But Leavitt’s quip isn’t spin; it’s brainwashing. It reflects the smug certainty of a true believer, spewing MAGA platitudes as press releases to a press corps too jaded to gag.
Oh, for the record, Navarro called Musk a shill for cheap Chinese car parts. Musk called Navarro a moron and “dumber than a sack of bricks.” But Leavitt wants us to believe their testosterone-fueled brawl proves Trump’s open-mindedness. She claims, “It speaks to the president’s willingness to hear from all sides.” As if public policy now hinges on who can lob the bigger insult on social media.
Leavitt just being a good MAGA women
Of course, both Musk and Navarro are old enough to be her father. But in the MAGA ecosystem, women are either handmaids, courtesans, or schoolmarms. Only the last category explains how Leavitt shrugs off a grown-man slugfest with the kind of hands-off discipline you mete out in a sandbox. It’s condescending. But, more than that, it’s the smug authority of someone who knows the MAGA cult will cheer no matter what she says.
At least Baghdad Bob had the excuse of fearing for his life. Like every Trump official, Leavitt is just angling for airtime on Fox News — singing Trump’s tune like a well-trained mockingbird hoping for a bigger cage. The real question: How long before Karoline Leavitt becomes a global punchline, too? Or has that already started?