As the petty press assembled for White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s briefing on 3 June, 2025, a fresh-looking White House whippersnapper was tinkering with electronic devices. Honestly, he looked a bit lost, but one assumes he knows what he’s doing as he attempted to engage presentation monitors on either side of the podium. Then again, we know what ass-umes make of you and me….
As Karoline highlighted illegal alien criminals who are being deported, one presumes the slide show showing their un-American mugs would be synced. Instead, at least on my T.V., the rightmost monitor remained black and blank.
Karoline continued praising the heroic men and women of ICE (and partners) who wrapped up a month-long surge operation that arrested nearly 1,500 illegal aliens in Massachusetts. She proceeded, “These are just some of the violent illegal aliens who were removed from communities in Massachusetts during Operation Patriot.” “These”? Still, the monitor (at least the one on the right) remained black and blank.
As she reeled off the list, a perky Karoline kept looking back towards the monitors. Still, they remained blank. She deserves better IT support. We, the audience, deserve it too, for a picture speaks a thousand words. This is not to place blame on the young pup with his devious devices — who knows what he has to deal with?
In general, presenting a slide show is a simple exercise, accomplished innumerable times throughout every facet of society. One presumes (rather than ass-umes), that the briefing room monitors are actually smart-boards with both internet and intranet connectivity. If connections were lost — in the White House, of all places — that’s disconcerting. Nevertheless, the presentation files can be loaded locally as a backup option.
Being charitable, and presuming the monitor to the left of the podium was functioning (I don’t think it was, either), the blank screen on the rightmost monitor (which is what the T.V. cameras were picking up) remained a distraction. Professionalism seemed to be remiss, and it only argues that the T.V. cameras need realignment.
Karoline concluded that part of her presentation by saying “I don’t think anybody in this room wants these types of heinous criminals in your communities,” while simultaneously pointing to a blank screen over her shoulder. The crucial takeaway is that they’re gone, but clearly Karoline wanted us to see them.
DOGE has top-notch tech support. I truly hope I have to backtrack, but it seems, for now, that press briefings are lacking it – I.T.
Image: Free image, Pixabay license.