The White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, made a major mistake during her recent appearance on Fox News. She appeared confused about President Donald Trump’s second presidency, ahead of his State of the Union speech.
During her appearance on Fox News’ Fox & Friends, an excited Leavitt addressed different aspects of Trump’s speech. Unfortunately, Leavitt got her timelines with presidents confused when particularly highlighting the affordability crisis. She appeared to contrast Joe Biden and Trump’s handling of the crisis, but misstated the timeline.
Leavitt mentioned that Trump will discuss some of his old policies and new ones, which are reportedly aimed at tackling the ongoing affordability crisis. In her attempt to possibly roast the former POTUS, Leavitt made a significant error with a confident smile on air.
Karoline Leavitt: “The president will be making a few new policy announcements to continue tackling the affordability crisis that Joe Biden created one year ago.” (Joe Biden was no longer president one year ago.) pic.twitter.com/gRkRetYZ08
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 24, 2026
She fumbled, saying, “He’ll be sharing these stories of everyday Americans who are directly benefiting from his policies and making a few new policy announcements as well to tackle the affordability crisis that Joe Biden created one year ago.”
Leavitt’s timeline mention was factually incorrect as Trump began his second presidency a year ago on January 20, 2025. While the Fox News hosts were gracious enough to let her awkward mistake slide, the internet did not.
Leavitt’s on-air blunder sparked major backlash online, causing netizens and critics to call her out on her mistake. One such netizen was renowned journalist Aaron Rupar, who fact-corrected Leavitt on Threads. He quoted Leavitt on the social media platform, and in brackets, he wrote, “Joe Biden was no longer president one year ago.”
If tonight is another speech about who to blame, people are going to tune out.
A State of the Union should outline concrete policies — timelines, costs, trade-offs, how it’s paid for.
Not just applause lines.
What are the actual proposals? What changes tomorrow?
People aren’t…
— Robin Duggan (@RobinDuggan3) February 24, 2026
His remarks about Leavitt quickly sparked a wave of responses in the comments section of his post. Many criticized the Trump administration for continuing to blame Biden nearly a year after Trump came into power.
One user claimed, “They keep trying to blame Biden no matter what (the cost).” Another shaded a popular MAGA clapback against critics of Trump, writing, “She has Biden Derangement Syndrome.” A third one said, “He’s been in office 1 year and 2 months, and it’s still Biden’s economy?!?”
The backlash continued even on his X account, with many continuing to slam Leavitt for her blunder. While many on Threads had zeroed in on Leavitt, and the administration was still blaming Biden, netizens on X focused more on the timeline mix-up.
🚨 LIAR LEVITTE STRIKES AGAIN 🚨
Karoline: “We’re fixing the affordability crisis Joe Biden created one year ago!”
Biden (retired, golfing in Delaware): “Ma’am, I wasn’t even president… I was napping.”
Next, she’ll blame him for the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show.…
— Dr. Cole (@1drcole) February 24, 2026
A first user explained, saying, “Karoline Leavitt’s comment is a clear timeline mix-up. Referencing Biden as responsible for an affordability crisis “one year ago” doesn’t align with the fact that he wasn’t president at the time…”
A second one said, “If the goal is to talk about affordability, that’s fair—but the timeline in this statement doesn’t add up.” The same user pointed out, “Accuracy matters if we want the conversation to be useful.” In response, a third user claimed, “They don’t want the conversation to be useful; they want to deflect blame.”
Neither Leavitt nor the White House has commented to rectify the on-air blunder amid Trump’s ongoing State of the Union speech.
