'Clown show': Karoline Leavitt sparks backlash with defense of Trump's Easter rant

Political analysts and observers were taken aback on Thursday after Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended President Donald Trump's rant during an Easter event at the White House.

Trump hosted a gathering of several religious organizations at the White House on Wednesday to commemorate the Easter holiday. During the event, Trump said the federal government can't afford to continue funding programs like Medicaid and Medicare. Instead, Trump suggested that state governments raise their taxes to cover the cost of the programs.

Leavitt defended Trump's statements in a post on X by arguing that "Democrats and the left-wing media are dishonestly taking President Trump’s comments out of context."

"President Trump was talking about the importance of stopping the scams and rooting out the billions of dollars in fraud in these vital programs that elected Democrat officials have allowed to happen," Leavitt wrote. "President Trump's record proves he will always protect and strengthen Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid."

Political analysts and observers reacted to Leavitt's comments on social media.

"No, he wasn’t. We can see the video ourselves. We are in 1984 now," Democratic political candidate Fred Wellman posted on X.

"Karolyin getting some whoppers in before maternity leave," journalist Marcy Wheeler posted on X.

"I thought Elon Musk and DOGE stopped all the scams. Are you telling us that was just a clown show and total waste of money?" Dean Baker, senior economist at the Center for Economic & Policy Research, posted on X.

"No, the President was clearly talking about defunding social welfare to pay for a war he started for fun," Stephen Semler, co-founder of the Security Policy Reform Institute, posted on X.