Ten Times Team Trump Has Owned the Media So Far

Since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term on January 20th, he and his top advisors have showcased a knack for turning reporters’ “gotcha” questions back on them and leaving corporate media talking heads speechless. Here are ten times Team Trump has owned the media so far.

Karoline Leavitt schools reporter on the definition of “illegal alien”

At just 27 years old, Karoline Leavitt is the youngest White House Press Secretary in history. But during her very first press briefing in January, Leavitt handled one underhanded question about the Trump administration’s deportation agenda like a seasoned veteran.

“Of the 3,500 arrests ICE has made so far since President Trump came back into office, can you just tell us the numbers – how many have a criminal record, versus those who are just in the country illegally?” the reporter asked.

“All of them,” Leavitt responded. “They illegally broke our nation’s laws, and therefore they are criminals as far as this administration goes. I know the last administration didn’t see it that way, so it’s a big culture shift in our nation to view someone who breaks our nation’s immigration laws as a criminal, but that’s exactly what they are.”

Stephen Miller blasts CNN anchor about exploiting illegal alien labor

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller has long been a thorn in the side of the corporate media, and he added to that reputation in January when CNN’s Jake Tapper insinuated that deporting illegal aliens would lead to higher prices at the grocery store.

“Well, I mean, I’m sure it’s not your position, Jake,” said Miller, as a wry smile crept over his face while Tapper was speaking. “You’re just asking the question that we should supply America’s food with exploitative, illegal alien labor.”

“Only one percent of alien workers in the entire country work in agriculture,” Miller continued. “The top destination for illegal aliens are large cities like New York, like Los Angeles, and small, industrial towns, of course, all across the heartland. None of those illegal aliens are doing farm work… They are in our cities collecting welfare.”

“As for the farmers, there is a guest worker program that President Trump supports.”

JD Vance tells Margaret Brennan he “doesn’t really care”

In an interview on CBS’s Face the Nation, Vice President JD Vance got into a spat with interviewer Margaret Brennan over the vetting process for refugees from terrorist hotspots like Syria and Iraq.

Vance specifically pointed to one Afghan national who plotted an Election Day attack last year despite apparently going through the vetting process to enter the United States.

The vice president argued that this case proves that there are serious flaws in the vetting process. When Brennan responded with an unfounded claim that the would-be terrorist was “radicalized while he was living here,” Vance shot back with, “I don’t really care Margaret, I don’t want that person in my country, and I think most Americans agree with me.”

Vance’s retort spawned countless online memes and became symbolic of Americans’ frustration with the left’s endless excuses justifying mass migration despite the serious threats facing the American people.

Karoline Leavitt explains why Biden has egg on his face

During a press briefing in January, when one reporter attempted to pin the rising cost of eggs on Trump, Leavitt did not hesitate to fire back.

“I’m really glad you brought this up because there is a lot of reporting out there that is putting the onus on this White House for the increased cost of eggs,” she said. “I would like to point out to each and every one of you that in 2024, when Joe Biden was in the Oval Office – or upstairs in the residence sleeping, I’m not so sure – egg prices increased 65 percent. In this country we also have seen the cost of everything, not just eggs – bacon, groceries, gasoline – increase because of the inflationary policies of the last administration.”

Tom Homan sets the record straight on treatment of migrants

During Trump’s first term, Democrats and the media incessantly claimed that illegal aliens were being treated inhumanely by law enforcement, attempting to manufacture public outrage over the administration’s effective border security agenda.

One reporter attempted to run that same playbook again but more than met her match with Trump border czar Tom Homan.

“Are you treating migrants humanely?” the reporter asked Homan. “There’s been reports of them on planes with no water.”

“That’s a bunch of crap,” Homan responded. “ICE detention facilities have the highest detention standards in the industry, in the world… but we’re going to enforce the law, and we’re not going to apologize for doing it.”

“It’s not ok to enter this country illegally, it’s a crime,” Homan continued. “And when you caused a crisis as big as the Biden administration caused when you overwhelm the border patrol where they can’t do their national security job, that’s when the fentanyl comes across that kills a quarter million Americans. That’s when you have a 600 percent increase in sex trafficking. That’s when you have a record number of known suspected terrorists coming across an open border. President Trump is going to secure the border as promised to the American people.

Karoline Leavitt brings the receipts on USAID’s wasteful spending

After Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) effectively shuttered the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Democrats and the media tried to claim that USAID only funded useful humanitarian programs.

But Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dismantled that narrative in less than one minute, bringing literal receipts proving that USAID was acting as little more than a left-wing slush fund.

“These are some of the insane priorities that organization [USAID] has been spending money on,” Leavitt said. “$1.5 million to advance DEI in Serbia’s workplaces; $70,000 for a production of a DEI musical in Ireland; $47,000 for a transgender opera in Colombia; $32,000 for a transgender comic book. I don’t know about you, but as an American taxpayer, I don’t want my dollars going toward this crap, and I know the American people don’t either, and that’s exactly what Elon Musk has been tasked by President Trump to do, get the fraud, waste, and abuse out of our federal government.”

The media was refusing to report on what USAID was actually funding, so Leavitt did their job for them.

Trump’s hilarious “I thought they died” barb

During an impromptu press conference on Air Force One in February, a reporter attempted to entrap Trump in an obscure question about a Supreme Court ruling.

“I don’t even know what you’re talking about, and neither do you” Trump responded, wisely not taking the bait. “Who are you with?”

“Huff Post, sir,” the reporter responded.

“Oh no wonder,” the president retorted. “I thought they died. Are they still around? I haven’t read them in years.”

The exchange was another gem from one of the funniest politicians in American history.

Karoline Leavitt Fires Back on “Gulf of America” Controversy

Perhaps the pettiest media opposition to Trump so far in his second term has been the refusal of the Associated Press to acknowledge Trump’s legitimate name change from the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

In response to the AP’s insistence on continuing to call it the Gulf of Mexico, the White House barred the outlet from the select group of reporters with permanent access to the Oval Office and Air Force One, prompting outrage from other media outlets. When CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt about the decision during a White House press briefing, Leavitt didn’t hold back.

“It is a privilege to cover this White House,” Leavitt said. “Nobody has the right to go into the Oval Office and ask the President of the United States questions.”

When Collins accused the White House of being “retaliatory” and violating Trump’s commitment to the First Amendment, Leavitt cooly responded that she was “very up front in my briefing on day one that if we feel there are lies being pushed by outlets in this room, we are going to hold those lies accountable.”

“It is a fact that the body of water off the coast of Louisiana is called the Gulf of America, and I am not sure why news outlets don’t want to call it that, but that is what it is,” Leavitt continued “Apple has recognized that, Google has recognized that, pretty much every other outlet in this room has recognized [that].”

Much like his boss, JD Vance has cultivated a reputation as a prolific social media user, albeit with his own personal flair.

In an exchange on X, progressive commentator and former MSNBC host Medhi Hasan responded to a post about the decision to bar AP reporters from the Oval Office, “Hey @JDVance, I know you are busy lecturing the Europeans on free speech, but have you seen this.”

“Yes dummy,” Vance responded. “I think there’s a difference between not giving a reporter a seat in the WH press briefing room and jailing people for dissenting views. The latter is a threat to free speech, the former is not. Hope that helps!”

Stephen Miller torches reporters on the real “threat to democracy”

White House Deputy Press Secretary Stephen Miller doesn’t spend a ton of time in front of cameras, but when he does engage with reporters it almost always produces a jaw-dropping smackdown.

His recent lecture from the White House Press Briefing Room is worth quoting in full:

“It is true that many of the people in this room for four years failed to cover the fact that Joe Biden was mentally incompetent and was not running the country. It is also true that many people in this room who have used this talking point that Elon is not elected fail to understand how government works, so I’m glad for the opportunity for a brief civics lesson.”

“The president is elected by the whole American people. He’s the only official in the entire government that is elected by the entire nation, right? Judges are appointed, members of Congress are elected.”

“The Constitution Article 2 has the clause known as the vesting clause, and it says ‘the executive power shall be vested in a president’ – the whole will of democracy is imbued into the elected president. That president then appoints staff to then impose that democratic will onto the government.”

“The threat to democracy, indeed the existential threat to democracy, is the unelected bureaucracy, career civil servants who believe they answer to no one, who believe they can do whatever they want without consequence, who believe they can set their own agenda no matter what Americans vote for. So Americans vote for radical FBI reform, and FBI agents say they don’t want to change, or Americans vote for radical reform of our energy policies, and EPA bureaucrats say they don’t want to change, or Americans vote to end racist DEI policies, and lawyers at the Department of Justice say they don’t want to change.”

“What President Trump is doing is he is removing federal bureaucrats who are defying democracy by failing to implement his lawful orders which are the will of the whole American people.”

If the first three months of President Trump’s second term are any indication, there are sure to be plenty more media “owns” over the next four years. We’ll continue to keep you up to date.

Shane Harris is the Editor in Chief of AMAC Newsline. You can follow him on X @shaneharris513.