‘Incredibly Disappointing’: Trump’s Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s White House Video with Social Media Influencer Triggers Unexpected Backlash
[Note: We platform Leavitt all the time. It’s ]
‘What a Slap in the Face’: Karoline Leavitt’s White House Meet-Up with Popular Social Media Influencer Sparks Backlash From Fans and Governor Tim Walz’s Daughter
‘Girl, Read the Room’: Social Media Influencer Slammed By Fans For Posting ‘Disappointing’ White House Tour Video with Trump’s Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt
https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/politics/a61868291/who-are-tim-walz-kids-hope-gus
A video of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, 27, giving influencer Kate Mackz, 27, a tour of the residence has sparked significant backlash.
Mackz filmed Leavitt giving her a tour of the front lawn where the media awaits as well as the West Wing in a video shared on her social media accounts on April 30.
“From being at the White House last year speaking on a mental health panel and meeting President Biden, to being back again this year — [Leavitt] — thank you for having us. Truly surreal to walk through a place with so much history and meaning,” Mackz captioned her post.
Previously, Mackz visited the White House when Democratic President Joe Biden was in office. She also conducted a video interview with Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in October 2024, which is still presently pinned to the top of her TikTok and Instagram accounts.
Mackz’s new video with Leavitt led to the internet personality facing harsh scrutiny for collaborating with the official spokesperson for controversial Republican President Donald Trump.
Some liberals and progressives slammed Mackz for platforming Leavitt, as the Trump administration deals with numerous political scandals like Signalgate and the contested deportation of Ábrego García.
However, Mackz also received support for speaking with Leavitt from conservatives. The dueling partisans faced off in the comment section of her Instagram page.
“I’m confused… isn’t this a running influencer page?? Not a fascism influencer page?? How disappointing,” one person on Instagram commented. A similar comment read, “Oh, nooo, why Kate? This is incredibly disappointing.”
Another displeased commenter expressed, “What a slap in the face to the running community.” Someone else joked, “Girl, read the room lol.”
In contrast, one person championed Mackz by writing, “Great job Kate, regardless of political views you have just as much of a right as anyone to have conversations… PERIOD! You’re crushing it.”
The White House tour was not Mackz’s only published content featuring Leavitt. A recent episode of her “Post Run High Podcast” focused on Leavitt’s rise from a Saint Anselm College softball player to a Washington, D.C., insider.
As of the time of this writing, Mackz has 47,000 subscribers on YouTube, 191,000 followers on Instagram, and 783,000 followers on TikTok. Her TikTok video with Walz amassed 4.4 million views on the platform.
Walz was then-Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate for the 2024 presidential campaign against Trump and his VP pick, JD Vance. According to Newsweek, Walz’s 24-year-old daughter, Hope Walz, asked Mackz to unpin the video of her father from her social media pages after the Leavitt clip went viral.
In addition, Hope posted her own TikTok video on May 1, which directly addressed Mackz by recalling how her dad, a former high school educator and football coach, influenced her view of the sport of running from a political lens.
“Running as an act is political. You know who taught me that? Tim Walz,” the social worker and told her 457,000 TikTok followers. “When I first was getting into it in high school, the first thing he told me was that running is a privilege and being a part of the running community is a privilege that not all people have access to.”
She also said, “I don’t really understand how platforming an administration that cuts mental health services, that cuts literal shipments to food banks, is entirely hurting the climate…. sending people away without due process, villainizing minorities, all of those things are preventing people from getting into the running community, which is what I thought Kate’s platform was for.”
During a June 2024 interview with WWMD, Mackz spoke about her social media success and how she typically sets up her conversations with guests like actor Jared Leto and singer Jason Derulo.
Mackz’s “Post Run High Podcast” installment with Leavitt has only totaled 4,400 views on YouTube since landing on the site on April 30. Like with her TikTok and Instagram posts, the video’s comment section is flooded with negative reactions.