How Far Karoline Leavitt Really Got In School

President Donald Trump made headlines when he praised White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt for doing a great job, vowing never to replace her. "Karoline's not going anywhere," Trump told a gaggle of reporters aboard Air Force One. "That face — and those lips, they move like a machine gun," he continued during the moment of flattery, while simultaneously giving everyone the ick. 

But just how far did "Machine Gun Lips" Leavitt get in school before ultimately being tapped as the commander-in-chief's right-hand woman?! Contrary to President Trump's remarks about Leavitt's kisser, it appears that the 28-year-old's journey to that of White House press secretary was many years in the making and heavily dependent upon a solid college education in both politics and communication studies — not just her physical appearance. "I owe my career in politics to my alma mater, Saint Anselm College," the proud college graduate told Politico in 2020. "As a student during the 2016 election, I was granted the opportunity to work for Fox News and meet several presidential candidates on my campus during the week of the New Hampshire primary." 

The story goes that Karoline Leavitt attended Central Catholic High School in Lawrence, Massachusetts, before embarking on a quest for higher learning at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, on a softball scholarship. She eventually graduated from the same institution in 2019 with a bachelor's degree in politics and communication. "It's a very politically active school and I realized, wow, I loved news and media and politics and I was fascinated by it all," she told host Megyn Kelly during an appearance on "The Megyn Kelly Show." She added, "I kind of threw myself into all of these different opportunities on campus, and then one thing led to the next, and here we are."

It was also during her college years that she first got her taste of the White House. According to Leavitt, she applied for an internship on the White House's official government website and — much to her surprise — she was selected. "I don't know why, but they did," she told Kelly about that fateful turning point in her life. Upon graduation, she was hired by then-White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, who was serving during President Trump's first administration. "I was immediately impressed by her evident drive and her genuinely positive demeanor," McEnany once said about Leavitt in an email (via KSL). "Karoline is sharp, professional, and enterprising, and I knew that I wanted to hire her on the spot." Perhaps yet another glaring sign that Leavitt has always been a McEnany wannabe?! We'll let you be the judge.