Karoline Leavitt Beat Trump At His Own Game With Her Pettiest Moment To Date

Even though Karoline Leavitt sometimes dresses like a grandma, she's the youngest White House press secretary in history. But even considering her young age, her recent comment to a reporter didn't make her sound like a 20-something professional; instead, she came off sounding like a catty middle schooler. S.V. Dáte, a reporter for HuffPost, asked Leavitt via text message about "Who suggested Budapest?" as the site for an upcoming meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump to discuss ending Russia's war with Ukraine. Per a screenshot of their conversation shared by Leavitt on X, her response to the question was, "Your mom did."

The snippy reply could show that Leavitt is at a breaking point with being Trump's press secretary. Or it could be that she's doubling down on following Trump's playbook and being spiteful. Because it's definitely the sort of petty swipe that we, sadly, have come to expect from Trump. And we do know that Leavitt is nothing if not a loyal supporter of her boss. Whatever the reason, this was truly a stunning response. Not only did Leavitt use the line, but reportedly Steven Cheung, White House communications director, also replied with "Your mom" to the question, per HuffPost.

Some said that the childish responses weren't a surprise. One person said, "It's like watching an unruly kindergarten class with no teacher on a daily basis" (via Instagram). Another Instagram comment included a suggestion for the best response to the flippant remark from Leavitt: "The only appropriate follow up is, 'You talked to my mom? Great, maybe she can teach you some manners because clearly yours didn't.'"

There were some defenders of Karoline Leavitt's comments, like Steve Guest, former special communications adviser to Senator Ted Cruz. He posted on X that the exchange was "Hilarious." Some people agreed, though with a caveat: "That's so hilarious ... if you've got the brain of a 6th grader" (via X).

In the text thread that Leavitt shared to X, she showed how she followed up on her "your mom" comment to the HuffPost reporter. She wrote, "It's funny to me that you actually consider yourself a journal [sic]. You are a far left hack who nobody takes seriously, including your colleagues in the media, they just don't tell you that to your face. Stop texting me your disingenuous, biased, and bulls*** questions." Quite the exchange.

However, plenty of people on social media seem to think there was nothing wrong with the question, and that it warranted a serious response. One person X said, "Gurl. It was a legit question and your response showed you are immature and uneducated and could not follow the question." As HuffPost noted in the context for the question to Leavitt, Budapest has quite the history when it comes to Ukraine and Russia. In 1994, the Budapest Memorandum was signed that confirmed that Ukraine would dismantle its nuclear arsenal and Russia would respect its borders. With multiple invasions of Ukrainian territory by Russia, that memorandum has clearly not been upheld.