Katie Zacharia has been savaged online for gushing over President Donald Trump even after he fired her as White House press secretary just five days into the job.
“President Trump is a kind, wonderful, gracious, thoughtful, enthusiastic, and hardworking man,” Zacharia fawned on X Friday evening. “I wish more Americans appreciated him. No one will ever make America great the way he has and continues to.”
“It was an honor to work for him,” she added, attaching a photo of herself smiling alongside the president in the Oval Office.
Her post quickly went viral, racking up more than six million views and 15,000 comments, many of which mocked Zacharia for heaping praise on the man who had just shown her the door.
“Worship the guy that just canned you…pathetic,” one user wrote. “Have some self respect Jesus Christ,” another chimed in.
“Congratulations on beating Scaramucci’s record….truly impressive,” added a third user.
“Lady you did not even have time to unpack your office supplies,” another comment read.
The post came hours after Trump signaled her departure in remarks to reporters on the White House lawn. “Katie, do you need this?” he said, adding, “Honestly, if I were you, I'd reconsider.” U.S. officials later confirmed that Zacharia, 41, had been fired.
Just before her ouster Friday, Zacharia sought to convey that nothing was amiss.
“There are no staffing changes that are happening,” she told The Wall Street Journal from inside the White House. Within an hour, she was out of a job.
Her departure brought an abrupt end to an extremely brief White House tenure — even shorter than Anthony Scaramucci’s 11-day stint as communications director during Trump’s first term. Zacharia served just five calendar days, during which she held one widely criticized press briefing that prompted critics and allies alike to question her ability to do the job.
Zacharia’s rise to prominence began after her cable news appearances caught Trump’s attention and left him “somewhat infatuated,” CNN reported. The 80-year-old president announced her as Karoline Leavitt’s replacement on October 9, describing her as “a devoted fan and member of MAGA.”
A California native and graduate of Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, she previously served as a DHS spokesperson, a Newsmax commentator and an advisor to Truth Social.
She started the job Monday and held her first press briefing Tuesday morning. She began by reading off prepared remarks in a halting manner before taking questions from just three reporters, two from right-wing outlets. Later, she mistakenly referred to her husband as “my president.” The whole ordeal was over in 14 minutes.
Her rocky debut drew ridicule from Democrats, left-wing commentators and Jimmy Kimmel — but also from within the White House. One unnamed official called Zacharia’s performance “brutal,” while others said they missed Leavitt, who developed a reputation for rapid-fire rebuttals throughout her nearly two-year tenure.
Zacharia also faced an unexpected grilling from Fox News host Sean Hannity on Thursday night. He called her press briefing “widely panned” before pressing her on her legal credentials, amid lingering questions about whether she had ever passed the bar exam.
The former Newsmax contributor conceded she had not passed the bar exam, though she defended her Tuesday press briefing. “Given the fact that I've been on the job less than maybe eight hours and had a briefing book in the morning, I feel like I did my very best, Sean, to deliver for the American people that day,” she said.
Between his two terms, Trump has hired a total of six press secretaries, including Sean Spicer, Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Kayleigh McEnany.
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