0:00
Caroline Levitt, the famous sort of blonde shoot from the hip spokeswoman for Donald Trump
0:06
She's leaving the job. Yeah, she's 28 years old. She's been an absolute phenomenon
0:11
I mean, it has fundamentally changed the way the White House press operation works
0:16
The sort of people who are allowed or go into the briefings, who've got seats in the briefings, has all been changed
0:23
You know, many more propagandists for Donald Trump now have places in the briefing room
0:28
those who might say disobliging things, find themselves marginalised, don't get questions
0:34
She's absolutely done what, in the first term, no press secretary could do. In the first term
0:41
press secretaries to Donald Trump felt slightly embarrassed when they had to defend the
0:45
indefensible or even, dare I say it, tell untruths from the podium because Donald Trump
0:52
has propagated an untruth. But she relished it, didn't she? She relished it. She didn't blush
0:57
She didn't blink. She didn't have an ounce of embarrassment. She was there to represent Donald Trump's view of the world to the American people
1:07
And I think she did it formidably. You know, is the truth better served as a result of her period? No
1:17
Has all sorts of lies been told from that podium and passed off as fact? Yes
1:24
but she did it without ever blushing or blinking and Donald Trump will really miss that
1:31
because I think she was a really articulate, forceful, formidable proponent of his world view
1:39
At 28. At 28 years old. She recently had a second child, didn't she
1:44
Is that the reason she's giving? Larger family needs more time with them, pressurised job
1:48
or has she said why she going I mean maybe there are only so many toddlers you can deal with at any one time Oh no that was an easy gag and I went for it Well I didn think of it I mean she got two at home
1:59
and one in the Oval Office. I mean what can you do? No I think that that is part of it and
2:05
there is nothing snowflake about Caroline Levitt. She's tough and she's hard. I did wonder
2:13
half seriously because the other day when it emerged about this train plane switch
2:20
at turkey coming back from the nato summit there was she a mother with a two-year-old and a newly
2:28
born discovering two days ago that she was on the decoy play she was on the plane that the
2:34
iranians could have been targeting i just wonder whether that makes you feel that's interesting
2:38
whether she thought oh that's my position as it oh that's that's that's where i stand in the
2:43
i'm a prop i'm a prop you know i mean one thing to say all the journalists can get blown to smithereens
2:49
by an iranian missile but oh so i'm part of that as well am i i don't know i'm sure it wasn't part
2:54
of the calculation but that did cross my mind because it must be a pretty uncomfortable feeling
2:59
that there was a plane carrying white house staff and the press corps from istanbul on a plane that
3:08
the Secret Service had identified might be a target. And left in the sky or allowed to go into
3:14
the sky. Absolutely. Yeah. And so I kind of wondered whether there was a part of that. But
3:18
I do think that, you know, I mean, Trump is hitting a rocky period right now. His approval ratings
3:24
are really down. Cost of living issues, the price of gas because of the Iran war
3:31
you know, and on and on it goes. And so you're seeing his opinion poll ratings tank
3:35
and you kind of she has been a really formidable force for ex you know promoting and promulgating the Trumpian view of the world And I always thought when she did it she incredibly affluent isn she There no discomfort in her as you said There no
3:55
second guessing. She's absolutely on it. No, I think that's absolutely right. And I think that
4:00
there are very few people, there was nobody in the first term and there were a succession
4:03
of press secretaries who had all sorts of issues, you know, of trying to deal with Donald Trump
4:09
and trying to keep a straight face. And I remember I went in to see the press secretary
4:15
who lasted the longest in Trump's first term, a woman called Sarah Huckabee Sanders
4:19
who's now the governor of Arkansas. But I went and saw her
4:24
There'd been an incident involving a BBC cameraman at a rally and I went to protest about what had happened
4:31
And I said to her at the end, how do you deal with all this pressure
4:36
Because it's all mad every day. and she didn't even, didn't miss a beat and she just said bourbon
4:41
and she was absolutely serious I drink my way through it I don't think Caroline Leavitt
4:48
ever had to have a drink of bourbon I think she did it with absolute conviction She was the drink of bourbon
4:52
and I'm just doing this Is there any sense about what she'll do next
4:57
because she's clearly, she's got the Republican, she's got political ambitions she stood I think for Congress
5:03
in New Hampshire in the last election round before, obviously, Donald Trump became president again
5:12
And so, do I think that Caroline Leavitt, I mean, she says she wants to spend more time with her family
5:18
and we always think, oh, well, what does that really mean? There must be something else. Maybe she does for a bit
5:23
Maybe she does for a bit. But do I think we've seen the last of Caroline Leavitt? Not a chance
5:27
She's very, very good at what she does. And tell me on a different subject
5:31
daylight saving time in the US. Yeah. Donald Trump wants to make it permanent Yes He wants to stop the changing the clocks you know spring forwards or to fall back uh he just wants to keep things that will bring the murder rate down yeah that the bit i
5:49
struggling with the logic oh it's sunny i'm not going to commit murder today and i'm not going to
5:54
commit robbery and i'm not going to mug anyone because i've got an extra hour of sunshine he's
5:58
also saying everyone will have an extra hour of sunshine i think how mr president you are very
6:03
You are very powerful, but I don't think you can decree that in the 24 hours of the day, there's going to be one extra hour of sunlight
6:12
Why do you think he's responded to this? Is it some kind of I can control time kind of thing
6:17
I mean, you know, I'm lost for words here. it's one of those things that look there there's always been that lobby i think among farmers who
6:27
have hated the you know shift to uh in in daylight saving and all the rest of it it's such a small
6:36
deal um and yet obviously this is the latest thing that donald trump he's tending to focus a bit on
6:43
the micro at the moment and not a losing sight of the bigger picture you were saying this the other
6:49
day that those bigger things that are or are not going well he's turning away from and getting a
6:54
bit obsessive about things yeah like you know his ballroom and like whether there's going to be
6:58
the arc to trump in in washington or you know those sort of things that are legacy vanity
7:06
projects that you think probably don't make any difference to how americans live their lives but
7:11
are obsessing him and and you know i would put this into that category that i are americans you
7:17
And as you say, the ludicrous, preposterous claims that it's going to cut..
7:22
The murder rate. And it's also going to make people healthier. People have fewer strokes and heart attacks
7:27
And you think, sorry. Is it? Yeah. Yeah, why? Well, we'll see. We'll see what he has to say
7:31
Thanks very much indeed, John. John Sopal, host of the News Agents Podcast, drops at the usual time of five o'clock
