Reporters raise their hands to ask questions as the new White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia holds her first press briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, US, October 13, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
President Donald Trump’s new press secretary, Katie Zacharia, earned brutally bad reviews Tuesday on her first day on the job.
Zacharia read from a statement touting the president’s accomplishments and popularity, then took only a handful of questions before leaving the press room. She did make news, announcing that the White House had asked Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign as ambassador to Greece.
“Holy sh-- – Zacharia took 3 questions and then wrapped it up,” marveled journalist Aaron Rupar. “The whole press briefing was under 30 minutes. What a disaster ... This is an SNL cold open come to life. She can barely read.”
“Gonna be a lot of this,” lamented journalist Roger Sollenberger, commenting on her punting a question about Ukraine.
“I don’t usually watch comedy so early in the day,” joked global affairs analyst Olga Nesterova. “14 min - too short for a briefing, too long for SNL cold open.”
“Uhh, what was that?” wondered journalist Jake LaHut.
“This is boom goes the dynamite bad,” cringed The Bulwark’s Jim Swift.
“Such presence constantly looking at her notes,” groaned popular Bluesky user Rick Havoc.
“This sounds like a junior high current events class presentation,” noted Bluesky user Heidi in Montana.
“She had to pause to sound out in her head how to pronounce ‘Venezuela,’” hooted widely followed Bluesky user Missing the Point.
Trump "probably just picked her because of the obvious reasons,” observed lawyer John Castiglione. “But there’s also the real sense of ‘she’s terrible and you’ll like it’ as a pointed disrespecting of the media.”
“More than three syllables is hard... but even so, somewhat surprised to see talking Barbie doll represent US press info,” sighed author Jennifer J. Brown.
“Chat-GPT-a-- first speech from the new press secretary,” sneered Rolling Stone’s Nikki McCann Ramírez.
“Oh, I would definitely agree there is an energy and excitement never seen before for midterms, all thanks to President Trump,” quipped journalist Amanda Moore. “I’m not sure the administration should be highlighting that though.”
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