President Donald Trump has never handled not being the center of praise well and during a recent White House appearance meant to celebrate the first year of his second term, that familiar irritation was right on the surface. As Trump rattled off claims about a “great” economy, bragged about his accomplishments, and complained that Americans still weren’t giving him the credit he thinks he deserves, the frustration curdled. Instead of landing outward, it snapped inward, with Trump abruptly turning on his Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. A resurfaced campaign clip sparks online chatter fixated on Karoline Leavitt’s lips then versus now. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) The setting was Leavitt’s own briefing, where she had just moments earlier beamed as she introduced Trump as a “very special guest.” Within minutes, Trump was undercutting her on live television, tossing her and her team under the bus so effortlessly it barely seemed to register as an insult to him — even as critics noted how brutal the optics were for her. In a long-winded meandering press briefing on Tuesday, Jan. 20, marking Trump’s first year in office, the president insisted he’s brought prices down and that the affordability crisis isn’t real, instead his poll numbers are so low because someone is failing at making him look good in the press. ‘Eff Him!!’: Trump Explodes After a Reporter Knocks Him Off Script, Tries to Shut Her Up — She Stares Him Down and Trump Keeps Spiraling Right There Trump claimed he’s had the “greatest first year in history,” according to The Guardian, as Americans struggle with rising prices on everything from rent and food to utilities while navigating a narrowing job market and stagnant wages. “In the old days, if you had good numbers, the market would go through the roof. Today, we have good numbers, the market goes down,” Trump gaslighted as financial experts wondered what he was even talking about. “But by the way, we’ve had the best stock market in history, the best 401(k) in history,” he boasted as stocks fell on Wall Street in the worst trading day since October after Trump threatened new tariffs on Europe if his demands to annex Greenland weren’t met. But the egotistical Trump continued with his usual fall-back of blaming former President Joe Biden. “And we inherited a mess. The numbers that we inherited are way, were way up, and now we brought them, almost all of them, way down. We brought them way down,” he claimed. When Trump took office in January of 2025, Biden had already brought inflation down from a COVID-19 pandemic high of 9 percent to around 2.8 percent and it’s still at 2.7 percent even though Trump promised to immediately lower prices on goods and services if he was reelected. The Federal Reserve likes to see inflation around 2 percent as a benchmark for a healthy U.S. economy. So what did Trump do next? Rather than acknowledge the actual numbers, he appeared to pin the disconnect on Leavitt and his PR team, faulting them for failing to sell his version of reality to Americans who know exactly what they’re paying at the grocery store and gas pump. Trump: The numbers that we inherited were way up. And now we brought them, almost all of them way down. We brought them way down. I'm not getting—maybe I have the bad public relations people, but we're not getting it across. pic.twitter.com/2vK7QxlahE— Acyn (@Acyn) January 20, 2026 “I mean, I’m not getting — maybe I have the bad public relations people, but we’re not getting it across. We inherited high numbers, and we brought them way down,” he continued to insist. The moment triggered an immediate social media spiral, with many observers noting how casually Trump humiliated one of his most loyal defenders — at her own briefing, no less. “Karoline catching strays,” this X user stated. “He is not throwing his attack dog Karoline Leavitt under the bus, is he?” another X  user wondered. Others were far more blunt about what they were watching unfold. “When Trump is made a fool of, he will take revenge and throw the most loyal under the bus. He doesn’t care about anybody!” one Threads user wrote. “Will they not learn, lmao, this is quintessential Trump. He destroys everything, appreciates nothing. Everything is disposable and demeaned,” another commenter added. One critic summed up the dynamic succinctly, “For someone who loves projecting dominance, this was a masterclass in being embarrassed by your boss live on TV — and he didn’t even mean to insult her. That’s how little it meant to him.” View on Threads The irony, critics noted, is that Leavitt has spent weeks and months aggressively going to war for Trump from the briefing room, repeatedly touting his supposed accomplishments — even when they directly contradict economic data and lived reality. “He doesn’t understand why his lies aren’t working. Has nothing to do with his PR team,” Third Iteration posted on social media. “She needs to be afraid,” another warned. “This might be the first time I’ve ever heard him acknowledge that he is nowhere near as popular as he likes to think he is,” X poster Kyle Doty pointed out. Trump is most certainly watching the polls, and they don’t look good for him. His approval rating is hovering at 42 percent, according to Real Clear Politics national polling average, NBC News reported, and his disapproval rating is in the toilet at almost 56 percent. The final Economist/YouGov poll of the 2025 last month also found Trump with a 56 percent disapproval rating and just 39 percent Americans approving of the way he’s handling the job. It’s no wonder Trump is worried. His poll numbers are similar to those at the same point during his first term in 2018 when Republicans lost control of the House in the midterms. The Senate is no sure bet for the GOP and could flip as well. ‘She Needs to Be Afraid’: Trump’s Big Moment of Praise Never Comes, He Loses It on Karoline Leavitt Without Warning — Then Turns Her Humiliation Into a Public Spectacle ...read more read less