Karoline Leavitt's Most Embarrassing Tongue-Tied Moments At The Podium

The role of White House press secretary is notoriously grueling. Since Karoline Leavitt was only 27 years old when she stepped into it, in January 2025, many people questioned whether her youth would be an issue. These doubts likely put even more pressure on Leavitt as she took on this highly scrutinized position. With a plethora of press events, it's not surprising that she makes the occasional slip-up now and then. Unfortunately, the press secretary had made so many errors by August 2025 that "Countdown with Keith Olbermann's" eponymous host mocked her on his podcast, snarking, "Her chief achievement is she doesn't actually speak English. She called Hitler 'Hilter.'" 

However, Leavitt has repeatedly pointed out that working with President Donald Trump has impacted her ability to get a good night's rest. This lack of shut-eye due to work-related stress could make it harder for the White House staffer to make speeches without tripping over her words. It also probably doesn't help when Trump criticizes Leavitt when she's sitting near him or, even worse, floats the possibility of firing her before immediately changing his mind. 

Despite her many shortcomings, Leavitt is currently the second longest-serving of Trump's five press secretaries, at the time of writing. If she stays in the job more than two years, she'll surpass Sarah Huckabee Sanders' tenure. Since Leavitt subtly confirmed that she's one of Trump's favorites, there's a good chance, regardless of any tongued-tied flubs. Her boss has also made similar mistakes, so it's another source of common ground to unite them. 

Karoline Leavitt seemed like she should have been paying more attention in geography class when she pronounced Laos incorrectly in October 2025. The country's name came up when the White House press secretary was discussing illegal immigration, already a hot-button issue. Leavitt's decision to say "LAY-ose" quickly incited derision. In actuality, Laos rhymes with "house." Then again, Leavitt still has a way to go, since President Donald Trump has made even more embarrassing flubs. According to Politico, during his first term, Trump reportedly thought Nepal sounded like "nipple." Lucky, this gaffe wasn't caught on camera. However, it didn't stop people mocking him. Elsewhere, Trump has been caught out publicly, like when Azerbaijan came out "Aber-baijan," (via the Daily Beast).

Both are guilty of not checking ahead when they have to mention international officials' names too. In June 2025, the Trump staffer was on rocky ground when she took a seemingly phonetic approach to Polish President Karol Nawrocki's name. To her credit, Leavitt was upfront about her uncertainty, and an audience member steered her towards the correct pronunciation. In contrast, her boss garbled the pronunciation of Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, at Trump's "Board of Peace" ego fest. Not only did the divisive politician not take the opportunity to ask Mirziyoyev directly, but he downplayed his mistake. "A friend of mine, he's got one of the most difficult names in history, but that's okay, it doesn't matter," Trump contended (via X, formerly known as Twitter).

During a March 2026 press conference, Karoline Leavitt took the media to task by raging, "You take every single thing this administration says and tries to use it to make the president look bad. That is an objectable fact." While people surmised that Leavitt goofed and intended to use "objective," her mistake actually isn't that huge. Objectable is in the dictionary, although it's dubbed an archaic form of objectionable, which does fit within the context, since the White House staffer was clearly offended. Fortunately, nobody seemed to notice her verb tense mistake with "tries" instead of "tried." Either way, people weren't impressed. "For a 'press secretary,' she sure doesn't really know how the words she uses work," remarked one poster on X. "When Leavitt gets flustered like this it is usually when she is in the midst of throwing out a volley of lies," declared another.

The press secretary may have let her emotions get in the way, since Leavitt's mistake occurred during an explosive exchange with Kaitlan Collins. As CNN's chief White House correspondent, the esteemed journalist is a fixture at these briefings, and Collins and Leavitt already had a long history of butting heads. Earlier in their exchange, the White House press secretary also got slightly tripped up, as she seemingly started to say "objective" but fizzled out just after the first syllable. Soon after, Leavitt made the mistake of saying what sounded like "peath," which she corrected to "chiefs" (via X), further demonstrating how her annoyance with Collins was totally throwing her off.

President Donald Trump has a real zeal for shady nicknames that's hard to match. Unfortunately, less than six months into her tenure as his White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt seemingly threw shade right back at her boss when she accidentally called him "President Chump" (via YouTube). To add to the embarrassment, she appeared to make this error more than once during her speech. Since "ch" actually includes a "t" sound, it's likely just a case of less-than-clear enunciation. Even so, netizens seized on the moment and thereafter became hypervigilant about listening to Leavitt's pronunciation.

A few weeks later, in June 2026, she seemingly did it again. "Leavitt let the truth slip out for the first time," joked one poster on X. "Freudian slip," another quipped. However, not everyone was convinced in this second instance. Although Leavitt's "t" might have leaned more "ch," she did take care to emphasize the "r" sound. However, at this point clarity might have been immaterial, especially for those who were tickled by the cutting moniker.

Despite this questionable pronunciation, Leavitt has also flattered her boss at the podium. But her penchant for gaffes caught up with her. The previous summer, she emphatically declared that the president should win the Nobel Peace Prize. Unfortunately, she thought it was the "Noble" Peace Prize. Then again, since Trump's received numerous fake awards during his second term, perhaps his staff could develop a real-life "Noble" award for him.

At a July 2025 press event, Karoline Leavitt nearly lacked the strength needed to say the word "rigorously." The White House press secretary tried and tried again. Her perseverance paid off, and she was successful on the fourth try. The Trump staffer was sanguine about the blunder, smiling and focusing on her notes as she tried to gather her thoughts and get over the stumble. Leavitt's calm demeanor also may have come from the fact that she likely didn't have any worries about her boss giving her any flak about it. "Overwhelmingly his feedback is always really positive. I have to say, he's an eternal optimist about all things in life," she enthused during a November 2025 appearance on "Pod Force One." "That's something I've learned from him."

Besides likely being flattered by Leavitt's compliments, President Donald Trump also knows what it's like to get tripped up on a fairly common, multi-syllabic word. A couple of months after her "rigorously" difficulties, Trump made an embarrassing blunder with the word "acetaminophen." He actually recovered quicker, nailing the word correctly on the third try. However, he felt compelled to ask his audience for confirmation. Between the mistake and the controversial information at the press conference, Trump was roasted by a diverse group that included late night host Jon Stewart and the famed puppet Lamb Chop.