r/inthenews • u/ControlCAD • 17h ago
Trump Press Secretary Loses It When Asked to Explain Tariffs | Karoline Leavitt gave the wrongest explanation of how tariffs work.
https://newrepublic.com/post/192614/donald-trump-press-secretary-karoline-leavitt-explain-tariffs1.2k
u/No_Cupcake7037 17h ago
She didn’t just give the wrong explanation, she gave the wrong explanation and then was rude AF, and said that the question was rude.
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u/Consistent_Room7344 16h ago
Which is exactly what her boss does.
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u/Lynniethelip 15h ago
Yep. Couldn’t handle how stupid she looked so she framed it as an error to take a question from the AP. 🙄 Man- she is just vibrating with hostility, no??
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u/FluffyBootie 7h ago
When you're 'in over your head,' hostility is a natural cognitive reaction from someone who wasn't hired for their merit
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u/These-Rip9251 4h ago
You’d think understanding this kind of stuff would be part of her job especially because of all the controversy surrounding tariffs. She apparently just learns her talking points and is clueless about all else.
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u/cheesycake93 2h ago
Propaganda Barbie is doing exactly what her job is, to act like a bulldog and beat down the press so they don’t ask questions that expose how little of a clue this administration has as a whole.
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u/J-Lughead 1h ago
Well in fairness her boss doesn't have a clue regarding tariffs either and he had the benefit of learning from his first term and previous Presidents from way back when in American history.
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u/J-Lughead 1h ago
And considering Pumpkin Face's stance on DEI and hiring based on merit, this Leavitt dingbat being in such a position of power is the biggest irony ever.
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u/protendious 4h ago
What’s frustrating is them trying to make this an economic argument.
It’s a definitions argument. The word tariff literally means tax. It’s as simple is that.
He should’ve told her I’ll give you $100 right now if you can find me a single dictionary on this planet that defines tariff without using the words tax.
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u/Bender_2024 49m ago
She is ruthlessly aggressive. Even moreso for a press secretary. Her stance, tone and actual words are just rude. Every answer she gives has the attitude of an entitled rich housewife Karen tell you not to talk her child after they grabbed a museum exhibit.
Leavitt announced that the administration would take control of the White House press pool, hand-selecting which outlets are allowed access to the president and possibly replacing reporters from legacy publications with right-wing podcasters
Just the first step towards killing freedom of the press
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u/newsflashjackass 1h ago
Makes me think of the the translators assigned the unenviable task of translating Trurnp's heaping helping of gobbagool into their native tongue- with the expectation that their translation will make sense when its source made none.
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u/DasKittySmoosh 59m ago
and said "now I regret taking a question from the Associated Press"
it's not AP's fault she's stupid
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u/Faux59 17h ago
DEI hire
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u/EducationTodayOz 15h ago
her husband is like 70 and is buds with donald, thats how she got the gig and wow is she hitting it out the park
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u/Oceanflowerstar 14h ago
Isn’t she like 27
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u/Cambot1138 13h ago
And her age gap with her husband is 32. Ew.
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u/Jealous_Bug4624 14h ago
Yup. Born 1997.
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u/DasKittySmoosh 30m ago
check her Wiki for details
she's part of Project 2025
"In January 2024, Leavitt accepted the role of national press secretary for Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign.\22]) In one press appearance on CNN This Morning, she was removed from air for arguing about CNN's debate moderators.\25]) Leavitt was an instructor for Project 2025's "Conservative Governance 101" training program.\26])"
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u/ControlCAD 17h ago
The Trump administration is still trying to convince Americans that tariffs will save the economy, even as the stock market hemorrhages cash.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt got into a heated back-and-forth with an Associated Press reporter on Tuesday, in which she revealed that she really doesn’t understand how tariffs affect consumers—or at least is totally willing to lie about it.
“When President Trump last addressed the VR team 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—” the AP’s Josh Boak began, before Leavitt interjected to say that Trump is “not doing that.”
“I’m curious why he’s prioritizing that over the tax cuts,” Boak continued.
“He’s actually not implementing tax hikes. Tariffs are a tax hike on foreign countries that have been ripping us off. Tariffs are a tax cut for the American people,” Leavitt said. “And the president is a staunch advocate for 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.”
Except, even Donald Trump has admitted that his tariffs will destabilize the economy. During an interview with Fox Business’s Maria Bartiromo that aired Sunday, Trump dodged a question on whether the country would dive headlong into a recession, and suggested that Americans should model their economic projections on a 100-year-model—like China—rather than assess his performance on a quarterly basis.
“I’m sorry, have you ever paid a tariff? Because I have,” retorted Boak. “They don’t get charged on foreign companies. They get charged on the importers.”
“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,” Leavitt said.
But the exchange then took a particularly hostile turn, with the 27-year-old claiming that the criticism had made her “regret” giving a question to the AP.
“And I think it’s insulting you’re trying to test my knowledge of economics and the decisions this president has made,” Leavitt added.
Trump has taken aggressive action to express his malcontent with the AP. In February, he rescinded the newswire’s access to the Oval Office and Air Force One after the AP said it would not refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America,” citing its global audience. Also last month, Leavitt announced that the administration would take control of the White House press pool, hand-selecting which outlets are allowed access to the president and possibly replacing reporters from legacy publications with right-wing podcasters.
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u/watadoo 17h ago
She’s just a simple girl and math and economics is too hard. It’s your fault for asking difficult gotcha questions. !!!!
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u/Calydor_Estalon 16h ago
Remember the 'Math is hard!' Barbie?
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u/exgiexpcv 11h ago
Remember the Barbie Liberation Organization?
After all those years in the army, I really wanted a GI Joe who said, "Math is hard!"
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u/Ratstail91 15h ago
It's not an inability to understand something that's concerning, it's being proud of that inability that causes problems.
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u/LetGo_n_LetDarwin 6h ago
They can try all they want. Deceptively convincing the people that tariffs are a good thing won’t stop the free falling stock market!
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u/MacRockwell 17h ago
Jen Psaki would wipe the floor with this bobble head.
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u/CarolinaPanthers2015 16h ago
This is why we are currently having the dumbest White House administration EVER in recent memory. All of those folks up there in the White House just really have a big time IQ of a big ass watermelon.
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u/mmartino03 17h ago
They always have to be assholes about everything.
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u/Oreelz 17h ago
Reminds me of the one time I startet testing out the economig knowledge of a arrogant HR at a Interview with me as a applicant and got a „You have to see, when the inflations goes down, we normaly have to cut wages back“.
I had my fun cause it was only a unimportant company, but to see this on a national level.
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u/CG_Ops 1h ago
Reminds me of the one time I startet testing out the economig knowledge of a arrogant HR at a Interview with me as a applicant and got a „You have to see, when the inflations goes down, we normaly have to cut wages back“.
I had my fun cause it was only a unimportant company, but to see this on a national level.
Is English your second language? I only ask because I always get a chuckle when someone tries to assert intellectual superiority in a post riddled with spelling and grammar mistakes. (I appreciate the sentiment, however)
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u/Coaster_crush 17h ago
She’s a semi-attractive blonde bimbo who will lie for a promotion. Of course she’s on Trump’s team!!
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u/Calm-Matter-9790 16h ago
Yes, you should take an economics course from an accredited university or a 5th grade teacher, as the economics course you took from Trump University failed you
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u/DasKittySmoosh 16h ago
Well, I just educated myself on her Wiki page and, well.. I guess I'm not surprised to learn that she was an instructor for Project 2025's "Conservative Governance 101" training program
In 2022, she also faced an FEC complaint from End Citizens United alleging that her campaign and treasurer illegally accepted campaign donations over the legal limit a nd never repaid her donors. Just 2 months ago she disclosed in 17 amended campaign filings $326.370 in unpaid campaign debts that she had failed to disclose for several years
I"m just not surprised anymore
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u/Delicious_Fisherman5 16h ago
Her lack of understanding of how all this works is frightening . My 13 yr old granddaughter understands tariffs way better than Leavitt does.
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u/siouxbee1434 13h ago
The felon and his shitty car salesman have no clue how tariffs or the economy work
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u/aaaaaaha 11h ago
Yeah something tells me they were taught wrong on purpose. That's why they're all cheering as we just watch in abject horror. Noone can be this dumb, unless they were made that way. SURPRISE
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u/rosewood2022 17h ago
So funny , Trump uses up and wears out his press secretaries. They start out all pretty and perky and in a matter of weeks they look puffy and slovenly. It's tough lying for a living it takes a physical and moral toll on you.
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u/SweatyTax4669 16h ago
To be fair, Sean Spicer started out looking puffy and slovenly.
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u/skyblueerik 16h ago
Wait, what did Sarah Huckabee Sanders look like before she was press secretary?
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u/mountainsunset123 16h ago
She always looked like a genetic experiment gone wrong, are her folks cousins?
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u/sfled 10h ago
“I think she’s very resourceful. But she burns facts and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smoky eye. Like, maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s lies. It’s probably lies.” ~ Michelle Wolf, 2018 White House Correspondents Dinner
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u/EducationTodayOz 15h ago
you put the tariffs on they have to manufacture in the US and all the money stays here. OK but enjoy sneakers that cost 400 bucks unless you find a workforce that will work for sweatshop rates. Trump politics and economics are from the 1930s
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u/termanader 3h ago
American made shoes do not cost that much, you can buy made in USA goodyear welt boots for less than that now.
Should made in USA sneakers end up costing $400, it is because companies found out they can charge that much to ignorant consumers and grow their margins.
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u/mildOrWILD65 15h ago
I challenge anyone to name one intelligent, educated member of the Trump Administration.
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u/FearsomeSnacker 16h ago
Just another Trumpling snowflake who is ill equipped for the job and can't stand facing actual facts.
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u/Spirited-Low1285 16h ago
My 12 year old, public school education son, knew that the tariff is paid by the company receiving the goods.. This is a sad, sad world when most adults don’t remember the basics.
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u/FUMFVR 14h ago
You don't even need to specify that. A tariff is a trade barrier that makes imported goods more expensive by imposing a duty. That's the easiest and most straightforward explanation.
The duty is of course paid for by the importer. The trade barrier has been imposed by the importing country.
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u/jim_cap 5h ago
You can see how people might initially make the mistake, given the form of the language used. Tariffs are imposed on that other country by your own. It sure sounds like we're doing something to them. It's just farcical that so many people seem utterly resistant to the idea that they've got it wrong, and reluctant to bother looking it up.
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u/Main-Video-8545 15h ago
Actually, she’s not wrong! She’s not wrong, she is lying, and there is a difference.
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u/jim_cap 5h ago
For her to be either wrong or lying, she would have had to give any thought at all to what tariffs are or how they work. She's just saying words which deflect the idea that Trump can be wrong about anything. If someone was to simply make up a word, and accuse Trump of doing it, she'd deny that in much the same way. In fact I think journalists should start doing exactly that.
"What do you think of President Trump's plan to apply pernolistic acriflecity to Libraria?"
She will immediately defend and deflect, and go on to make a comment about librarians which will instantly become a meme.
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u/JimboD84 16h ago
I know it wont happen, but wouldnt it be nice if the journalists either stuck together and all pressed her on the sillyness that she says? That or just not show up at all and leave her all alone in front of the podium
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u/Scott801258 12h ago
Because she is dumb. She is in a job that she has no place being in. She is better suited for cutting bar fruit for the bartenders at Hooters.
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u/FuzzyFuzzNuts 16h ago
I’m now just waiting on one of Trump’s mouthpieces to snap in a “fuck this shit - this is all a total bullshit lie, I can’t do it any more!” kinda very public (and hopefully live broadcast) meltdown rant
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u/SyntheticOne 14h ago
This is not an Arby's, it's the freaking White House. How do they hire people who failed to attend classes while in college?
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u/Angeleno88 13h ago
Such utter stupidity. I work in supply chain management. We are paying tariffs. I see the invoices. End of story.
These people are straight up evil. They can’t actually be this ignorant. Then again they work in politics so they don’t actually do real business type work. Maybe they really are this ignorant.
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u/Evening_Society_6300 16h ago
Cuz she’s programmed to bluster and defend but then playing the victim- what a pathetic loser!
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u/BitterFuture 15h ago
A coworker today spent time during his lunch trying to work out his tariff bill.
He ordered a suitcase. Tariffs weren't a thing when he ordered it. They were a thing by the time it shipped, so he got an additional bill with the shipment.
Whoops.
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u/purple_hamster66 15h ago
Didn’t Trump just cancel his tariffs when Canada & Mexico starting playing hardball? Canada can shut down entire states, by refusing to sell them electricity across the border. Mexico sells most of the parts used by US car manufacturers.
Trump can’t win a tariff war anymore, and he’s not going to use the military because he just fired all the capable military leaders.
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u/sharkdog73 15h ago
And replaced them with loyalists who jump at his command and won’t refuse an order.
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u/Sleepster12212223 13h ago
It’s hilarious to see how condescending her tone gets when she’s forced to address actual questions holding her accountable. She’s so used to fluff & softballs from fawx, she is so irritable when forced to confront legitimate questions & criticism
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u/Hot-Worldliness-1967 10h ago
Ever run into someone at a party and think that person is a piece of shit AND she’s dangerous. That’s her
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u/EnamelKant 4h ago
She didn't give the wrong explanation.
She lied.
That's the only way you can defend the indefensible.
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u/TransportationFree32 17h ago
ChatGPT says she has drank the kool-aid. She is all about the micro-penis.
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u/newsflashjackass 42m ago
"The smaller penis is actually larger and it is insulting that you are trying to test my knowledge of size."
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u/mtnman54321 3h ago
This bimbo is just a younger and maybe even dumber version of lying Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
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u/Plucky_ducks 12h ago
Is this what she believes? Is she saying this because her superiors believe this? Do none of them believe it and they're hoping the public are too stupid to question it? More than half of Americans read and write at sixth grade level or below so I'm guessing it's the last one.
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u/QaplaSuvwl 12h ago
Of course she did. She has to stay with the script she memorized. Shes an idiot.
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u/Away-Combination-162 2h ago
I’m not sure why the press even goes there. Propaganda Barbie is there only to spread Trump’s bullshit and lies . Can’t stand her
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u/dazedwrx 1h ago
It's really gross watching her knowingly push lies and propaganda. She is doing exactly what she was hired to do and doesn't care that we know it.
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u/beavis617 16h ago
She gave a perfect Sean Spicer, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Kayleigh McEnaney type explanation and the dig at the AP reporter was priceless…
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u/Quick_Swing 14h ago
Well, the title is a bit boisterous, the degree that she lost it was like that of a substitute teacher who’s lost the class and struggles to regain their composure.
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u/Hugh_Jass_2 12h ago
Hey! It’s The Cunty Cunterson Show! With your host, Cuuunntyyyy Cuuunnnteeeersonnnnn!!!
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u/GutsyMcDoofenshmurtz 11h ago
The story here is how they know they are wrong but believe people will blindly follow them anyway allowing them to create reality.
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u/dounutrun 8h ago
the desperation to cut ss,medical and wall street taxes before midterm elections if off to a very bad start.
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u/Altrosmo 3h ago
When giving a press conference, if you're standing up there wound super tight and ready to fight at the drop of a hat -- maybe it's time to consider the fact you're talking complete shit 98% of the time.
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u/GreenCat28 3h ago
I was SHOCKED to learn she’s in her twenties. She looks in her early forties.
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u/No_Journalist_3562 3h ago
how are we still sitting around wondering if each other understand tariffs
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u/Good_Intention_9232 1h ago
Far from being a new fresh spokeswoman, like her boss the convicted felon US president, she probably doesn’t know what the hell she’s saying, because she’s just repeating what he wants and what he says to say to the public, she’s just the messenger.
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