Donald Trump has repeatedly praised Karoline Leavitt in very personal terms, focusing on her appearance—especially her lips —and calling her a “star” and “superstar,” which has sparked a lot of backlash and “creepy”/“gross” reactions online. He has also said he would “never” replace her as press secretary and claimed no president has ever had a better press secretary than Leavitt.

What exactly Trump said

Trump’s comments about Karoline Leavitt have followed a similar pattern over several public appearances.

  • He has called her a “star” and “superstar,” praising her TV performances and loyalty.
  • He has said things like:
    • “It’s that face. It’s that brain. It’s those lips, the way they move. They move like she’s a machine gun.”
* “That face and those lips, they move like a machine gun.”
  • On a plane with reporters, he asked if she should be replaced, then said that would “never” happen and gushed again about “that face” and “those lips.”

Where and when he said it

Trump’s remarks have come up in different settings over 2025, which is why the clip keeps resurfacing as a trending topic.

  • A Newsmax interview, where he praised her as a “star” and delivered the “face… brain… lips, the way they move” line in response to her saying he deserved the Nobel Peace Prize.
  • A rally in Pennsylvania, where he called her a “superstar” and again highlighted her “stunning face” and how “those lips… just keep going, a little gun.”
  • A gaggle with reporters on Air Force One, where he asked if she should be replaced, then vowed “never” and repeated the “lips… machine gun” compliment.

Why people are calling it “gross” or “creepy”

The controversy comes less from policy and more from how a sitting president is publicly talking about a young female subordinate.

  • Many critics and social media users say the fixation on her face and lips is inappropriate and “gross” for a boss talking about an employee in a professional setting.
  • Commenters argue that in any normal workplace, a man talking this way about a female colleague could face serious consequences or even get fired.
  • Supporters, though, frame it as Trump’s typical, over-the-top way of complimenting loyal staff and say the outrage is exaggerated.

How this fits into the latest news & forums

The topic keeps trending because it intersects with ongoing debates about workplace boundaries, sexism, and Trump’s behavior in office.

  • Clips of him saying “it’s those lips… the way they move” have gone viral on X and other platforms, with users posting “ew” and “this is your president talking about his press secretary.”
  • Articles and forum threads often bundle this with other recent Trump controversies, like his comments in interviews and rallies, to argue either that he’s unchanged from his earlier political career or that media outrage is never-ending.

TL;DR: Trump has repeatedly said Karoline Leavitt is a “star/superstar,” praising her “face,” “brain,” and especially “those lips… they move like a machine gun,” and promising to “never” replace her as press secretary, which many critics online describe as gross and creepy while his supporters dismiss the backlash as overblown.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.